women are harpies that are stealing my Man Strength in order to make themselves stronger. I saw one woman who had done this five times, and could now bench-press more than me in the gym. Terrifying.
Hi Euna! So as an international Army I've always seen other international Army saying that the level of platonic physical and sometimes emotional intimacy we see between BTS is common in South Korea and they often times use that reasoning to downplay the idea of a romantic relationship between jikook.
I saw this talking point being used this week with the jikook hickey saga. People commenting that it's no big deal in the grand scheme of things. Saying that using this as some kind of proof for jikook is nonsense. Comparing jikook interactions to things like jimin kissing tae on the hand or tae kissing namjoon on the side of the head.
Now personally I think there's a difference between how jikook interact with each other and how they individually interact with the rest of the guys. I also think that people are leaning heavily on the idea that jikook interactions are normal south Korean skinship activities between male friends to debunk the idea that their interactions are romantic.
But if that's the case, why do so many Korean army's interpret jikook interactions as something more than platonic? Wouldn't they know the difference between friendly skinship and romantic skinship? Is there a difference?
I guess my question is, what can you say about the people who lean on skinship to excuse away everything jikook do with each other? Is it just us using our western eyes to view something not of our culture and misinterpreting? Is south Korean male skinship really as close as we think it is?
Would love to hear your views on this as someone familiar with both cultures intimately. Love your deep dives btw!
Firstly, I truly wonder what gives some international Army the confidence to speak on Korean culture so freely when they're not Korean themselves. Like no, you are not an expert on another culture's social norms just because you're a fan of their celebrities. No matter how invested you are.
I completely understand and respect not wanting to 'ship' Jungkook and Jimin. But when you start undermining their relationship and speaking on things which you have no authority to speak about just to push forth a narrative that makes you comfortable, that's when we have a problem.
Yes, it can be said that in some cases, skinship between male friends are more commonplace and normalized than it is in the west. But as with any aspect of culture, its nuances and boundaries are complex and situational.
A younger dongsaeng* having a drink with his hyung is perfectly normal. No one would bat an eye.
A younger dongsaeng having a drink with his hyung, lifting his hyung in a bridal carry, spinning him around until said hyung got dizzy enough to demand he be let down—which he expressed by biting said dongsaeng on the neck, significantly hard/long enough to form a bruise—emphatically does not fall under normal levels of skinship. No matter how selectively you pick and choose parts of Korean culture to use for your own means, and even if you choose not to read anything romantic into what happened, that doesn't change the fact that it's just plain weird. They're weird for what they did, and Jin and Tae's reactions to them re-telling their story are further proof to that.
I guess in conclusion, I would like to respectfully ask that if you're not Korean, to not drag our culture into a discussion that you're not qualified to participate in. It comes across as silly and ignorant and frankly—is quite annoying.
(*Here's another word that people love to misinterpret/pretend they're experts on. For the record, no, dongsaeng not limited to blood-related ties. It's used to refer to anyone who is younger than you.)
Hi Euna! Hope you are doing well. We have been starting to get clips from the MOTS ON:E dvd and there is one clip posted with Jikook in it where I was wondering what they were talking about. Caption was in Korean (and we all know how google translator and papago are not 100% reliable 😂) so I was hoping to ask for your opinion and clarification on their conversation and the context. Thank you in advance! 💜
Jimin comes over, touches JK's neck, and apologizes ("Hey, I'm sorry"). A caption pops up over the situation: Suddenly? Jimin who is apologetic to Jungkook.
JM: I bit him... ㅎㅎ
Caption: Jimin who bit Jungkook's neck last night
JM, defending himself to Jin: No I mean, this guy carried me up and just kept on spinning around. So I was like— [tapping JK's shoulder] let me down!
Caption: (No I mean... Jungkook... Lifted me up... and wouldn't let me down you see...)
In this next clip (https://twitter.com/phorenJJ/status/1436203469761761285), JK is watching JM's rehearsal and humming along to "Filter". A staff comes over with a camera, sees the bruise on his neck, and asks what happened. That's the little caption that appears over JK's answer. The rest I've transcribed below:
Q: What happened to your neck?
JK: I had a drink with Jimin-hyung yesterday. While we were playing around, Jimin-hyung bit me cause he was dizzy.
Caption: Jungkook who was bit after lifting Jimin up and spinning him around. ㅋㅋ
So in conclusion, there is absolutely nothing that can be lost to translation or cultural difference or anything like that here. The night before the rehearsal, the two of them had a drink, Jungkook lifted Jimin up bridal style, and spun him around until Jimin was dizzy enough to bite his neck to get him to stop. That's the explanation that the two of them gave to the staff, to the members, and to the millions of army wondering about where the bruise on JK's neck came from. Court dismissed! I need a drink.
Hi i hope you're doing well. Thank you for all the translation you provide us with. We really are grateful. Can you please give us the exact translation to what jimin said about jungkook. Because I see a lot of translation saying jm said jk is his brother.
Thank you anon! I hope you've been doing well too and that you've been enjoying the latest Memories drop. I know I have 💜
About the HYBE Guess Who Talk, I want to make one thing clear: posts that translate Jimin's words as just him saying JK's his younger brother (dongsaeng) are misinterpretations.
This is a transcript of what Jimin says: 형들이 보기에 그냥 내 동생인가봐
And this is a clip of where he says it:
“🐥 형들이 보기에 그냥 내 동생인가봐
https://t.co/oXUKeQPIbV”
This would be my translation of Jimin's words:
"To the hyungs, it appears that Jungkook's just my dongsaeng."
