Blackpink caught up in Vietnam-China feud
published : 7 Jul 2023 at 10:05
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Reuters
Vietnam is investigating the website of Blackpink’s tour organiser, ahead of the K-Pop superstars’ concert in Hanoi, after fans complained that it shows a map of the South China Sea with disputed boundaries.
The controversy follows Hanoi’s decision to ban the movie Barbie over a scene allegedly featuring the “nine-dash line” used in Chinese maps to illustrate Beijing’s claims over vast areas of the South China Sea, including areas Vietnam considers its own.
Vietnam’s culture ministry said it had ordered an inspection of the tour website.
The Chinese organiser iME Entertainment and the South Korean agency YG Entertainment, which manages Blackpink, had no immediate comment.
The organiser’s website was inaccessible on Thursday but a cached version seen by Reuters and last updated on July 4, shows a vague nine-dash line that includes nearly the whole South China Sea.
Vietnam and China have long had a dispute over claims to the waterway.
Blackpink, including Thai member Lisa Manoban, is due to perform in Vietnam for the first time ever on July 29 and 30.
Learn from listening
Vocabulary
- ban: to officially say that someone is not allowed to do something - ห้ามอย่างเป็นทางการ
- boundary: a real or imagined line that marks the edge or limit of something - เขตแดน,เส้นแบ่งเขต
- cache: a quantity of things that have been hidden or stored, especially weapons - สิ่งที่ซ่อนไว้
- caught up in: get involved in something that limits action, decisions and what you can do -
- claim: saying that you have the right to have or own something, especially land or property - การอ้างสิทธิ
- controversy: a disagreement that a lot of people have strong feelings about - ความขัดแย้ง
- dispute: a serious disagreement - ข้อโต้แย้ง
- disputed: involved in a disagreement - มีความขัดแย้ง
- feud: an angry disagreement between two people or groups that continues for a long time; row; dispute - ความอาฆาต
- illustrate: to show what something is like, or to show that something is true - แสดงให้เห็น
- immediate (adj): happening or done now, without any delay - ทันที; ทันทีทันใด
- inaccessible: difficult or impossible to reach or get - ซึ่งเข้าไม่ถึง ซึ่งได้ยาก
- inspection: an official process of checking that things are in the correct condition or that people are doing what they should - การตรวจสอบตรวจตรา
