Yuri, “my country”

Girls’ Generation Yuri is in quite a predicament at the moment because of a statement she said 4 months ago that Koreans deem as very wrong.
The incident happened in September 2007 when the group’s members were in Hanbok and filmed a video greeting for their fans on Chuseok. In the said video, Yuri said, “When I’m in Hanbok, I feel that I’m graceful. This Hanbok is my country’s tradition…”
After 4 months since it was made, a netizen, who is a member of the singer’s fan cafe, released it to the public and that was when Netizens got fiery.
For a non-Korean, her statement posed no problem but for Koreans, there was a big problem with it. Korea’s culture focus on the “we” and not on individualism. For example, non-Koreans express “My mom…” and “My family,” but for Koreans, those statements are said as “Our mom…” and “Our family…,” using the collective term “our.”
The comments on what Yuri said vary from “This girl group doesn’t think,” “She should study Korean again,” “Which country are you from?” However, there was one Netizen who did not make a big deal out of it and commented, “it was just a mistake.”

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