‘OMG is this photoshopped?’ BTS’ RM stunned by snaps with President Lee Jae Myung
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South Korean President Lee Jae Myung (in spectacles) and JYP Entertainment founder Park Jin-young with a digitally inserted image of BTS’ RM (in light blue).
PHOTOS: JAEMYUNG_LEE/X
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SEOUL – K-pop boy band BTS’ leader RM was apparently caught off guard when a photo appeared online showing him posing with the South Korean President.
The South Korean singer’s first reaction was: “OMG is this photoshopped?”
The image came from a photo-booth session at the launch of the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange, held on Oct 1 at exhibition centre Kintex in Goyang, Gyeonggi province.
President Lee Jae Myung and Mr Park Jin-young, founder of South Korean entertainment agency JYP Entertainment and co-chair of the new committee, stopped by an instant photo booth. The booth uses preset celebrity frames, and the featured star that day was RM. The result looked as if the BTS frontman had been there in person.
Mr Park, 53, explained during the shoot that RM was not in attendance, to which Mr Lee, 61, replied with a laugh: “So, let’s just pretend he is here?”
The two then posed with finger hearts and thumbs-up gestures. The photos were later posted to the President’s social media accounts.
RM, 31, also known as Kim Nam-joon, saw the images through fan platform Weverse. His comment in a mix of Korean and English – “OMG is this photoshopped?” – quickly went viral, drawing more than 10,000 “likes” and thousands of replies within hours.
Behind the playful moment was a serious announcement. President Lee said the newly created committee would combine government policy and industry expertise to strengthen the global reach of South Korean cultural exports, including music, film, games and webtoons.
He described it as a “one-team platform” between the public and private sectors.
Mr Park said his ambition was to create a global festival that could surpass American music festival Coachella.
The launch featured performances from K-pop groups Le Sserafim and Stray Kids, as well as congratulatory video messages from leading figures such as South Korean directors Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
