Even after Minji directly apologized for not knowing kalguksu, netizens continued to war over her apology letter
On January 6th, Minji posted a long letter on the fan communication platform Phoning apologizing for the “Kalguksu incident” and her controversial attitudes when defending herself on a live broadcast.
In 2022, Minji appeared on the YouTube channel “ChimChakMan” and got caught up in controversy after asking to herself, “What is kalguksu?”. Criticism over her remark continued for a year, then Minji explained it through a live broadcast in February 2023. However, many people expressed discomfort upon hearing Minji’s explanation because of her strong voice tone and attitude when saying it. Realizing the seriousness of the issue, Minji eventually released the long apology letter.
Even after the NewJeans member apologized, netizens continued arguing on SNS and online communities. The majority of netizens supported Minji, saying “How much had you guys bothered a child who is only 19 years old and made her write an apology to explain ‘kalguksu’?”, “She must have had a hard time. I feel so sorry for her”, “It’s not something she needed to apologize for. The first thing you should do is sue those haters who have been bullying you for the whole year”, etc.
On the other hand, some people pointed out that Minji’s attitude when explaining the controversy on the live broadcast was the problem so the way she apologized in a letter was not inappropriate. They commented, “No controversy would have arisen if you had spoken more softly in the explanation live”, “I was very shocked knowing she looked annoyed when talking to fans on the live broadcast”, “The problem is the way you talked. It was like you wanted to teach someone”, etc.
On the day Minji posted her apology letter, sports newscaster Jung Woo-young raised his voice to defend the female idol. ADOR also announced their plan to take strict legal action against malicious comments, slander posts, insults, defamation acts, and the spread of false information about NewJeans members.
Source: Daum
