Why K-Pop Group Was Mistaken As Prostitutes at Los Angeles Airport
It appears the language barrier is what initially led to the misunderstanding at LAX of a K-Pop group being mistakenly investigated as prostitutes. If anything their promotion company should be happy about this arrest because of all the media attention the no name group has now received:
Newbie K-pop girl group Oh My Girl returned to Incheon International Airport on Friday morning after being held for 15 hours at Los Angeles International Airport. WM Entertainment, the eight-member girl group’s agency, said the girl group was held at the U.S. airport because they were mistaken for prostitutes.
“We have appointed a lawyer in the states because we need a valid explanation for the unfair detainment,” a person working for WM Entertainment said. WM added that Oh My Girl left for Los Angeles on Wednesday for photo shoot.
“A person working at immigration asked about the relationship between the girl group members and staff, and one of the staff members said ‘sister,’” a person working at WM told multiple local news agencies. “And the customs office thought it was weird because the girl group and staff members are not related by blood. The customs office also paid attention to a lot of props and clothes.”
Staff members reportedly tried to explain that they were visiting Los Angeles as singers, but they could not correct the misunderstanding at immigration, and the group and staff members’ smartphones were confiscated.
In the end, the girl group could not enter the United States and returned to Korea.
Oh My Girl released their first debut single in April, but the K-pop act is still largely unknown in the music scene. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
What about the reports they were traveling on tourist not work visas? If true they were breaking the law and lucky they were only detained 15 hours.
Before the media gets too spun up, they should compare why and how often Korean immigration turns away women at Incheon.
BTW … The Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders are due to come to Korea for Christmas. NFL cheerleaders have already been called out as near sex workers here. Somebody call immigration.
“A person working at immigration asked about the relationship between the girl group members and staff, and one of the staff members said ‘sister,’” a person working at WM told multiple local news agencies. “And the customs office thought it was weird because the girl group and staff members are not related by blood.
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Something about this part of the story doesn’t smell right. Anyone working in a customs position who has dealt with Koreans before knows that “sister” and “older sister” are common terms of reference used between Korean women of similar ages, even if they’re not related. Even if a newer agent didn’t know this, surely an experienced supervisor would have put that to rest pretty quickly. You have an international airport on the west coast of the U.S. where none of the customs agents knows anything about Korean language or Korean culture? Seriously?
“You have an international airport on the west coast of the U.S. where none of the customs agents knows anything about Korean language or Korean culture? Seriously?”
Have you ever met a TSA agent?
I guess this was customs, not TSA, but I expect they all come from the same pool.
Nah. customs agents are usually good. maybe not the most pleasant, but knowledgeable and efficient.
While I’ve never had any problems with the customs folks, I have a mixed experience with the TSA folks. Some are great. Some, well, to put it as nicely as possible, were “not right”.
@1: I had not read that but if true that would definitely add to the concerns the custom officials would have had about why they were entering the US.
@3: JoeC, I wonder if the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders will be a post-SHARP training event? I always loved how during SHARP training Soldiers are taught not to treat women as sex objects and then we promote NFL cheerleaders on to the troops.
@4: Bruce, nothing about LAX surprises me. It is one of the worst airports to fly through in the US. An Australian couple I am good friends with told that they could not believe what they experienced flying into LAX. They said it felt like they were entering a third world country. LAX’s only saving grace at least for troops is that it has an awesome USO.