Politics in Music

BTS, a hugely popular K-pop group from South Korea, had their performance cancelled Friday night on a large Japanese television station after a band member was posted on social media wearing a shirt depicting the atomic bombing at Nagasaki. The shirt itself was covered in the phrase “PATRIOTISM OUR HISTORY LIBERATION KOREA” with the mushroom cloud from the bomb covering the Japanese city. The photo of Jimin wearing the shirt was allegedly taken in 2013, but just recently got posted and received attention. This station chose to cancel this performance after speaking with BTS’s record company about the member Jimin’s choice to wear the shirt. The station then released a statement apologizing to any disappointed fans but stood by their decision.

Both South Korea and Japan are sensitive to the topic of World War II and suffered tremendously. South Korea was not freed from the harsh control of the Japanese until the end of the second World War. Japan, a main player in the war, was the only country to ever get not one, but two, atomic bombs dropped on their soil. Hundreds of thousands suffered and died within both countries.

Was their decision to cancel the performance reasonable?

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/09/asia/bts-japan-t-shirt-controversy-intl/index.html