Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
While I usually try my best to ignore and/or dismiss scandals that seem dumb as hell to me, sometimes even I’m surprised by how far things will go. Recently Minji of NewJeans released an apology on the Phoning community platform over wondering to herself about what kalguksu was over a year ago and then recently clarifying to people continuing to mock her that she does actually know and it just wasn’t how she meant it.
Since my debut, so many people have shown interest and love, so I am always grateful to be able to take on activities. During a live broadcast on January 2, my tone and attitude caused discomfort to the viewers. I am truly sorry to the Bunnies who must have been surprised and hurt that I showed a bad attitude during a live broadcast where I usually communicate naturally and comfortably.
Last winter, I knew what kind of reaction I had when I said I didn’t know what kalguksu was. I’m a picky eater and have never tried kalguksu before, so I thought about the type and taste of kalguksu and before I knew it, I thought to myself, ‘what is kalguksu (knife-cut noodles)?’ I ended up saying it to myself, and didn’t know that there might be a misunderstanding. I wanted to give a clear explanation, but I thought it felt like water had already been spilled and it would calm down over time.
However, as time passed, more comments were made against my judgment, even my relationship with the members was mentioned, and I received strange misunderstandings, which continued to harass me knowingly or unknowingly for a year.
So I gave an explanation out of frustration, but I am also reflecting a lot on myself for disappointing you with my very immature attitude. Through this incident, I thought about it a lot during my vacation and talked to people around me about the responsibility of my every word, and I learned a lot. I will be more careful and attentive so as not to repeat the same mistake. I would like to once again express my apologies to the Bunnies who must have felt uncomfortable and embarrassed while watching the live broadcast.
Yes, an idol gave a longer apology and more detailed explanation over people giving her shit thanks to year-long needling over a passing noodle dish comment than some others do for getting caught drunk driving and worse.
The root of the “controversy” came during a broadcast they did with streamer ChimChakMan back in January of 2023. During a conversation about food preferences, Minji wondered aloud to herself what kalguksu was (or wondered what kind it was, in her words) when it came up.
The best way I can explain why this mess even happened is to say that kalguksu is a traditional dish that’s extremely common and every Korean would know, so netizens accused her of basically being fake and attempting to be a posh, foreign girl by pretending to not know about it (she had also been getting similar hate for other stuff in this vein since).
After almost a year of dealing with comments about that moment, earlier this month on a NewJeans broadcast, Minji tried to clarify what she meant since people kept haranguing her about it.
“Everyone, do you think I wouldn’t know what kalguksu is? So, ‘what’s kalguksu mean, like…’ [In English] Would I not know, everyone? Think about it twice. That’s right. I didn’t know, that’s why I said I didn’t. Do you all know how many types of kalguksu there are, and the ingredients that go into it?”
This basically got her into more shit with netizens because of her tone or whatever.
As with other things of this nature, the hate basically just continued to build and build, with Korean netizens eventually even doing laughable stuff like correcting her casual English phrasing as “wrong” despite it being absolutely how it’s used. Thus, more people who never liked NewJeans or Minji in the first place were able to use this as an excuse to continue hating. And so here we are, with all of it resulting in her releasing an official apology and explanation for wondering to herself what a noodle dish was.
If you are confused as to why anybody gives a fuck about this, you are not alone. I dunno, man.
