Crayon Pop, the popular South Korean idol group, was banned from broadcasting its latest track on one of South Korea's biggest networks. The reason? It contains the Japanese word "pika."
Crayon Pop is perhaps best known for their song "Bar Bar Bar," which racked up over 15 million views on YouTube.
According to Yonhap News, the issue with the new song, which is titled "Uh-ee", is that it contains the Japanese word "pika" (ピカ) as in "pika pika" (ピカピカ), which means to "glitter," "flash," or "sparkle." You can hear the group mention the word in the song's official music video:
Of course, "pika" is also famous for the Pokémon character "Pikachu."
Yonhap News reports that Korean government-funded television network KBS deemed the song unfit for broadcast because of the Japanese term. The group removed the Japanese phrase and replaced it with its Korean equivalent for the network's approval.
Other Korean television networks did not appear to raise objections regarding the song.
On 2ch, Japan's largest forum, people seem baffled by KBS's stance. "Is only Japanese not allowed?" wrote one 2ch commenter. "What about English and Chinese?" That does raise a good point: Does the network not allow any other language to be mixed in with Korean songs? Others said this showed the two countries could never get along.
This decision appears to be a poorly thought out move on KBS's part. I imagine that Crayon Pop fans in South Korea are equally miffed.
韓国アイドルの新曲 日本語使用で「放送不適合」[Yonhap News]
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