Okay-pop woman group aespa has been pulled into the deepening diplomatic dispute between China and Japan as a rising variety of Japanese viewers are calling for the removing of Chinese language member Ningning from NHK’s year-end music program, “Kohaku Uta Gassen.”
A petition posted on Monday to Change.org is urging broadcaster NHK to cancel aespa’s scheduled look. The petition shortly gained momentum, surpassing 70,000 signatures inside two days.
Supporters argue that Ningning’s previous social media publish — the place she shared a backstage photograph that includes an ornamental mild that some critics stated resembled a nuclear mushroom cloud — reveals “an absence of historic consciousness.”
“‘Kohaku’ is a crucial nationwide broadcast,” one commenter wrote, insisting that permitting her to carry out would “damage the victims of Hiroshima.” One other stated, “Somebody who praised a mushroom cloud-shaped mild mustn’t seem on a program watched by the entire nation.”
Ningning’s publish from 2022 beforehand sparked criticism in Japan however didn’t result in formal complaints. Nevertheless, this yr’s petition comes amid heightened political rigidity following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks suggesting potential navy involvement in a Taiwan battle.
Beijing condemned the assertion as interference and has since tightened restrictions on Japanese journey, cultural content material and leisure releases.
Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Each day reported that aespa has change into “one of the seen cultural victims” of the standoff, noting that whether or not the group finally performs may function a “sign of the diplomatic ambiance.”
This text is translated by generative AI and edited by The Korea Instances.