I did my best to capture the kind of subtle phrasing he uses, which leaves so much room to read between the lines while also being a simple answer that makes complete sense in the context of this guessing game. Who's Jungkook? Well he's Jimin's dongsaeng. That's a factual label capable of summing up their relationship to society (if you want to read more about the term, here is a previous post that goes a bit more in-depth). In BTS, Jimin has no other dongsaeng; therefore that's how Jungkook would be identified in the group.
But the way Jimin phrases this—taking the perspective of an outsider in a tone that seems to say "this is what you think, right?"—suggests a keen awareness to how Jungkook, particularly his relationship to Jungkook, is perceived by others. It also suggests the limits of this perception.
"It appears that Jungkook's just my dongsaeng. . .[but that's not all]" — would be the unspoken but clearly understood end to what his sentence conveys.
Jimin is suggesting that there's more beneath the surface, suggesting that this isn't the full picture, suggesting that Jungkook is more than simply his dongsaeng, whatever that "more" may mean.
Jikookers on Twitter are messing up big time and I just wanna shake them and ask if they can't see they're doing the same thing the taekookers did smh. They're planning on getting an ad done for bts anniversary but the ad only has jungkook and jimin on it. That makes absolutely no sense to me. Why not just put all the guys? It doesn't matter if your bias is jikook. Bts is 7 and I doubt jikook would appreciate just them alone being celebrated on a day that is meant for all 7 of them.
But Twitter jikookers are doubling down just because peoole on Twitter generally always attack them. But the push back is warranted in this case in my opinion.
This isn't like the mural that got done in Busan. I can 100% appreciate the fact that it was a mural to celebrate the two guys who came from that city and are a treasure to the people there.
But this new ad is just not it. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Ahhhh controversy. Love some controversy with my lunch. Anyone else want some Ramen with their drama?? 🙃 I will give my opinions, but not before stating that ANYONE who feels like coming at me for this will be simply be blocked. I won't engage or let it sit around. I like to keep this a somewhat positive space. Here is the ad mentioned in case you haven't seen it yet:
Anon, I see what you are saying, but I sort of disagree. I've seen the fire on Twitter, I'm over there as well. And I think part of the reason jikook supporters are doubling down SO HARD is because the backlash is ALWAYS only for jikook. No other solo or duo project gets pushback except for them. So it makes their supporters defensive and I get that.
When you look at these things you need to understand where they come from. This was paid for by the group "Black N White" which is a Jimin and Jungkook fansite group. This is VERY normal in kpop scenes. It is NOT a shipping group. It means it is a site that is 100% focused on bringing in info, photos, videos, etc of whichever celebrity they focus on. There are fansites specifically for every single BTS member and some random duos. BTS will even recognize certain people from certain fansites and make sure to smile for photos for them, etc. There is a lovely video that circled a while back of Jimin spotting a J-hope fansite at an award show and literally moving out of the way so thay he wouldn't be in the pictures they were trying to take of him and smiling at them.
Here is a low quality version of that video, but it's what I could find super quick just now. This is all basically just to show that duo and solo fansites are the norm and the members are not offended by or worried about them. Ads taken out from these fansites are ALSO normal and it's done not just for birthdays or solo things but for BTS as a whole. The ONLY time I see this as problematic is if shipping names are included as a major part of the ad or are for shipping purposes. Like the Taekook shipping ad in Times Square thay was last year (i think?). It was taken out to celebrate what their shippers assumed was their personal anniversary? Not sure exactly. This was that ad, I could find it on twitter:
“On the 5th anniversary of Taekook yesterday a taekook ad played in times Square. 🥺💜💕
Thank you @TheTKGlobal
#TAEKOOK #vkook #kookv #taekoo
And then we have previous anniversary ads from taekook fansites, like this one that I find problematic. They are using edited photos and this looks very "shippy":
And these ones that are promoting some more couple like shots and have Vkook as one of the main words promoted but ultimately not that bad and I'm pretty that was the name of the fansite for this duo anyway:
And a BTS anniversary ad from a taekook fansite that was not a ship promotion even a little bit:
AND we have some thay are not taekook. We have solo anniversary ads for V and for Jin. I'm sure the rest of the members have some too somewhere, these are just the first ones I could find with a very quick search:
And we have an 8th anniversary celebration ad for YoonJin from their fansite too:
And I bet the only reason a lot of people didn't know about these if because no one in the fandom cared. The TL on Twitter blew up because of jikook, because it always does. Anything involving the 2 of them gets a ton of fandom hate and its very sad. Its an ad for some of the members of BTS from one of their personal fansites. There are TONS of OT7 BTS anniversary ads all over Korea and worldwide as well too.
Honestly I don't see a difference between the Jikook ad and the YoonJin one? Does anyone else? No ship names, it says Happy Anniversary. Says both members names. Has their anniversary date. The members aren't being cuddly or anything, Jikook actually even has a more professional looking photo that is being used. Fansite ads have been happening every single year and for all kinds of different kpop groups. Notice its only the international fans on Twitter having a meltdown over the Jikook ad?
Soooo, my take is that I kinda agree with the Jikookers on Twitter and that this is ridiculous and the only reason it's a problem is because its Jimin and Jungkook. And that there IS a difference between a shipping ad for Taekook with what their shippers think is their personal anniversary "dating" date and a fansite ad for a bts duo on the groups anniversary. Jimim and Jungkook literally basically can have nothing without people screaming about the rest of the members or telling people not to ship. Its a fansite ad, not a relationship proclamation trying to overshadow BTS debut anniversary.
Anywho.... 8 years with BTS. SIGH! I am so proud of them! I can't wait to see what else Festa brings us. The Dynamite choreo and Festa 4 cut pictures were adorable! Hope everyone has a good rest of their day!
^This is a really important read to understand why, yet again, international fans are acting out of ignorance of Korean culture and embarrassing us all. Fan sites have existed for years and are not "shippers."