{"id":295506,"date":"2025-11-20T13:23:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T13:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/295506\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T13:23:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T13:23:08","slug":"over-70000-sign-petition-to-cancel-k-pop-group-aespas-performance-in-japan-over-chinese-member","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/295506\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 70,000 sign petition to cancel K-pop group Aespa\u2019s performance in Japan over Chinese member"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEOUL \u2013 More than 70,000 people have signed a petition calling for the cancellation of K-pop girl group Aespa\u2019s performance at Japan\u2019s most prominent year-end music show over the inclusion of their Chinese member Ningning.<\/p>\n

The petition, posted on Nov 17, specifically targeted the NHK Red and White Singing Contest, one of Japan\u2019s most-watched year-end programmes. It argued that the quartet\u2019s appearance could damage Japan\u2019s image and offend those affected by historical tragedies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe demand the suspension of Aespa\u2019s appearance on the Red and White Singing Contest. Please cooperate with the online petition,\u201d the statement read in Japanese.<\/p>\n

Observers say the petition reflects <\/p>\n

rising tensions between Japan and China<\/p>\n

<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Relations have been strained after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi recently <\/p>\n

suggested that Japan could deploy its Self-Defense Forces if China attacked Taiwan<\/p>\n

<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Industry insiders worry that such political tensions could complicate matters for K-pop groups like Aespa with Chinese and Japanese members.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI bought a pretty lamp, what do you think?\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

NHK said it is aware of the issue and has confirmed with Aespa\u2019s agency SM Entertainment that she did not intend to mock the atomic bomb victims, according to Japanese reports.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cunavoidable circumstances\u201d, according to Hong Kong\u2019s Sing Tao Daily on Nov 20.<\/p>\n

On Nov 17, QQ Music, one of China\u2019s largest music platforms, notified fans that the VIP member-only event scheduled for Nov 19 had been cancelled, without providing further details.<\/p>\n

Currently, JO1 is under Lapone Entertainment, a joint venture between Japan\u2019s showbiz conglomerate Yoshimoto Kogyo and South Korea\u2019s entertainment giant CJ ENM. THE KOREA HERALD\/ASIA NEWS NETWORK<\/p>\n

K-popMusicConcertsJapanChina<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEOUL \u2013 More than 70,000 people have signed a petition calling for the cancellation of K-pop girl group…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":{"0":"post-295506","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}