K-pop star apologizes for hugging Nazi mannequin

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Originally published at: K-pop star apologizes for hugging Nazi mannequin | Boing Boing

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However, many Korean fans defended the singer.

“Honestly unless you have interest in world history, most Koreans wouldn’t notice it. But she’s a public figure and it’s true she was careless,” wrote one.

I’m trying to imagine a scenario in which one has enough interest in 20th Century world history to come into possession of a mannequin wearing a WWII Nazi uniform but not enough interest in history to know that Nazis are bad.

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And people talk shit about American education.

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Maybe a reminder of who were allies with the Nazis would help

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Oh cute, we just rid ourselves/USA of someone that did that too, he even had a real Nazi puke walking around the Whitehouse.

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Wait until you see the Hugo Boss moodboard from 1938…

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You can only destroy evil with love.

Well, also guns and bombs. But love is cheaper.

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The article gave me the impression it was some sort of set prop.

The photos were taken in November, when GFriend were filming at a cafe, Source Music said.

Staff “did not sense an issue with the outfit on a mannequin” and stills from the shoot were made available for use Sunday, it said.

“We want to apologize for not being able to check for inappropriate props in the set and not being able to thoroughly filter them during the shoot and uploading and failing to give detailed attention to historical facts and linked social issues,” the company said. “We bow our head in apology for causing offense through the video and stills.”

Sounds like embarrassing historical ignorance rather than intentional.

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I dunno what they teach in Korea, but in general the Nazis don’t have quite the same negative associations as they do in the US and Europe. Bad, yes, but from Korea’s point of view, the Japanese who had annexed them in 1910, subjugated them, and commit atrocities both before and during WWII are the monsters that has left cultural scars.

With out a big swastika arm band, some (most?) people probably wouldn’t recognize it as an officer Nazi uniform, at least not with some scrutiny. And if she did, probably is unaware of how they are perceived around the world, vs just Korea.

So stupid, yes. But willing to give the benefit of the doubt she didn’t know better - as well as acknowledge the difference in cultural views from the West. Hopefully she know better now.

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Teach the controversy. /s

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How does one “accidentally” end up with a Nazi uniform though? What was the prop being used for?

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On the one hand, the Korean education system really should be teaching about Nazi Germany.

One the other hand, the American education system really should be teaching about Imperial Japan’s occupation of Korea and much of East Asia.

Which isn’t to excuse one ignorance with another, but to point out that South Korea by no means has the market cornered in historical ignorance.

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Good question, and one to which I’d also like an answer.

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I’m trying to imagine a scenario where someone hasn’t been exposed even one time to the vast Western cultural canon featuring Nazis as villains. That lore would seem unavoidable, even to a young Korean woman. I could see her not knowing the history, but she should know that someone wearing that uniform is, as the sketch puts it, one of the baddies.

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Well, they don’t play a lot of video games in South Korea, so it wouldn’t have come up there.

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I was in an „American Style“ bar in Seoul once where the waiters wore blue jeans jacket covered in all kinds of different little buttons as their uniforms. Smiley faces, Stars and Stripes, Reichsadler, coke bottles, peace signs, SS runes, the usual.
As an Austrian, I found it quite eye opening and amusing to see how what could land you in jail in my own country was used as kitschy decor in another. I am pretty sure I was the only person there who even noticed the Nazi insignia all over the waiters.

So yeah, definitely ignorance at play here and no bad intentions.

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So is Darth Vader, and to her there is probably not much more significance of one over the other. Well maybe there is now.

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Where do you buy SS buttons?

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I don’t imagine the ones in that bar were genuine, probably Chinese cosplay accessories or something. But I have also been to flea markets in Eastern European countries that are full of that stuff.

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Nazi cosplay has a booming industry in China?