They're pop stars, not history experts
These days, it's not good enough if an entertainer has a pretty face, hot bod, wicked dance moves and sweet vocals.
K-pop stars face unrealistic sky-high expectations from netizens who seem to want their idols to be history experts too.
Earlier this month, Jimin and Seolhyun from sexy K-pop girl group AOA were slammed when they failed to identify the late An Jung-geun, a famous South Korean independence activist and national hero who was executed by the Japanese, on their TV show Channel AOA.
Last Sunday, the image of Seolhyun, one of Korea's tourism ambassadors, was removed from the Visit Korea Committee's official website.
To legions of keyboard warriors, their mistake was a travesty.
Some labelled the duo "stupid", "embarrassing" and the "nation's idiots", while others deliberately fanned fierce patriotic flames and criticised them as "dumb pro-Japanese".
APOLOGISED
During AOA's live showcase last week to promote their new mini album Good Luck, Jimin, 25, and Seolhyun, 21, cried and apologised on stage, their heads bowed in sorrow.
SORRY: YouTube screengrabs of K-pop girl group AOA's Jimin and Seolhyun crying as they apologised for not recognising a national hero.It pains me to see these usually cheerful girls looking so sad, like they had their life force sucked out of them.
Yes, they may be cultural ambassadors of the Hallyu wave, but at the same time, they are also ordinary human beings who would by now have chucked their secondary school history textbooks aside.
Besides, both Jimin and Seolhyun graduated from high schools that focus on music and the arts - which explains their passion for showbiz - and they've never professed to be book smart.
One of my favourite US novelists, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated and critically-acclaimed Jonathan Franzen, went on long-running TV quiz show Jeopardy! recently and, quite hilariously, flubbed questions related to William Shakespeare.
Sure, Franzen needs to brush up on his knowledge of the Bard, but his gaffes sure didn't diminish my admiration of his writing.
So if you're going to ditch your love for AOA because of Jimin and Seolhyun's boo-boos, then don't call yourself a true fan.
SORRY: YouTube screengrabs of K-pop girl group AOA's Jimin and Seolhyun crying as they apologised for not recognising a national hero.Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now