Super Junior member Choi Si-won has posted a message regarding fellow group member Kim Hee-chul, who retracted his previous remarks and issued a public apology over a controversy involving the South Korean national flag, the Taegeukgi, on an Incheon Metropolitan City Liberation Day commemorative banner.

Recently, regarding Kim raising an issue over the Taegeukgi on the banner being inverted and later retracting it with an apology, Choi wrote on social media, "To add a careful word, I have known him for about 23 years, so we know each other very well." He continued, "He isn't normally like this, but lately he's acting like he's good, he's getting older, and he feels a sense of social responsibility. Because he spoke with such excessive politeness, I think many people failed to catch his true intention."

He added, "We are meeting next week, so I will hear the full story in the 'room of truth' then."

Previously, the two had jointly raised issues regarding Incheon City's 81st Liberation Day commemorative banner. Controversy spread after it was pointed out that the Taegeuk pattern and the four trigrams (geon, gon, gam, ri) on the Taegeukgi held by an independence activist in the banner appeared reversed compared to the standard form. Incheon City had explained that it was not a drawing error, but rather a perspective looking up from below at an independence activist waving the flag.

On the 8th, Kim Hee-chul posted a sharp criticism on social media along with a photo of the banner, and Choi Si-won joined in at the time by leaving a Taegeukgi emoji. However, just a day later on the 9th, Kim apologized, saying, "I failed to properly recognize the form of a person holding the Taegeukgi, and seeing the Taegeuk design in the moment made me angry. It was entirely my fault brought on by a lack of spatial awareness and haste."

In contrast, Choi posted photos on social media on the 10th comparing the Incheon City banner with Liberation Day-related images used by other government agencies and local authorities, stating, "Rather than making excuses, I believe that admitting faults and correcting them is a more responsible attitude," thereby continuing to raise the issue.



(SBS Entertainment News, Reporter Kang Kyung-yoon)