The girl band Everglow Photo: VCG

Chinese company YUE HUA Entertainment responded on Thursday to a viral post showing that it had been issued a warning as an administrative punishment from Chinese law enforcement for having allowed its entertainers to engage in a performance that was “detrimental to national dignity.” 

Some netizens put forth the theory that the punishment could be connected to an event in which YUE HUA entertainers performed for the South Korean military.

On China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo, Sina Entertainment News uploaded a screenshot of a May notice on the Beijing Cultural Market Administrative Law Enforcement website, saying that YUE HUA violated an article of regulations on art performances related to foreign affairs. The article in question concerns acts that damage China’s national dignity.

The post quickly went viral on Chinese social media. 

The company responded on Thursday on Sina Weibo, apologizing for the mistake and attributing it to an issue with the company’s South Korean subsidiary.

“Our company stands firmly in line with the motherland and rejects all actions harmful to the interests of the country,” the statement said.

The related hashtag “Yue Hua given administrative punishment” has been viewed more than 200 million times as of Thursday on Sina Weibo, and together with this hashtag, the one “Wang Yiren,” a YUE HUA entertainer, has also entered the hot search chart on Sina Weibo.

The reasons for Wang Yiren’s involvement is that netizens discovered that the entertainer, a member of South Korean girl band EVERGLOW, appeared on the South Korean TV program Visiting Train K-Force Special Show in June 2019, during which her band performed for the South Korean army in June 2019.

“National interest should be always the top priority over all commercial activities,” one netizen commented on Sina Weibo.

“As a Chinese entertainment company, even if YUE HUA Entertainment cooperates with a South Korean company, it should avoid involving Chinese members in these kinds of activities. The company should think about the punishment and never make such kind of mistake again,” another netizen wrote.

A K-pop fan based in Beijing surnamed Huang told the Global Times that although she loves South Korean idols, she always put China’s national dignity and interests first and that any behavior damaging Chinese interests cannot be forgiven. 

“I hope these entertainment companies can remember this.”