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The controversial comment appeared in the “2025 MAMA behind-the-scenes” video uploaded to IVE’s official YouTube channel, as the awards ceremony was held in Hong Kong. In the footage, Jang Wonyoung said “Hong Kong is one of the countries I like” in Korean (using the word “nara” which translates directly to “country”), while also mentioning she liked the local food there.
Notably, while the original audio used the word for “country“, the Chinese subtitles in the video translated it as “place/region“, which led critics to accuse her agency Starship Entertainment of being aware of the political sensitivity yet still releasing the footage, seeing it as intentional ambiguity.
On Chinese social media platform Weibo, hashtags including “#IVE get out of China“, “#Jang Wonyoung Hong Kong country“, and “#Korean idols history education” trended widely. Chinese netizens argued that Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China, saying the comment violates the One China principle, insults China’s sovereignty, and called for boycotts.
Chinese media also weighed in: Global Times criticized that some K-pop idols “lack an understanding of political sensitivities” and have a “double standard” of profiting from Chinese fans while failing to respect China’s sovereignty; Sina Entertainment called it a direct challenge to China’s territorial integrity; NetEase commented that it appeared to be an attempt to confuse the public and questioned the Korean entertainment industry over the issue.
The video containing the comment has since been removed from IVE’s YouTube channel, but as of now (January 3, 2026), neither Jang Wonyoung nor her agency Starship Entertainment has issued an official statement addressing the controversy.
This is not the first time Jang Wonyoung has faced criticism from Chinese netizens: in 2022, she was accused of “stealing Chinese culture” after wearing a traditional Korean hairpin at Paris Fashion Week.
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