ENHYPEN member Jay posted an apology after receiving online backlash for his comments about Korea’s history being comparable to a “short novel” during a Weverse Live session.
On Tuesday, the 20-year-old idol, who is the main rapper for ENHYPEN, and his fellow groupmate Sunghoon hosted a live session on Weverse, during which Sunghoon brought up the topic of Korean history.
Sunghoon described studying Korean history as “fun” because “everything is recorded so well.”
“You’re right, but there’s another thing,” Jay responded. “Since I like studying history so much, I have to say that the amount of information on Korean history is limited.”
Jay continued by describing Korean history as reading “a short novel” when compared to the histories of other countries that he had studied in the past.
“After a few weeks of studying or skimming through, it seems to end so quickly. It feels like reading a short novel. I’ve studied histories of all sorts of other countries and they never seem to end.”
Upon receiving criticism from fans, Jay posted the following apology letter on Weverse:
Hello, this is ENHYPEN’s Jay.
After I concluded a Weverse Live session today, I saw fans’ reactions and was very surprised.
Regardless of the reason, I sincerely apologize for making ENGENE feel uncomfortable.
I spoke too carelessly with my personal impressions in mind when discussing a topic as important as Korean history. This important topic is not something I should have talked about with my lack of knowledge.
Today, I realized once again that I still have so much to learn. I did not mean to take our honorable history lightly, but I can see how my words could have made you all feel that way. It is my fault. I apologize.
From now on, I will be more mindful and educated so that I can become an artist whom ENGENEs will not be ashamed of.
I continue to learn so much from you all.
Thank you.
Jay, whose real name is Park Jong-sung, was born in Seattle, Washington, and moved to South Korea when he was 9 years old. He was chosen to join ENHYPEN along with six others — Heeseung, Jake, Jungwon, Ni-ki, Sunghoon and Sunoo — through Mnet’s survival competition show “I-LAND,” in which he placed second. The group debuted in November 2020.
ENHYPEN recently performed in six U.S. cities as part of their “Manifesto” world tour.
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