Aespa Ning Ning "gold medal" scandal continues to grow + more idols exposed for going "silent" over Olympics

Article: "So happy China received its first gold," SM stocks plummet after 'Ning Ning' scandal ... those who chose silence over the Olympics

Source: Joongang Ilbo

Aespa Ning Ning's "gold medal" scandal is continuing to grow.

On the 15th, an official from agency A stated, "We have to be careful that such an event does not occur during a time when anti-Chinese sentiment is already high. There is no choice but to be concerned. We also delivered a message to members not to cause unnecessary misunderstandings."

The "event" in question is the Beijing Winter Olympics. The reason why they cautioned members about their SNS is because of controversy surrounding the Olympics and Ning Ning's recent "gold medal" bubble congratulating China that sparked controversy and led to SM's stock price plummeting.

In fact, since the opening of the Beijing Olympics, there has been an atmosphere of concern in the music industry. Following controversy over the recent short track event, there are concerns China is abusing their position as a host for the games for "bias judgments" causing controversy.

Earlier, when the Hong Kong/Taiwan issue came out, some Chinese idols supported their own position advocating for "One China" leading to protests among Koreans. In particular, f(x)'s Victoria wrote on her Instagram, "I love China and I love Hong Kong but Hong Kong is China's Hong Kong" along with a photo of the Chinese flag causing controversy. 

Cosmic Girls Cheng Xiao, Meiqi, Xuanyi, Pentagon's Yan'an, WayV's WinWin, Kun, Xiaojun also joined the group by posting their "Hong Kong Police support" stance one after another. 

On the 2nd of last month, Everglow's Chinese member Yiren also chose to do "Chinese-style" greetings while at a Korean fan-sign causing controversy. Yiren's side stated that "the Chinese don't do deep bows" but after controversy grew, Yiren returned to China.

An official from agency B stated, "To be honest, at the time, I was suspicious that there was someone in the middle who was in charge of the Chinese side and managing it all."

An official from agency C stated, "I basically told members to keep their SNS private and don't post much. I've been concerned about it lately so I emphasized not to provoke the country or cultures."

Anti-Chinese sentiment is reaching a fever pitch and the music industry is showing concern over the sensitive impacts of the political and social issues between Korea-China. 

An official from music industry stated, "Recently, Chinese members who are active in Korea are also aware of the sensitivity of the matter and are cautious. They're also worried they'll be overly criticized."

In fact, after controversy arose over Ning Ning's post congratulating China, interest has shifted to other Kpop Chinese idols like EXO Lay, Seventeen's Jun, NCT's Chenle, G-idle's Yuqi and Kep1er's Xiaoting that did not comment on the Olympics. 

A pop-culture critic Ha Jae-gun stated, "The cultural appropriation by the Chinese and its citizens "anti-korea" behavior is stimulating public opinion in Korea. Accordingly, anti-Chinese sentiment is rapidly rising in Korea. But because of its huge impact, it's difficult for Korean agencies not to include Chinese members. For the time being, there's no choice but to keep "watching" the situation."

1. [+5,155, -34] Just kick her out and promote the group as 3..
2. [+3,166, -13] Stop bringing in and training Chinese kids! They always backstab us and go back to their home country and talk sh** about our country. It's not even once or twice that this has happened, this is their nature!
3. [+2,105, -6] Are Chinese members even necessary? If anything, I feel like it's detrimental to the group's global activities? 
4. [+740, -13] There always at least one Chinese idol too ㅋㅋ, isn't it so that they can manipulate audition programsㅋㅋ ㅋㅋ
5. [+412, -3] They always curse at us.. funny and charming? SM is unusually picky when it comes to their Chinese idols but they always backstab them ㅋㅋ. Even then, they still pick them again and again. Let's stop with Chinese kids now. They come to our country to ride the Kpop coat tails and gain fame but once they become a bit popular they always go back to China, distort our history and go around cursing our country. It's not even once or twiceㅋㅋㅋ. I've already deleted aespa from all my playlists!!
6. [+260, -4] Honestly, SM itself is a pro-China company. From EXO to f(x), there hasn't been one group they haven't put in a Chinese member even after getting backstabbed so many times. It's because they know they won't get Chinese investments so keep adding in Chinese kids. Honestly the Chinese have too much money and a lot of people so they're the ones to gain from all this. To borrow Pompeo's words, China is an "ungrateful Frankenstein." Who knows what these monsters will do next..
7. [+247, -2] If they come to Korea, shouldn't they act according to Korean sentiment? 
8. [+237, -1] The reason BTS has made it this far is because they have no Chinese members. 
9. [+224, -0] I've yet to see an idol group succeed solely because they have a Chinese member, so what's the point of adding in Chinese kids? SM should just set up shop in China. 
10. [+113, -0] Ning Ning is a Chinese...if she likes China so much why not go there? Why is she insisting on making money here? 
11. [+112, -5] SM and YG are two of the same dirty peas in a pod...just look at BTS and Antenna, they're doing well all over the world. Not one single dirty cockroach. SM and YG are looking at the future using old viewpoints, China's dirty money has blinded them. Both of them are agencies without a future. Look's like I'll have to dump their stock. 
12. [+34, -0] Let's skip all idol groups with ch*nks once and for all..