Big Hit Entertainment may have apologized on behalf of BTS maknae Jungkook after he was revealed to have violated social distancing protocols during his Itaewon outing last April, but some parties are still not satisfied and want to strip the idol of his Cultural Merit Medal.
According to a report by All Kpop, netizens have submitted a petition to the Blue House seeking to revoke Jungkook's Order of Cultural Merit medal after his involvement in the Itaewon social distancing controversy.
It can be recalled that South Korea's Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures recently recommended that all people who visited the Itaewon district from April 24-May 6 remain at home after a person who was confirmed positive of COVID-19 revealed that he frequented bars in the district before his diagnosis.
Based on the petition, proponents explained that Jungkook did not deserve the high honor from the government because he had no regard for the suffering of Koreans who were suffering from the COVID-19 global health pandemic when he enjoyed himself on an Itaewon outing with his friends and ignored social distancing protocols.
The petition also stated that Jungkook's actions disregarded the efforts government and health official's efforts to overcome the virus, which ran contrary to the purpose of the medal.
BTS received the Order of Cultural Merit Medal in 2018 in recognition of the group's contributions to the advancement of Korean culture and the promotion of Kpop all over the world.
Jungkook was not the only idol drawing heavy criticism as the public also actively censured three other idols whom he hung out with at the Itaewon district on April 25 until April 26.
Netizens also found fault with the contents of ASTRO's Cha Eun Woo and NCT's Jaehyun's handwritten apology letters which they posted on social media.Both idols posted their apologies on social media wherein they acknowledged their faults in violating the social distancing protocols set by the government to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
They also apologized to their agencies, fans, and medical workers whom they disappointed with their thoughtless actions.Netizens found that the similarities in the letters were too coincidental and suspected that the two idols may have conferred with one another before writing their statements, All Kpop reported.
Some felt that the apologies lacked sincerity because the idols did not even make the effort of changing the order of their statements in their supposed apology.While some were dissatisfied with the apology, others were also willing to accept the idols' lapse in judgment after their agencies explained their situation.
