Naver halts sales of items suggestive of Japanese colonial rule on Zepeto

South Korean IT giant Naver has become an open target on Thursday for selling fashion items suggestive of Japanese outfits that were popular when Korea was under colonial rule on its metaverse platform Zepeto. Fashion items evidently inspired by styles that were trending during the 1912-26 Taisho era were on sale from Tuesday, according to users. Naver seems to have not considered the cultural and political context of such fashion items for Koreans, some argued.

The Taisho era was a time of relative liberalization and stability in Japanese history. But for many Koreans, cultural legacies from the era bring up the images of the nation‘s harsh history of losing its sovereignty to Japanese imperialists. 

Some public comments online said that “Korea’s heart-wrenching and humiliated history under Japanese colonial rule was just used as part of lucrative business for Naver,” while others said that “Naver has definitely crossed a line, our ancestors had to endure the 35 year-long period (under Japanese occupation).” 

Some Zepeto users even reported the controversial fashion items as contents that cause discrimination as well as political and social conflict. They said they would open a campaign to boycott the service, accusing Naver of glamorizing Taisho culture.

Some Twitter users also expressed their outrage by urging Naver to immediately ban sales of related fashion items and publish an official apology.

But others left comments saying it is “exaggeration to say that Naver tried to glamorize the Taisho era for selling items inspired from a certain period of history.” Some comments said that it is “too much to criticize since it was just everyday clothes that ordinary citizens could wear, not military or officials’ uniforms.” 

In the face of angry comments, Naver said on Thursday that it had stopped selling the items in the Korean version of the service, while purchasing the controversial fashion items is still available among users from different regions. 

“Such items were initially launched from Naver’s Japanese branch, thinking that a certain style is widely liked by Generation Z. We decided to delete the controversial items for users in Korea since such a fashion style could remind them of the Taisho period,” an official from Naver said. 

It is not the first time that fashion reminiscent of past Japanese imperialism drew public ire here. 

In 2016, French fashion label Maison Kitsune drew public criticisms for using the Rising Sun flag, a symbol of Japan’s militarism during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in their new collection lookbook. The controversy grew even bigger as the male model playing with the Rising Sun flag items in the lookbook turned out to be a young Korean model. 

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)