Over 70,000 sign petition to cancel K-pop group Aespa’s performance in Japan over Chinese member

SEOUL – More than 70,000 people have signed a petition calling for the cancellation of K-pop girl group Aespa’s performance at Japan’s most prominent year-end music show over the inclusion of their Chinese member Ningning.

The petition, posted on Nov 17, specifically targeted the NHK Red and White Singing Contest, one of Japan’s most-watched year-end programmes. It argued that the quartet’s appearance could damage Japan’s image and offend those affected by historical tragedies.

“We demand the suspension of Aespa’s appearance on the Red and White Singing Contest. Please cooperate with the online petition,” the statement read in Japanese.

Observers say the petition reflects

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Relations have been strained after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi recently

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Industry insiders worry that such political tensions could complicate matters for K-pop groups like Aespa with Chinese and Japanese members.

Amid rising tensions between the two countries, an old post by 23-year-old Ningning also resurfaced, drawing criticism from Japanese fans for referencing the tragic history of the Hiroshima atomic bombing.

In May 2022, she uploaded a lamp shaped like an atomic bomb on Bubble, a subscription-based messaging app used by K-pop idols.

“I bought a pretty lamp, what do you think?” she wrote.

Observers noted that Ningning came from Harbin, a region under Japanese colonial rule from 1932 to 1945, suggesting she may have harboured anti-Japanese sentiments.

NHK said it is aware of the issue and has confirmed with Aespa’s agency SM Entertainment that she did not intend to mock the atomic bomb victims, according to Japanese reports.

SM Entertainment declined to comment on the matter. The group also consists of South Korean singers Karina, 25, and Winter, 24, as well as Japanese member Giselle, 25.

Apart from Aespa, a fan meeting event for JO1, an 11-member Japanese boy band formed through the audition programme Produce 101 Japan in 2019, has been cancelled owing to “unavoidable circumstances”, according to Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily on Nov 20.

On Nov 17, QQ Music, one of China’s largest music platforms, notified fans that the VIP member-only event scheduled for Nov 19 had been cancelled, without providing further details.

Currently, JO1 is under Lapone Entertainment, a joint venture between Japan’s showbiz conglomerate Yoshimoto Kogyo and South Korea’s entertainment giant CJ ENM. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

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