Recently, Seventeen’s Hoshi shared a snapshot of his New York trip on his Instagram story, posting a photo of a PRADA billboard featuring aespa’s Karina along with the caption, "Nice to see you here in New York, my dongsaeng (little sister)."

This casual mention has drawn negative attention, with Korean netizens criticizing that Hoshi is "name-dropping" a female idol, which they believe could be problematic for both artists and not beneficial at all.

Some netizens also criticized Hoshi for using the term "my dongsaeng (little sister)," claiming it was overly familiar and suggested he was flaunting his close relationship with Karina.

Korean netizens commented:

"My little sister... lol."

"I don't think he chose the right time to flaunt his close friendship with another idol.. especially to a female idol at that."

"Please read the room Hoshi..."

"My little sister is so funny."

"Why did he post this?"

"It seems like he's showing off that he's close to Karina."

"He didn't need to post this."

"This is so random..."

"This is such a bad timing. Especially with what's going on with HYBE."

"This isn't the first time that a female K-pop idol was seen on a billboard ad."

"I'm embarrassed for him. LOL."

"Hoshi... please stay silent."

"Why did he need to post this now?"

"Is it hard to stay off social media at a time like this?"

"My little sister is so cringe."

SEE ALSO: aespa's 'Whiplash' reaches 100 million Spotify streams