Bias Tracker: allkpop reports Big Bang’s bags stolen, Soompi asks if it was a hate crime

As far as sensationalist media stories go, this one has to be up there.

The story is that the bags of Big Bang‘s Seungri and Daesung were stolen in Japan, resulting in them losing their passports and other items.

allkpop said as much in their “Big Bang Daesung and Seungri’s bags stolen in Japan” article, writing:

Members of Big Bang have fallen victim to robbery. Bags containing their passports and personal items have been reported as stolen.

According to Sankei Newspaper and several other Japanese news sources, on August 17th, somebody broke into Big Bang’s van and stole the members’ bags.

The report went on to state that the group’s manager was driving the van alone and parked near Toshima in Tokyo. While the manager was away from the vehicle, a thief broke the windows and stole Daesung and Seungri’s bags, which contained money and their passports.

In a phone call with OSEN, a representative of YG Entertainment revealed, “The situation has been taken care of, so we believe there will not be any problems.”

Sucks, but why would you leave your passports in the car, right?

Anyway, seems like your run of the mill news item, no?

Well Soompi said FUCK THAT SHIT, we’re going HAM up in this motherfucker with their “Big Bang’s Car Robbed in Japan: Victim of Hate Crime?” article, saying:

Big Bang’s car was robbed in Japan, resulting in the loss of Daesung and Seungri’s passports. But local media is suspecting it as a result of hate crime stemming from the rapidly growing anti-Hallyu sentiment across Japan.

According to Yomiuri Shimbun on August 17, Big Bang’s van was broken into while it was parked at a hotel in Tokyo. The door’s window was cracked open by a hammer and the members’ luggages were stolen as well. The bag had the passports and cash of Daesung and Seungri, it was later discovered.

But fans and press are questioning the motive behind the robbery. The incident coincidentally happened in the early morning of August 15, the Korean Independence Day, which is also the anniversary of Japan’s Second World War surrender.

Although it’s unclear if the robbery was actually carried out by an anti-Hallyu advocate, local media is suspecting it as hate crime, as many Japanese fans demanded TV stations to abstain from airing any Korean-related shows. In fact, NHK”s BS Nippon and BS Japan indefinitely suspended the airing of “A Man Called God,” after the show’s lead role Song Il Gook was later discovered to have participated in an event claiming Dokdo (Takeshima in Japanese) as Korean territory.

Perhaps, it’s a bit of a stretch to call this hate crime just based on the date of the incident. But the two countries’ relationship has clearly soured recently and anything involving Korea and Japan together could possibly face similar accusations one way or another.

I have no idea what part of that article is Soompi’s own writing and what part of it is some shitty Korean media source (since they don’t cite their sources), but what an unreal jump in logic. Soompi has been down this road before regarding Japan, but I think this takes the cake.

I can’t wait for one of the AKB48 girls to have something stolen on December 7th so that the Japanese media can blame it on American tourists as revenge for Pearl Harbor or something. Fuck yeah!