Korean Hallyu: The good, the bad and who cares?

A lot of mixed news today concerning Korean Hallyu.

First, Block B has provided an excellent example of how not to act during an interview in a foreign country:

In the interview with Thai media site RYT9 on Jan. 30, Block B’s leader Zico said when asked about his opinion on the flooding that damaged the country, “I hope monetary compensation will heal their wounds because all I have is money.”

Then another member asked him the total worth of his assets, and Zico said laughing, “About 7,000 won ($6).”

Their levity continued in the 30-minute interview while word of this spread worldwide via the Internet, with one member lying down on a coffee table while another walking around the interview area.

A Thai member of the Korean group 2 PM was quick to add some advice to his younger Korean peers:

“Learn some manners and get a better understanding of Thailand when you go to the country.”

Undoubtedly Block B never expected the backlash that they have received - including calls for them to be disbanded.  They have issued an apology:

With criticism mounting, Block B made a public apology in a video clip Thursday with English and Thai subtitles.

“We are very sorry for the things that happened in Thailand recently. It was stupid that we didn’t think about the negative impact our actions would have on the Thai people. It was true that we didn’t understand the situation of the country. We were selfish,” the group said.

“We didn’t mean to hurt anybody but our childish actions caused pain. We are truly sorry. We promise that we’ll look back on ourselves, learn and improve,” said Zico, who had his hair shaved to show his remorse.

For some better new: Time’s Man of the Year – Rain, will serve his military term as an “entertainment soldier”.

And, for the last part of the title – K-Pop stars make overdue returns.  I like how the paper notes “Boy band Big Bang will climb out of its incident-filled slump.”