Ryu Jun Yeol, who has been recently embroiled in the "Transit romance" controversy with Hyeri and Han So Hee, has been accused of greenwashing this time.

On March 21, a representative from the international environmental organization Greenpeace told HeraldPOP, "Ryu Jun Yeol, as our ambassador, has been actively involved in various Greenpeace campaigns since 2016 and is also a sponsor of Greenpeace. Based on his willingness to participate in various environmental campaigns in the future, in April 2023, we appointed actor Ryu as the first promotional ambassador for Greenpeace East Asia." They also stated, "His activities as an ambassador are voluntary work based on personal goodwill."

Ryu Jun Yeol was selected to be the ambassador of the international environmental group Greenpeace but has recently been accused of Greenwashing due to his actions that are contradictory to the environmental protection he has been promoting. 'Greenwashing' is a term used when a company, organization, or an individual mislead the public to believe that they are doing more to protect the environment.

Earlier last year, Ryu Jun Yeol was acknowledged for his efforts in raising public awareness about environmental deterioration and was selected as the first promotional ambassador for Greenpeace East Asia. However, recently, attention has shifted due to the "Transit romance" controversy with Han So Hee. Subsequently, his actions that are contradictory to environmental protection have sparked concerns of greenwashing.

Many netizens pointed out that Ryu Jun Yeol is an avid golfer, which is considered a significant contributor to environmental destruction, and he was seen carrying a calf-skin leather bag; in addition to having multiple plastic phone cases, he was seen changing often. This backlash in his actions extended to Greenpeace, where he serves as an ambassador, and many are asking the organization to remove Ryu Jun Yeol as their ambassador.

In response, Greenpeace released a statement explaining, "We are currently reviewing inquiries from sponsors regarding this matter. Greenpeace operates solely on individual and independent foundation sponsorships without receiving funding from governments or corporations. One of Greenpeace's roles is to amplify the voices of citizens to lead changes in governments and corporations. We will take this opportunity to review and discuss the regulations related to the ambassador program."

Below is the full statement from Greenpeace:

"Ryu Jun Yeol, as our ambassador, has been actively involved in various Greenpeace campaigns since 2016 and is also a sponsor of Greenpeace.

Based on his willingness to participate in various environmental campaigns in the future, in April 2023, we appointed actor Ryu as the first promotional ambassador for Greenpeace East Asia.

His activities as an ambassador are voluntary work based on personal goodwill.

We are currently reviewing inquiries from sponsors regarding this matter. Greenpeace operates solely on individual and independent foundation sponsorships without receiving funding from governments or corporations.

One of Greenpeace's roles is to amplify the voices of citizens to lead changes in governments and corporations. We will take this opportunity to review and discuss the regulations related to the ambassador program.

Thank you."

Korean netizens commented, "He was only saying he's an environmental activist with just his lips but his actions said otherwise," "They should change the ambassador quickly," "They should change to actress Park Jin Hee. She really cares about the environment," "I remember Park Jin Hee said she was so envious of Ryu Jun Yeol being the ambassador for Greenpeace," "I'm more surprised that Greenpeace had no idea about Ryu Jun Yeol liking non-environmental friendly things, lol," "Did they get paid by him? Why are they stalling?" "He always has new phone cases, lol," and "So they're not going to change the ambassador?"