Enhypen’s Jay apologizes for dismissive comment about Korean history

Jay of boy band Enhypen apologized for calling Korean history “a short novel” during a live session on Weverse on Tuesday.

“I was very surprised to see how fans reacted after my Weverse session,” Jay wrote in an apologetic post on the fan community app on Wednesday.

“I sincerely apologize for making you, Engene [fan club], uncomfortable, regardless of of any reason.”

During a live session on Tuesday, Enhypen member Sunghoon said that he recently began studying Korean history, saying that it is “so fun” and “everything is recorded so well.”

Jay followed with a remark that garnered controversy, saying, “I like studying history but it seems like there’s not much information about Korean history.”

“It comes to an end within just a few weeks of studying or skimming through,” he continued. “It feels like a short novel. [History in] other countries is endless. I’ve studied all sorts of countries’ histories and they never end.”

Fans took to social media after the session ended, expressing their disappointment about his comments.

“I just cannot believe what he said,” “Please do not say anything if you don’t have proper knowledge” and “If it’s so easy, you should try taking the state history test,” read some of the comments posted on various forums.

“I made a careless comment on an issue as important as the Korean history based on my personal impression,” wrote Jay in the letter. “I’ve come to realize again that there’s still so much to learn. I never meant to belittle our proud history but I realize that it could very well have seem so and I apologize.”

Jay, real name Park Jong-sung, is a member of boy band Enhypen born in 2002 in Seattle, Washington. He has both a Korean and a U.S. passport.

Enhypen debuted in November 2020 as the winning team of cable channel Mnet’s audition program “I-LAND.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]