K-Media retort to French Media’s claims regarding Korea’s “violent coverage” of BTS Suga’s “drunk driving” scandal

Article: BTS Suga Targeted by Korean Media? French Media’s Arrogance and Distorted ‘Tolerance’ 

Source: 10Asia

A French weekly magazine has come out to criticize the domestic media.

BTS Suga (Min Yoongi, 31) caused controversy over drunk driving on an electric scooter and became a target of harsh domestic media. However, on the 22nd, French magazine Paris Match published an article titled, “Misinformation, pressure… what happened to BTS Suga?”

In the article, Paris Match wrote about Korean media and stated, “Reporters wanted to take shocking pictures. The image of the star bowing his head in shame is an image that will remain in the minds of future generations regardless of the truth of the controversy. Some media outlets even warned that if Suga did not show his face to reporters his life would become difficult.”

This is a misunderstanding and a misread of the scandal.

Domestic media covered Suga’s police appearance with the purpose of revealing the facts and informing the public. This is the goal and reason for the existence of media that has existed throughout the East and West. Suga being investigated for drunk driving was not only domestic but also global news. Fans around the world wanted and needed to know.

Paris Match claims that domestic media wanted to film the idol “hanging his head in shame” but this is just a “distortion” on their part. The media’s coverage was not intended to shame him. Rather, it was intended to give Suga a chance to properly apologize to the public and convey his feelings of reflection. It was solely to convey to the public the image of Suga appearing at the police station without adding or subtracting anything. 

Let me repeat again. The media did not make Suga a suspect. Suga drove drunk!

Furthermore, no normal media would have thought they would make his life difficult if he did not stand in the photo line and they couldn’t have done so anyway. This is also Paris Match’s twisted and narrow minded perspective. Police decide how Suga will be investigated and it has nothing to do with media. Police decide if Suga would be investigated privately according to procedure, that would be all. 

In particular, the reason that the repercussions of Suga’s recent drunk driving accident grew beyond the incident itself is 90% due to Big Hit Music’s initial poor response. At the time, Big Hit and Suga admitted to drunk driving on a kickboard, not a scooter, and apologized. It was a clear mistake and wrongdoing. It’s safe to say that media’s criticism of Suga was greater because of suspicions on Big Hit and Suga downplaying the incident.

I would like to ask Paris Match if they really think Suga’s drunk driving scandal is something they can laugh off. Or is their logic that its ok because he drove drunk on an electric scooter and not a car? I question whether the tone of the article is universally valid even in France if a drunk driver hit a person and injured or killed them. Would Paris Match have written the same article if the same thing happened to them or their family?  

In the process of defending Suga and criticizing domestic Korean media, Paris Match also mentioned the case of the late actor Lee Sung-kyun, which is close to an error that fails to get to the heart of the issue. The case of the late Lee Sung-kyun and Suga are clearly different. In the former’s case, the tragedy began when an incident at the internal investigation stage before the charges were confirmed were leaked to the media. Suga admitted to drunk driving and his alcohol level at the time was measured at 0.227%. 

To emphasize, Korea’s media coverage and interest in Suga was not intended to kill Suga. The media are simply doing what they have to do. There is no purpose beyond that. The fact that BTS has raised the status of K-pop and promoted national prestige is something that will be remembered in history and BTS is still Korea’s pride and best K-pop group. 

However, BTS’ achievements cannot cover up the crimes of a member, in this case Suga. Drunk driving is attempted murder and the responsibility for this is by no means light. The media only pointed that out and the related repercussions depend on Suga and Big Hit’s responses. The narrow-minded and arrogant criticism of French media only proves how distorted and universally “tolerated” France is.