Since last month, the traditional market Chuncheon Pungmul in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province has suddenly become an attractive destination for tourists, especially Kpop fans, after V visited the place and shared his experience on social media.
The photo of V wearing a military uniform and sitting on a bench in the market, posted on his personal Instagram, quickly attracted the attention. In particular, the bench that V sat on was engraved with an excerpt from the work "Camellia Flowers" by local writer Kim Yu Jeong.
These factors make this place meaningful not only for fans but also for those who love кσяєαn literature and history. Immediately, Chuncheon Pungmul Market became a hot topic of discussion on online forums and engaged a large number of tourists.
Chuncheon Mayor Yuk Dong Han himself posted a photo of V on his SNS, along with another photo of him posing in the same spot. This post received a hot response from more than 1700 people.
Chuncheon City also quickly seized the opportunity to promote this area thanks to V's outstanding influence by using his photo in press releases about the BTS superstar's visit helping the recovery of the flea market.
Not only that, the Chuncheon City government also announced that it had decided to invest 1 billion KRW (about 684,000 USD) to expand and improve the market's infrastructure. In particular, it also included marking the location where V checked in as a symbol of local tourism.
However, Chuncheon City recently received a request from V's management company, Big Hit Music, to remove the photo from all press releases and posts promoting tourism. Big Hit Music explained that the problem was the local government's use of the artist's portrait without the agency's approval.
In this regard, a city official explained, "Rather than requesting the deletion of V's photo, the company issued a press release in order to respond preemptively before the controversy started."
He continued, "It seems that the agnury were concerned about installing photo zones using V rather than photos," and added, "Local governments all over the country are using the places visited by BTS to promote the region, but there were many cases where copyright was a problem in this process."
Chuncheon City now begins taking steps to address the issue by redistributing the press releases again in response to the agency's complaint and requesting the removal of previously distributed photos of V.
When the news broke, some fans understood that Big Hit Music had a reason for copyrighting their artist's image. Some also believed that this was a move to protect V from trouble related to "other activities" during his "military service".
However, the majority of fans criticized HYBE's decision, claiming that the company was hindering the local flea market's restoration efforts while V was helping the place develop tourism. On SNS, there were many opposing comments shared:
- Is BigHit really serious? At times, the narrative from BTS's agency frustrates me. However, I understand it's related to copyright issues; ultimately, it revolves around financial interests.Just like BigHit did with Compose Coffee, they’re giving CC a set number of V's Cups
- Is it legal to just ask the mayor to delete it? People are just proud so why need to ask to delete it? Mayor was just maybe a fan also
- Why are they so insecure! Effing company is so petty, it’s the only talent co I know who, instead of promoting their artist is minimizing his impact and trying to erase his footprint. Like, isn’t it good that he makes the group relevant without spending anything! Bongo
- Bigнιтs such a snake theyre going after the Mayor of Chunchon just bc he took pics at the same location Taehyung took his and put his photo side by side w Tae’s. Whats worse is these are Taes PERSONAL photos while he’s an enlisted solider. NOT photos part of official BTS content
- They're just afraid of Taehyung impact fr
- i suppose they don't want Taehyung to be exploited in any political campaigns?
- It's his personal photos, and technically speaking, Tae is serving under the кσяєαn govt during this period of time. So by right, he should not or cannot be liable to the company or any third party.
