Kim Hee-chul. [SM Entertainment]
Kim Hee-chul. [SM Entertainment]

Super Junior member Kim Hee-chul apologized Sunday, one day after publicly criticizing an Incheon city banner depicting what he called an upside-down Taegeukgi, after it emerged that the flag's orientation was intentional — a perspective effect, not an error.

"You must be baffled to be reading an apology just one day later, but this is my fault," Kim wrote on Instagram on Sunday. "I got angry in the moment after seeing only the flag in the image, without properly recognizing that it was being held by a person."

"It is clearly my fault, brought on by my own hastiness. I am sorry," he said.

Kim added that his frustration had been building over repeated incidents of people displaying or drawing the Taegeukgi upside down. "I suppose a lot of anger had piled up inside me from frequently seeing people, videos and photos with the Taegeukgi hung or drawn upside down," he wrote, invoking a Korean proverb about being startled twice by the same fright. "It is my fault for not looking at the image more carefully. Making a mistake and apologizing for it is only natural — please scold me for my carelessness."

Incheon city had put up the banner near a crosswalk behind City Hall on Thursday, ahead of the 81st Liberation Day on Saturday. The banner featured an independence activist waving a Taegeukgi with both hands, accompanied by the phrase "The 81st Liberation Day — the day we reclaim the light."

The design drew criticism online, with many saying the flag appeared to have been drawn incorrectly. The controversy grew after Kim left a profanity-laced comment on a related post.

Incheon city defended the design, saying the flag had not been drawn incorrectly but was depicted from a low-angle, upward-looking perspective of an independence activist waving it. "The basic form, including the positions of the four trigrams, is correct," the city said.

However, the city removed the banner to prevent the controversy from spreading further.


yeonjoo7@heraldcorp.com