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Petitioners want aespa off broadcast in Japan because of Chinese member

Published: 20 Nov. 2025, 16:56 Updated: 20 Nov. 2025, 19:14

K-pop girl group aespa member Ningning, second from left, along with her bandmates at an event in central Seoul on Oct. 15 [NEWS1]

A petition in Japan is calling for K-pop girl group aespa to be pulled from a year-end broadcast because one of its members is Chinese, amid escalating tensions between China and Japan over remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on a possible contingency involving Taiwan. The petition has drawn support from 70,000 people as of Thursday.

A petition was posted on Monday on Change.org, a global petition platform, demanding that aespa be barred from appearing on NHK’s “Kohaku Uta Gassen,” a prestigious annual music program broadcast on New Year’s Eve. Ningning, a member of aespa, is Chinese and previously faced backlash in Japan in 2022 after she shared an image on social media featuring lighting reminiscent of an atomic bomb mushroom cloud.

A petition posted on Nov. 17 on Change.org demands that K-pop girl group aespa be barred from appearing on NHK’s “Kohaku Uta Gassen″ because member Ningning is Chinese. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The petition gained 50,000 signatures in a single day and surpassed 70,000 as of Thursday. The petitioner claimed that “'Kohaku Uta Gassen' is an important official event in Japan,” and warned that “tolerating remarks or actions that lack historical awareness will not only damage Japan’s international image but also cause pain to the victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.”

Comments on the petition read, “It is unacceptable to allow an idol who glorified atomic bomb lighting to appear on a Japanese program in the very country that suffered from it,” and “Letting a member who praised atom bomb lighting without remorse appear in a celebration enjoyed by all Japanese people once a year, at the end of the year, is utterly unforgivable.”

On Nov. 7, Prime Minister Takaichi stated that in the event of a Taiwan contingency — meaning if China intervenes militarily in Taiwan — the situation “could pose an existential crisis for Japan.” She added that “if China deploys warships or uses force, it could constitute grounds for Japan to exercise self-defense measures under current laws.” Beijing responded with sharp criticism, calling the remarks “an interference in internal affairs.”

The diplomatic tension has spilled into the entertainment industry. In China, a fan meeting for the Japanese boy band JO1 was recently canceled without explanation.

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]]