Girls Generation accused of war crimes

Apparently, netizens are WWII insignia experts.

There’s been a lot of hoot and holler for Girls Generation‘s new “marine girl” look, but it’s not all male gawking and hairstyle compliments. The girls are currently getting a lot of flack for their insensitive use of imagery that conjures up Nazi and Kamikaze insignia. It all started when the keen eyes of netizens noticed that the fighter plane on their new album cover looks almost exactly the same as the A6M Zero-Sen aircraft that were introduced during World War II and utilized by Kamikaze suicide bombers.

And if that wasn’t enough to fuel the fire, netizens continued analyzing the individual concept photos of the girls and found that their military pins resembled the ones used by the Nazi regime. The eagle has been a part of the coat of arms of Germany for its entire history as a unified state, but the design of the eagle pins on the hats and breast resemble the Parteiadler, which is the eagle insignia for the Nazi party.

Some of the girls also sport iron cross breast pins that are the national symbol for German military decoration, since the early 1800s. So of course, if we’re going to conjure up images of the German military, people think of WWII.

Honestly, it is undeniable that these symbols, minus obvious swastikas and Japanese flags, are present in the girls photos. SM Entertainment released a statement regarding the WWII imagery, citing it was the ignorance of the photo shoot designer and that the girls are not to blame. Looks like someone should have done a little more research before designing that album cover and props. SM went on to further say that this was by no means intentional, and that they were simply going for a marine concept more than anything.

You know, sometimes netizens dig up interesting pieces of information, but this just leaves a bad taste in your mouth. The Japanese occupation and German imperialism during WWII is still a very sensitive subject for Koreans, so it is understandable why they are so furious over this blatant display of ignorance, but is it necessary to just rub everyone’s face in it so much just to tarnish the reputation of these girls who probably haven’t had enough education to fully realize people’s distress?

Side note~isn’t it ironic that the most controversial Girls Generation member Tiffany is so conveniently clean of any WWII insignia in her individual shot?

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