Super Junior member Kim Heechul. [Herald Muse]
Super Junior member Kim Heechul. [Herald Muse]

Super Junior member Kim Heechul expressed frustration Tuesday after a political controversy erupted following his criticism — and subsequent apology — over an Incheon city banner featuring an inverted South Korean flag.

In an Instagram post Tuesday, Kim said he understood why some fans were upset by his sudden apology. "I understand those who were angry asking why I apologized after seeing my statement a few days ago," he wrote. "I spoke in such a roundabout way that it makes sense people felt that way."

Addressing those who had turned on him, Kim described his critics as "people who are insulting and criticizing me for criticizing an upside-down Taegukgi."

He went on to ask, "Have I ever stood on the left or the right and opposed the other side?" adding, "Isn't it normal to be angry when you keep seeing the Taegukgi upside down?"

Kim also listed various personal choices — including who he votes for and what gestures he makes — and said he could not understand "why people look at things so sensitively and tear into each other" in a country where freedom of choice exists.

"I only brought up the inverted Taegukgi and the right to vote — why are left-wing and right-wing suddenly coming into this?" he wrote, closing the post by describing himself as "before being a celebrity who receives both love and hate, a beloved South Korean born in Gangwon Province."

The controversy began when Incheon city hung a banner near a crosswalk behind City Hall ahead of the 81st Liberation Day on Saturday. The banner bore the phrase "The 81st Liberation Day — the day we reclaim the light" alongside an illustration of an independence activist waving a Taegukgi with both hands.

The flag's orientation drew criticism online, with many saying it had been drawn incorrectly. Kim added fuel to the fire by commenting on a related post with a crude expletive.

Incheon city defended the design, saying the flag was not drawn wrong but depicted from a low-angle, upward-looking perspective of an activist waving it. The city nonetheless took down the banner to prevent the controversy from spreading further.

Kim had apologized Sunday via Instagram, acknowledging that his reaction was hasty. "You must be baffled to see an apology just one day later, but it is my fault," he wrote. "I only looked at the flag in the image for a moment without properly recognizing that a person was holding it, and I got angry."


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