Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Following the uproar over Kang Dong Won‘s Japanese collaborator great-grandfather and him subsequently trying to cover up that fact, his company YG Entertainment issued a response but he remained silent. Well now he’s come out with a statement of his own, and if he basically just did this to start with, I think he would’ve been fine.
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“Hello. This is Kang Dong Won. First, I would like to sincerely apologize for causing an uproar about my great-grandfather. Ever since I was little, I grew up hearing positive stories about him. My grandmother was the descendant of an independence patriot, so I accepted the stories about my great-grandfather without much thought. In 2007, at the time of the interview, I did not properly understand his wrongdoings. I apologize once again.
This incident was chaotic, and it was a big shock for me. Moreover, it is related to my family, so I had to figure out the accurate details about the issue, so I needed time to look into the related documents. I apologize to the people involved for my inability to respond adequately, and I also apologize that I was not able to announce my position in a timely manner.
Before I am an actor, I am a Korean citizen, and I have always thought that wrongful history had to be corrected, and that such shameful deeds should never be repeated again. For that reason, I am truly ashamed about this incident.
I now know about my great-grandfather’s shameful past. Through this incident, I will study more about our history and reflect on myself. Even if it’s something small, I will search for things I can do. Once again, I apologize to anyone I made feel uncomfortable.”
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Despite clarifications on the truth of matters, netizens are predictably hating on him for things he didn’t actually do. However, the optics of what he and YGE did just look bad. If he had started by coming out and refuting the inaccuracies while owning up to his family’s history like he just did here, I think it wouldn’t have blown up so big. Instead, him and/or YGE immediately started to threaten lawsuits, which definitely made it seem (to me as well) like they were just trying to bury the story of his pro-Japanese collaborator relative.
That said, by and large, Kang Dong Won is still a victim of a family history he had no control over and terrible PR moves more than anything malicious on his part.
