SM Entertainment has issued an official pronouncement in response to a recent controversy surrounding aespa's Karina. On May 27th, Karina, a member of the popular K-pop group aespa, shared a series of snapshots of herself adorned with a red rose emoji on her personal social media platform. The pictures captured Karina donning a jacket embellished with red accents and bearing the numeral "2," prompting speculation that she was endorsing a specific political party amidst the looming presidential election in Korea. Soon after, the images were promptly taken down.
As discussions intensified over whether Karina's post carried political undertones, her management company, SM Entertainment, stepped in to clarify the matter with an official statement issued on May 28th. Below is the agency's comprehensive and detailed pronouncement in its entirety:
This is SM Entertainment.
We apologize for causing concern due to our artist Karina’s recent post.
Karina simply shared something from her daily life on social media, with absolutely no other intention or purpose. Once she realized that the post could be misunderstood, she immediately deleted it. We sincerely apologize for any distress this may have caused unintentionally.
Our agency will also be more careful and make greater efforts to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. We hope that our artist’s intentions will no longer be misrepresented or consumed with a particular agenda, and we will do our utmost to protect Karina and all of our artists.
Thank you.
