Although celebrities were canceling events left and right out of respect for the passenger ship accident, Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye ultimately decided to attend Lotte's duty-free shop event on April 18 with thoughtful explanations behind their decisions. It was originally to be a three day event from April 18 to April 20, but the last two dates were canceled.  

However, the circumstances for April 18 were different as the main audience for this event was foreigners, more than 10,000 foreigners already entered the country in order to take part in the event; therefore, a sudden cancellation was deemed impossible, according to the Lotte duty-free shop's side.  The people believed they could not forcefully turn away the overseas spectators, who purchased plane tickets and booked hotels in Korea just for this event.  

Subsequently, the Lotte duty-free shop and the two actors' agencies held a lengthy discussion during which Lotte's party offered to reduce the time and scale as well as change the formation and nature of the event.  The singing and performances by the Hallyu stars were changed into a mass prayer for the safe return of the ferry's passengers.  

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In relation to this event appearance, Lee Min Ho's agency Starhaus Entertainment told Newsen, "We were hoping that the event would get postponed.  However, we also thought the promise made to the fans who visited Korea in order to see Lee Min Ho was important.  As the event's nature changed so that we could all pray for the safe return of the sunken ferry's passengers together, we reached a point of agreement and decided to take part in the event.  Our hearts were still heavy, but we decided to keep our promise to the fans."

Park Shin Hye's agency S.A.L.T Entertainment told Newsen, "We decided to take part in the event.  The event wasn't going to be fun and exciting, but rather solemn. We decided to take part because they told us we could all wish for the safe return of the passenger ship's victims.  The best alternative would have been to postpone the event so we could meet the fans later at a time everyone could smile.  However, we cautiously decided to appear as we deemed blindly postponing the event discourteous to the international fans who came to Korea in order to see Park Shin Hye."