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W Korea issues apology after backlash for breast cancer awareness event

Published: 19 Oct. 2025, 12:38 Updated: 19 Oct. 2025, 17:13

A picture from fashion magazine W Korea's controversial “Love Your W” breast cancer awareness event, which took place on Oct. 15 [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Fashion magazine W Korea issued an apology four days after facing backlash over its recent breast cancer awareness event.

"We deeply apologize for failing to carefully consider the perspective of breast cancer patients and their families, and for causing discomfort and distress," said W Korea in a statement on its official Instagram account on Sunday.

The organization explained that the “Love Your W” campaign, launched in 2006, has worked over the past two decades to raise awareness of early detection of breast cancer. However, it acknowledged that the event held on Wednesday drew criticism for being inappropriate in content and execution given the campaign’s original purpose.

“We also regret that many who participated in good faith and supported the campaign’s goals may have been affected by the controversy,” read the apology. “We are reflecting on our shortcomings, especially thinking of those who were disheartened by the event.”

The statement emphasized the campaign’s longstanding partnership with the Korea Breast Cancer Foundation to promote early detection and provide surgery funding for low-income patients. “We will continue to examine areas of improvement in response to the criticism, and we will thoroughly review every stage of event planning and execution going forward,” the magazine said.

The “Love Your W 2025” event, hosted by W Korea on Wednesday, featured an array of high-profile celebrities, including BTS’s V, Big Bang’s Taeyang, Karina of aespa, Jang Won-young of IVE and actor Byeon Woo-seok.

Pictures from fashion magazine W Korea's controversial “Love Your W” breast cancer awareness event, which took place on Oct. 15 [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Online criticism quickly followed. Comments included: “How does having celebrities sing and laugh raise awareness for breast cancer?”, “They should have just donated the money,” and “This was nothing more than a celebrity cocktail party.” Others pointed out that none of the participants wore pink ribbons, the global symbol of breast cancer awareness and prevention.

Further controversy emerged after singer Jay Park performed his song “Mommae” during the celebratory stage. The sexually explicit lyrics — including lines like “I don’t know what our relationship is, but I want to get introduced to the twin sisters hanging on your chest” — were criticized as inappropriate for the event’s cause. Park posted an apology on Instagram on Thursday, saying, “I apologize if any cancer patients were offended by my performance.”

W Korea has since deleted all photos and videos related to the event from its Instagram account.

The magazine also faced scrutiny over the amount of donations raised. According to Rep. Lee Soo-jin of the Democratic Party, who received documents from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, W Korea has donated a cumulative total of 315.69 million won ($222,000) to the Korea Breast Cancer Foundation from 2007 through this year.

In response, W Korea said that donation amounts for the campaign include corporate donations made directly to the foundation through their participation in the event. In other words, some donations linked to the event may not have been counted in the reported total.

The magazine claimed the cumulative amount donated from 2006 to 2024 is not 300 million won, but 960 million won, and that an additional 150 million won is expected to be donated this year — bringing the total to 1.1 billion won over 20 years.

It also said that from 2007 to 2009, it donated approximately 130 million won to the Seoul branch of the Planned Population Federation of Korea.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY SHIN HYE-YEON [[email protected]]