As mentioned before, the two were in hot waters when South Korea learned that the two's endorsement for Chinese mineral water brand, Hongda Bingchuan, named their water source as Changbai Mountain. This mountain, which is currently shared by North Korea and China as it sits on the border, is called Baekdu-san by Koreans, and it is considered to be the sacred place of their ancestral origin. As there were attempts made by China to register the mountain as Chinese territory on UNESCO's World Heritage Site, or using it to promote tourism and bids for Olympics in the past, which Koreans have objected to, it is a sensitive topic.
Like, Kim Soo Hyun, Jun Ji Hyun's side has also revealed that although they did try to find a solution to work around the matter, they have ultimately decided to go through with their initial endorsement plans.
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Her agency CultureDepot apologized, and also explained, "The advertiser is a business that doesn't have any relation to the political controversy. They also emphasized that they did not have any political intentions of spreading the name of Changbai Mountain when appointing the actors for this Hongda Bingchuan advertisement."
They also revealed that as the advertisers have recruited famous directors from overseas to direct this advertisement, having Jun Ji Hyun back out of the contract would also cause harm to the staff hired from overseas.
Asking for understanding from the public, Culture Depot also revealed their hopes that misunderstanding won't further arise from this decision and that there may be no harm caused to both the actors as well as the staff and advertisers.
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