Winner’s Mino Apologizes for On-Air Mistake Calling Korea An Archipelago

Responding to the controversy for his fault at “2014 SBS Gayo Daejun,” WINNER‘s Song Min Ho has revealed that he has performed in accordance with the script
During the “2014 SBS Gayo Daejun“, he called Korea an archipelago instead of a peninsula, sparking the ire of many viewers. However, it”s now been revealed that the “archipelago” statement was actually on the script and he was merely reading off the script.
Because Song Min Ho has no experience MCing, all he did was read as he was prompted on the script. Some are pointing out he could have corrected the script himself, but as Song Min Ho has no experience especially on a stage as large as the “2014 SBS Gayo Daejun”, he was most likely nervous and wasn”t able to.
YG Entertainment could not be contacted for comments.
WINNER’s member, Song Min Ho (Mino) has come under fire for mistakenly invoking the name of Korea as an archipelago.
Song Min Ho was one of the MCs for the “2014 SBS Gayo Daejun,” which was unfortunately fraught with problems. There was an audio error 10 minutes into the show, and the camera kept pointing elsewhere. Taeyang also forgot his lyrics during his collaboration stage with Jeff Bernat.
However, out of all the mistakes of the night, viewers were the most disappointed when Song Min Ho said, “The Korean archipelago was shaken.” Many were surprised he could have made the mistake because Korea is a peninsula, not an archipelago. The mistake might have earned a little more criticism because the word “archipelago” in Korean is usually associated with Japan.
However, his mistake may be understandable because the word in Korean for archipelago (yeol-do) is similar to the word for peninsula (ban-do).  

Winner’s Mino Apologizes for On-Air Mistake Written by Cjontai On December 23, 2014
It appears that 2014 refuses to end on a quiet note as another member from Winner gets caught up in a verbal faux pas. This time, it was rapper Mino who made the controversial error.
During the SBS Gayo Daejun broadcast, Mino made a comment about how a performance “shook up the Korean ‘Yeol-do.’” The term ‘yeol-do’ generally references an archipelago, or more specifically Japan, as it is a series of islands. While the mistake may seem small to some, the comparison of South Korea to Japan using this term is viewed as disrespectful, in part because of its ties to the Japanese occupation before the Korean War. Since South Korea is a peninsula, the comparison came off as politically insensitive. Feelings regarding the Japanese occupation still run deep among many Korean citizens, so certain key words invoke very strong reactions. Unfortunately for Mino, ‘yeol-do’ happens to be one of them.
Mino later apologized for his poor choice of words, but SBS came to his defense, blaming the incident on a last minute edit to the script he read. There are mixed reactions in light of these clarifications, with some saying Mino should have paid better attention and caught the mistake. On the other hand, others are defending Mino, putting the blame on the production team instead for allowing such a term to be written into the script in the first place.
This is not the first time an idol has come under fire for using politically charged language. Last year, Hyosung of Secret faced similar flames for using a phrase incorrectly during a radio broadcast. Given the amount of exposure these idols face daily, perhaps it would be a good idea to invest in some public relations and improvisation classes to train them on handling these unpredictable conditions. It would certainly be better than constantly doling out apologies for verbal misunderstandings.