Big Hit Entertainment Confirms BTS’s Jungkook Visited Itaewon During Social Distancing Period
Big Hit Entertainment has released their statement regarding Jungkook‘s Itaewon visit, confirming he was in Itaewon on April 25 and apologizing for his actions.
In their official statement released to the media, Big Hit Entertainment explained what happened with their delayed statement, and apologized for Jungkook’s behavior.
Hello, this is Big Hit Entertainment.
This is our official position regarding BTS Jungkook’s visit to Itaewon, Seoul.
First of all, we would like to sincerely apologize for our late acknowledgment that there were a number of inquiries from the media about Jungkook’s visit to Itaewon, and that there was a problem with our initial response.
It is true Jungkook visited Itaewon. However, at the time of his visit, he did not go to the same venue that had the confirmed case in early May. He went about a week before that case occurred. In addition, we decided that it would not be appropriate to disclose the artists’s personal daily life activities to the public because we voluntarily took measures such as taking the Coronavirus test, according to government guidelines.
However, there is no excuse to this decision, as it showed that we clearly did not recognize the seriousness of social distancing during this time, as the artists’s managing agency. Instead we put more priority into the protection of the artist. We would like to bow our heads in apology to everyone for this.
Jungkook visited Itaewon restaurants and bars on Saturday, April 25. Since his visit, he has not had any Coronavirus symptoms such as coughing or fever, and he voluntarily got tested at a screening clinic, and tested negative. Currently, Jungkook is deeply reflecting on the fact that he has not faithfully participated in the efforts of keeping social distance.
Big Hit is doing our best to follow the Coronavirus guidelines and preventative measures, such as social distancing. We will be more thorough so something like this does not happen again. We apologize for the inconvenience cause to our fans and the public.
— Big Hit Entertainment
Earlier in the day, Dispatch reported that Jungkook was in Itaewon with ASTRO’s Cha Eunwoo, NCT’s Jaehyun, and SEVENTEEN’s Mingyu during the social distancing period that began on April 25.