Actor Choi Siwon [Newsis]
Actor Choi Siwon [Newsis]

Super Junior member Choi Siwon said his bandmate Kim Heechul was "too polite" in the apology Kim issued over a controversy involving an upside-down South Korean flag.

Choi took to social media Tuesday, writing, "If I may carefully add — I've known my brother (Kim Heechul) for 23 years(?), so we know each other very well."

He went on to say, "He's not usually like this, but lately he's been acting kind, and perhaps because he's getting older and feeling a sense of social responsibility, he was so polite in how he spoke that many people seemed to miss his actual intent."

Choi added, "We've agreed to meet next week, so I'll hear the full story from him then in the room of truth."

The controversy began when Incheon city hung a banner near a crosswalk behind City Hall on Thursday to mark the 81st Liberation Day. The banner depicted an independence activist waving a South Korean flag with both hands, but critics claimed the flag's pattern and its four trigrams — geon, gon, gam and ri — were depicted upside down.

Kim responded Saturday on social media with a blunt post saying the banner was "absolutely insane," and Choi signaled his agreement by leaving a Korean flag emoji on the post.

The following day, Sunday, Kim walked back his criticism. "I reacted in the moment, only looking at the flag's design without properly recognizing that a person was holding it," he wrote. "It was clearly my mistake, caused by a lack of spatial awareness and being too hasty. I am sorry."

Choi, however, kept up his criticism Monday, posting on social media: "I think acknowledging and correcting what was wrong is a more responsible attitude than offering an explanation."

Meanwhile, Incheon city defended the banner, saying it was not drawn incorrectly but rather depicted an independence activist waving the flag as seen from below. As the controversy persisted, however, the city decided the image could cause misunderstanding and took the banner down Saturday.


min3654@heraldcorp.com