Singer Dindin. [Herald POP (now Herald Muse) provided]
Singer Dindin. [Herald POP (now Herald Muse) provided]

Singer Dindin has revisited the controversy over remarks he made during the 2022 Qatar World Cup that were widely characterized as a "snipe" at Son Heung-min, saying he is "still reflecting on it to this day."

Dindin opened up about the episode on the web variety show "Alddaldalhan Chamgyeon," released Tuesday, recalling how a candid comment he made ahead of the Qatar World Cup drew fierce public backlash.

Dindin said he had been appearing frequently on soccer-related broadcasts at the time and noticed a gap between what pundits said on air and what they said off camera. "The experts would say on TV that Korea could make the round of 16, but once the cameras were off, they'd say it wasn't going to be easy," he said.

He said hearing that repeatedly gave him what he called a "conviction bug" — a compulsion to speak his mind. "I caught this disease where I felt I had to say what I really believed," he said. "So on a live radio broadcast, I said, 'Why do you keep feeding people false hope? Everyone knows we're not going to make the round of 16 — you're talking nonsense.'"

The remarks sparked immediate controversy. Some outlets ran stories framing the comments as a "snipe at Son Heung-min" or "mockery of the national team," and Dindin found himself facing an unexpectedly severe backlash that forced him to step back from public life.

"The next day, articles came out saying I had sniped at Son Heung-min," he said. "Things kept escalating, and I got a lot of messages from friends asking why I had said something at a broadcast that should have stayed at a drinking table."

When South Korea's national team then dramatically secured a round-of-16 berth by defeating Portugal, Dindin was in COVID-19 isolation and immediately thought, "Now I'm really in trouble." "Articles kept coming out and I couldn't even leave the house — I spent two weeks in self-reflection," he said. "I really regretted it. I could have just said, 'I hope we make it, but it won't be easy' — my wording was way too harsh."

He added, with a laugh, that "for the four years after that, I just kept going around apologizing."

Dindin had also addressed the controversy on his YouTube channel in March, saying he was going through a phase of what he called a "justice bug" and "conviction bug" at the time. "I was angry back then. The articles came out implying I had targeted Son Heung-min, and I deeply felt that as a citizen I should have simply cheered the team on — I asked myself, 'Why did I do that?'" he said, adding that he had asked mutual acquaintances to pass along his apologies to those he had hurt.


betterj@heraldcorp.com