Singer Henry issues apology but it does little to quell criticism

Singer and songwriter Henry has been appointed the ambassador for an anti-school bullying campaign with Mapo Police Station. [MONSTER ENTERTAINMENT]

Singer and songwriter Henry's apology has done little to quell backlash over his pro-Chinese stance.

Henry’s apology comes after some Koreans were irked by the Mapo Police Station’s recent appointment of Henry as an anti-school bullying campaign ambassador. Korean netizens fiercely criticized the appointment and expressed their discontent, leaving comments on the police station’s website condemning that the appointment was inappropriate. After witnessing such reproaches, Henry, who had remained quiet so far about the criticism against his pro-Chinese remarks and actions, especially after Koreans’ anti-Chinese sentiment reached its peak during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, decided to broach the subject on Saturday.

"I’m sorry if I said or did anything wrong,” he wrote in Korean, but with a spelling error. “What hurts me the most is that people are not uncomfortable with something that I said or did, but it is because of my blood," he said. "All I wanted to do is to make people laugh, but if they are uncomfortable with my blood, I don't know what to do."

On Monday, Henry’s label Monster Entertainment released a statement and apologized for “causing concerns for the misunderstandings that led to distorted rumors and false reports.” It asked the Korean public to understand his “spelling mistakes and unrefined expressions” on his apology as Korean is not his first language and that “because he’s spent all his life concentrating on studying music that he lacks knowledge in a lot of other fields.”

“Henry has been passionate about music and values sharing his heart through music with everyone, regardless of nationality,” the agency added. “Please help him to maintain this value and try to understand him.”

Henry is Canadian but he’s born to a Hong Konger father and a Taiwanese mother. He debuted as a member of the K-pop boy group, Super Junior M, in 2008. When Koreans’ anti-Chinese sentiment had been building among young Koreans, Henry was caught up in controversy for his past actions, such as allegedly supporting the “One-China policy” on social media in 2018, as well as not correcting or commenting when Chinese TV personalities were introducing some of Korea’s traditional cultures as though they were Chinese.

Henry’s apology has since been deleted from his social media channels.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]