South Korean singer and rapper Karina from the girl group aespa is facing an unexpected controversy over a picture that she posted on her personal Instagram account. In the now-deleted image, which was uploaded on May 27, the 25-year-old K-pop idol was wearing a red and black varsity-styled jacket with the number 2 printed on it. She captioned the post simply with a red rose emoji. While the post at first seemed like just any other update on social media, and it did not immediately raise any red flags, many Korean fans of the idol believed that there was a hidden political message. This came at a time when South Korea was gearing up for its 21st presidential Election. Following the massive backlash, aespa’s agency SM Entertainment released a statement on May 28. As quoted by Soompi, the agency stated, “We apologise for causing concern due to our artist Karina’s recent post. Karina simply shared something from her daily life on social media, with absolutely no other intention or purpose.” Speaking about the deletion of the post, SM Entertainment added, “Once she realised that the post could be misunderstood, she immediately deleted it. We sincerely apologise for any distress this may have caused unintentionally.” The agency further assured fans that they will be more careful from now on to avoid such untoward situations. They stated, “Our agency will also be more careful and make greater efforts to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. We hope that our artist’s intentions will no longer be misrepresented or consumed with a particular agenda, and we will do our utmost to protect Karina and all of our artists.” And the reason behind the backlash? In South Korea, red is often associated with the current ruling party, the People Power Party. Meanwhile, the number 2 represents Kim Moon Soo, a candidate for the upcoming election. Many took to social media to express their frustration, accusing the aespa member of indirectly supporting a political candidate, even though she did not hint about it anywhere in the post. Upon realisation and backlash, Karina deleted her post. Aespa's Karina is facing backlash from netizens for wearing the colors associated with a conservative political party and including the party's number and emoji in her Instagram caption. For international fans this is equivalent of being a trumpie pic.twitter.com/T2p7hOKlhy — Flop Kpop (@TheFlopKpop) May 28, 2025 One of the users said, “Supporting the same party that tried to stage a coup and is known for being against women’s rights and supporting the patriarchy is actually crazy.” A different user commented, “Yeah, I’m unstanning until she confirms otherwise is true.” Meanwhile, her fans came out in support, telling others that she was just casually wearing a red and black jacket.