Singer and broadcaster Gangnam (39) faced controversy for promoting Japanese actor Fukushi Sota (33), who had recently been involved in a right-wing controversy just after Liberation Day.
On the 21st, Gangnam shared a photo taken with Japanese actor Fukushi Sota on his social media platform.
Alongside the post, he added, "Fukushi Sota studies hard and seems to speak Korean better than me! He's truly smart and kind, Sota! Please support him a lot."
Previously, on the 20th, Gangnam had already shared a video filmed with Fukushi Sota through his YouTube channel 'Neighborhood Friend Gang-nami'. He also shared a link to Fukushi Sota's official global fan club and encouraged people to join.
However, given that Fukushi Sota was previously involved in a right-wing controversy, Gangnam's promotion of him sparked public debate.
Earlier, in 2015, through the Fuji TV documentary 'Teach Us About War', Fukushi Sota learned for the first time that his grandfather had been a candidate for a special attack unit trained during World War II as part of the Japanese military's kamikaze program.
'Kamikaze' (·Shinpū) refers to special attack units organized near the end of World War II to carry out suicide attacks by crashing planes loaded with bombs into Allied fleets, including U.S. forces. They are considered one of the symbols of Japanese imperialism.
At that time, he was moved to tears after hearing a survivor of the kamikaze special attack unit describe how his comrades were selected by lot and sent to their deaths. However, it has not been confirmed whether he praised the kamikaze or came from a family of war criminals.
As a result, there was also controversy when news emerged that Fukushi Sota would appear in Netflix's original series 'Is This Love Translatable?', which was released in January.
After Gangnam began promoting Fukushi Sota, netizens responded critically with comments such as "It hasn't even been a week since Liberation Day," "If he had become a Korean citizen, he should be introducing Korean culture to Japan, not constantly bringing Japanese culture into Korea," "My wife was a national athlete representing the country—don't tarnish her legacy," "Should we also promote descendants of kamikaze pilots?" and "I might have understood if he were still Japanese, but since he naturalized, it feels even more like a betrayal."
Meanwhile, Gangnam is currently working on 'J-POP REMAKE', a project that reinterprets Japanese songs with the emotional style of Korean singers. As part of this project, tracks such as 'Blue Coral Reef' by Akumu's Lee Soo-hyun, 'Banquet Song' by Girls' Generation's Taeyeon, and 'Cruel Angel's Thesis' by singer Han Lolo have been released.
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