K-Pop band BTS targeted by Chinese netizens over Korean War comments · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Screen shot from BTS ‘Dynamite’ official MV on Youtube
China's online patriots are targeting internationally famous K-pop band BTS after the group's leader Kim Nam-joon paid tribute South Korea's and United States's war veterans on October 8.
Nam-joon, also known by his stage name RM, made the remarks at a recorded acceptance speech for the James A. Van Fleet award, a prize granted by US-based non-profit Korea Society. Here are the words by Nam-joon that angered Chinese nationalists:
This year’s Korea Society 2020 Annual Gala is especially meaningful as this year marks the 70th Anniversary of the Korean War. We will always remember the history of pain that our two nations [US and South Korea] shared together, and the sacrifices of countless men and women… As members of the global community, we should build deeper understanding and solidarity to be happier together.
Approximately 3 million people lost their lives in the Korean War (1950-1953), half of them civilians. After Japan surrendered at the end of World War II, the Korean peninsula was divided into two separate states, one in the north backed by the USSR and another in the south backed by the United States. Both governments claimed sovereignty over the whole peninsula, and the war began after the North Korean Army invaded the South in June 1950.
The war claimed the lives of 406,000 North Korean soldiers, 217,000 South Korean soldiers, 600,000 Chinese soldiers, who fought on the North Korea side, and 36,574 US soldiers, according to statistics compiled by CNN.
Chinese netizens were angry that Nam-joon did not acknowledge the sacrifices made by Chinese people. Comments such as “BTS get out of China” have flooded Weibo and, on October 11, BTS became the top search result on the social media platform.
Anticipating calls for boycott, South Korean companies who do business in China such as Hyundai and Samsung removed all BTS-related promotional material from China's online stores. Meanwhile, Chinese fan clubs of BTS suspended purchases of the group's new album.
Chinese state media applauded netizens’ reactions. For example, Reference News, an outlet affiliated with state news agency Xinhua, posted on Weibo:
BTS引发风波背后，触碰的是很多中国网民心中对历史问题、国家主权问题的“红线”。… “国家面前无偶像。”这句话又一次在社交媒体上被反复提及，这不仅是很多中国网友的心声，也是对某些境外艺人的提醒。
BTS touched the “red line” of history and national sovereignty that Chinese netizens share (…). Chinese netizens believe that the nation should come before their idols. This should also serve as a signal to other foreign artists.
Shen Yi, a professor of international relations at Fudan University, said on Weibo that the mere act of receiving the Korea Society's James Van Fleet Award renders BTS into “American propagandists.”
Such accusations have been widely reported in South Korea, triggering a backlash — including from BTS fans. Some Korean columnists even suggested that South Korea and its allies in the Korean War launch a counter-boycott against China.
On Twitter, many users have reacted against the Chinese response:
They did not even mention China in the first place. Stop being fucking delusional
Also, as a Chinese, when you commemorate events such as the 2nd Sino-Japanese War, do you ever mourn for the 700K Japanese who died or only the Chinese who died?
你这只是惹事生非
— ℙ?ℤℤ? ??????ℝ? (@pussysaysmeowz) October 11, 2020
Some found the Chinese argument incomprehensible and unreasonable:
I'm in my 50's and the Korean war happened before I was even born. North Korea started the war by invading South Korea. China was allied with North Korea at the time. The US was allied with South Korea. If not for that alliance then South Korea would not exist as it is today. 1)
— SaltyGrandma_is_BTS_Army_Now (@Grandma_Is_Army) October 12, 2020
this whole china things is the jimin b0mb shirt all over again. cant you let bts feel patriotic about their own country without you feel attacked about what your ancestors did to other countries and it was all in the past?
— ᴮᴱris ⁷ ? semi hiatus (@smurfjoon) October 11, 2020
@Solitude_Sola sees the incident an ideological struggle over history waged by the Chinese Communist Party:
防弹少年团这一波被辱华，标志着辱华猎巫进入2.0阶段：以前你要牵扯到中国才算是辱华，但现在只要你违逆了粉蛆的历史观，与我们的”正确集体性记忆“不一样，那么对不起，你辱华了。
在此我奉劝天下名流：早日积极主动辱华，以防有朝一日被辱华。 pic.twitter.com/Yb7B3krR3h
— 空空? 狞猫世界第一可爱！ (@Solitude_Sola) October 12, 2020
If what BTS has done is insulting to China, that means that the witch hunt of China offenders has entered the 2.0 stage. In the past, they only targeted comments which were directly related to China. Now, if your comment is different from their understanding of history, or if your memory is different from their politically correct memory, then you will be considered to be humiliating China. So the right way is to proactively “shame” China rather than passively being labelled as such.
Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong called on other netizens to stand with BTS:
4. When our BTS leaders are under unreasonable attacks during these difficult times, we #ARMYs everywhere around the world should stand with them and express our relentless support. #BTSARMYS #FOREVERBTS
— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 ? (@joshuawongcf) October 12, 2020
Korean Military Manpower Administration Commissioner Mo Jong Hwa spoke out in defense of BTS:
The fact that BTS mentioned Korea’s alliance with the US is an encouraging thing. Chinese netizens should be ashamed to talk about this issue. I think they are 100% wrong when they claim that BTS should’ve recognized the harm the allies of North Korea suffered as well.
To contain the damage the incident could do to China and South Korea's relations, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian attempted to cool down the patriotic sentiment in the ministry's regular press briefing on October 12:
We all should learn lessons from history and look forward to the future, hold dear peace and strengthen friendship.