Singer Kim Hee-cheul criticized the "upside-down taegeukgi," while Seo Kyoung-duk explained that it is not a "bogus taegeukgi."
Seo Kyoung-duk wrote on his social media on the 9th, "A local government-produced Liberation Day banner depicts an incorrect taegeukgi, so it is causing controversy," adding, "If you look closely, the taegeukgi in question is being held by a person and is shown from below looking up, so strictly speaking it is not a bogus taegeukgi."
He added, "At a glance anyone could understandably mistake the taegeukgi for being flipped," and "It would have been better if the local government, when producing it, had made it so anyone would recognize it as the correct taegeukgi; I have many regrets about that."
Seo Kyoung-duk said, "You should not blame only the banner manufacturer. I hope more care will be taken when using taegeukgi-related designs in the future."
Earlier, online communities and social media stirred controversy saying that a local government posted an official banner printed with a vertically inverted taegeukgi on the street ahead of the 81st Liberation Day. In the post, Kim Hee-cheul angrily wrote, "This is crazy," and Choi Si-won agreed.
But after the full banner was later revealed and a person holding the taegeukgi was confirmed, Kim Hee-cheul said, "My fans hope not to be involved in anything, but I think the issue of hanging the taegeukgi upside down, and it not being a left-right statement, is not something for which I should be praised or blamed based only on 'suffrage.' If you are a person of Korea, isn't that natural?"
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