{"id":347090,"date":"2026-03-19T09:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T09:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/347090\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T09:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T09:55:09","slug":"hybe-denies-speculation-of-political-motive-behind-bts-red-themed-comeback-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/347090\/","title":{"rendered":"HYBE denies speculation of political motive behind BTS&#8217; red-themed comeback events"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/688f05dc-ee36-4ae6-8ea7-823e76c1d4a0.png\" style=\"height: auto; aspect-ratio: 819 \/ 464; width: 100%\" alt=\"Korea's major landmarks glow in red for the upcoming BTS' comeback show. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Korea&#8217;s major landmarks glow in red for the upcoming BTS&#8217; comeback show. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">HYBE, the K-pop giant behind K-pop supergroup BTS, has dismissed speculation that a plan by the Seoul metropolitan government to illuminate major landmarks in red for the group&#8217;s long-awaited comeback is politically motivated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">The city government recently announced it would light 15 landmarks, including N Seoul Tower on Mount Nam, Lotte World Tower, the Sebitseom islands and Cheonggye Stream, in red on Friday and Saturday nights to celebrate the return of BTS.<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">The decision prompted some fans and internet users to speculate that the move was intended to promote a specific political party ahead of the June local elections, as red is the symbolic color of the main opposition People Power Party, to which Mayor Oh Se-hoon belongs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">&#8220;The red color theme was chosen to reflect the key visual identity of BTS&#8217; upcoming album &#8216;ARIRANG,'&#8221; HYBE said in a statement Wednesday. &#8220;The Seoul city government is using the color at our request.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">The agency also urged the public not to excessively interpret mass cultural events through a political perspective.<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">The statement came after a flood of online posts emerged earlier in the day from BTS&#8217; global fandom, ARMY, criticizing the city&#8217;s decision.<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">Some fans took to social media with hashtags such as #BTSisPurple to emphasize its long-standing symbolic color.<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">Major landmarks in cities where BTS travels to perform, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building, have typically been illuminated in purple to welcome it, they noted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">&#8220;ARIRANG,&#8221; the fifth studio album from the band, is set to drop at 1 p.m. Friday. It marks the first project involving all members in three years and nine months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Korea&#8217;s major landmarks glow in red for the upcoming BTS&#8217; comeback show. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government HYBE,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-347090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}