Chou Tzu-yu forced to apologise to Beijing

If you think that UK pop stars are a little disconnected from the struggles of everyday people, you might want to redirect your attention to South Korea, where a 16 year-old K-Pop star has been forced to read out a cringing apology to the Chinese government. But, happily, Chou Tzu-yu reads the note in such a way as to make it clear she's totally disassociated from the content.

Here's what happened: Chou is from Taiwan, and she went on TV in South Korea with her band Twice to do a song or two. During the course of her performance, she waved the Taiwanese flag about a bit.

Cue a massive shit storm.

The end result? Her panicky, pissweak management forced her to read out a prepared statement apologising to the lovely people of the Chinese government. That a K-Pop star should be forced to dance attendance on the Beijing regime is no surprise - our Chancellor and Prime Minister regularly submit themselves to lick buttholes in the hope of getting a few Yuan shoved into their hands.

But Chung managed to signal so much distance from the words she was being forced to mouth, she managed to create the least authentic pop star video since Sam Smith did the Bond theme:

It's hard to think how she could have distanced herself further from the bit of paper - perhaps if she'd have pretended the words were being dictated to her by a sock-puppet, or maybe made the "Whatevs" sign at the end of each sentence.

The funny thing is, her flag waving and the breeze it created may have helped swung the Taiwanese elections this week against the pro-China Vichyesque regime, and in favour of Tsai Ing-wen's independence party.

She's 16 and making pop music. She's also bringing geopolitical conflict to a head. What have you done today, Ellie Goulding?

You paid your taxes. Do you want a prize? Oh, okay then.

YoonA, K-Pop star, has been given a special prize from her government:

And now . . . she is the recipient of a presidential award from the South Korean government for being a dutiful and honest taxpayer who has made a significant financial contribution to her country. As part of the award she will be an honorary ambassador of Korea’s National Tax Service, helping to promote her fellow citizens’ duty to pay taxes.

In South Korea, you're celebrated for paying your share of tax. In the UK, you get an OBE if you don't.

Kpopobit: Kwon Ri-sae

The crash that led to the death of Go Eun-bi has claimed the life of a second member of Ladies' Code. Kwon Ri-sae died on Sunday.

Known professionally as Rise, she had had a career before joining Ladies' Code, both as a participant in the 2009 Miss Korea contest and then on a number of reality shows. Ladies' Code was a change of direction, or at least a difference in emphasis, as she moved into music.

Kwon Ri-sae was 23; she died September 7th following emergency brain surgery.

Kpopobit: Go Eun-Bi

Go Eun-bi, member of KPop group Ladies' Code and known professionally as EunB, has died after the band were in a traffic collision.

The band was formed last year and released two albums. They were travelling between gigs when the accident happened; two other members were seriously injured.



Go Eun-bi, a graduate of South Korea's Hanlim Multi Art School, was 22.