The managers of hugely popular South Korean boyband BTS have issued an extensive apology after controversy erupted in the lucrative Japanese market over a T-shirt worn by one of the vocalists showing a nuclear blast.
In a 1,000-word statement released in Korean, English and Japanese, management firm Big Hit Entertainment repeatedly offered its "sincerest apologies".
It sought to distance the septet from the row, saying it bore responsibility, and went on: "Big Hit does not condone any activities of war or the use of atomic weapons."
Responding to further accusations the K-pop stars had used Nazi imagery, the company said it opposed all organisations "oriented towards political extremism and totalitarian beliefs including Nazism".
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