Project group ZEROBASEONE member Park Gun Wook is garnering mixed reviews from Korean netizens for remaining neutral on the Asian Games soccer final between Korea and Japan.
According Korean media sources, Park Gun Wook discussed the topic with fans via an October 7 live stream before the final game. “We won’t be able to watch the soccer game together,” the idol said. The contest is between Korea and Japan, thus idols should be neutral. Please, understand.”
Since Park Gun Wook is Korean, Korean netizens flooded online community boards to respond to his statements. Many encouraged the idol not to use ‘neutral’ in a Korea-Japan match, saying, “I don’t mean to foment anti-Japanese attitude, but who wants to be neutral? Couldn’t this be because K-pop is big in Japan?” If you’re Korean-Japanese, you can say this. Other than that, it’s nonsense.”
However, some sympathized with the idol, saying, “From the looks of it, the agency probably insisted he responds like this, so stop beating up on the kid,” He supported Korea, but “I think he made a mistake with his statements, but it’s a shame that he’s being criticized like this,” and ” He presumably said what the agency wanted, but he erred. Haters, don’t overreact.” Park Gun Wook had expressed his delight about watching the Korea-Japan match on the broadcast the day before, therefore his agency may have advised him on how to remark about the match.
After appearing on Mnet’s ‘Boys Planet’ for Jellyfish Entertainment, Park Gun Wook debuted with ZEROBASEONE in July.
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