It is not uncommon for controversies to occur when there is a clash between two K-pop groups. Recently, K-Pop fans are in the middle of a debate on whether the joke made by a member of NCT 127 during their live broadcast the night before their concert in Bogota, Colombia, in the middle of their “Neo city – The link” tour, about BTS was disrespectful.

The story originates from a situation where the NCT members were the main characters in the story and were mistaken for BTS. But this wouldn't be worth mentioning if netizens noticed how NCT members use words to talk about BTS.

It created a huge dicussion and debate on online community these days:

The story begins with the NCT members sharing some of the stories they've been through on their recent livestream. Although it is normal for idols to do live broadcasts before or after concerts, what really caught the attention was an anecdote and a joke by the group members about a mix-up with another famous K-Pop group.

In a restaurant that the group visited when they were in Bogota, a waiter confused the members of NCT 127 with the members of BTS, a common mistake of a person who is probably not very related to the world of K-Pop.

Jungwoo shared the anecdote with the audience, recounted what happened and thanked the Colombian waiters for their excellent customer service. Taeyong, however, made another comment in which he referred to BTS as “that group“, and did not use the Korean’s honorifics, referring to someone older or more experienced.

BTS debuted 3 years before NCT 127, and for issues of respect and culture, the younger ones should refer to their elders as “BTS sunbaenim”, which is equal to “BTS sirs”. That omission by Taeyong has gotten him into trouble in the general K-Pop public by labeling him as disrespectful.

Specificially, the conversation of NCT members was translated below: 

- Jungwoo: I have another funny episode, hyung. Whenever we went to eat somewhere, there were some people who mis-recognized us and thought that we were a different group.

- Taeil: BTS?

- Jungwoo: No, no, I'm just saying, not that.

- Mark: (Laughing) Then what?

- Johnny: Keep telling your story.

- Mark: Yeah finish it.

- Jaehyun: What did you want to say?

- Jungwoo: No but... I thought this would be a funny story.

- Taeyong: Oh, you mean that one time that Yuta just said 'Yes, we are'?

- Jungwoo: When we were joking about it, it was funny.

- Mark: No but I just thought it was like cute and funny how we went to drink tequilas and one of the servers mis-recognized us, and then they gave us more drinks as service.

- Taeyong: In that case, you should maybe thank that one group.

- Mark: Well it wasn't just that but that server was just very friendly with us in general and had good service.

K-netizens are now debating whether or not this mention of BTS was "rude". Some commented:

- "That group? That's BTS sunbaenim..."

- "A sunbae artist of 3 years is 'that group'?? Wow where did your manners go."

- "They're talking about BTS like some hoobae group?? Rude."

- "Wow... just flat out proving the reason why your name isn't known over there huh."

- "Thank you BTS SUNBAENIM."

- "These flops... they apparently don't treat anyone except SM Entertainment artists as sunbaenim."

- "Why are they acting like BTS is Voldemort or something lol."

- "Your sense of inferiority is showing..."

- "It's fine to talk about BTS, like they're world famous so... but it should be BTS sunbaenim..?"

- "And this is why they will never reach the status of BTS."