BTS Jin’s Reference To The East Sea In The Lyrics Of “Super Tuna” Receives Divided Opinions From Japanese And Korean Netizens

BTS‘s Jin recently released a song that not only showed off his talent, but was also entertaining as heck to boot. However, one of the lyrics in the song ended up dividing Japanese and Korean netizens due to a reference to the East Sea. This was due to a longstanding dispute about the naming of the East Sea.

For those that don’t know about the dispute of the naming of the East Sea, the East Sea is a body of water that is bordered by Japan, Korea and Russia. Both North and South Korea had been opposed to the naming of the East Sea as “the Sea of Japan”. The dispute was first raised in 1992. Japan argued that the name “the Sea of Japan” was commonly used even long before the annexation of Korea during the occupation, but Korea protested that the name came about during the Japanese occupation.

The dispute has been ongoing for many centuries. Korean prefers to call it “Dong Hae” (East Sea) while Japan calls it “Nihon Kai” (Sea of Japan). Jin’s lyrics for “Super Tuna”, which is self-written contains a reference to the sea.

Where did my fish go? The East Sea, the West Sea, where are my fish?

— “Super Tuna”

This sparked negative reaction from Japanese netizens.

• “Right now, everyone in the world is listening to the song, so if Japanese people don’t speak up, people will recognize it as the East Sea. The Japanese need to speak up to get them to change the lyrics so that people will know it as the Sea of Japan.”
• “If HYBE confirmed the lyrics, it means that they totally think of Japan lightly.”
• “Seeing how Jin called the Sea of Japan the East Sea in the lyrics, I feel difference between me and him, a Korean. I don’t know if this is the way the company is being considerate to the Korean ARMY but even though globally, the name Japan Sea is recognized, Koreans don’t acknowledge this name. In addition, Jin’s older brother runs a Japanese cuisine restaurant.”

Koreans on the other hand, feel that this shouldn’t even have been an issue. Furthermore, Jin is a Korean, and it is only natural he refers to it as the East Sea.

• “What are you going to do about it, East Sea?”
• “It’s the East Sea.”
• “What are you going to do about it, East Sea Tuna?”
• “What about it, Tuna?!!!”
• “It’s correct, what about it?”
• “They’re really crapping about it, huh?”

HYBE has not yet spoken up about the issue.