Hybe has dismissed speculation that Seoul's plan to illuminate landmarks in red for BTS' comeback is politically motivated. The company said the color reflects the visual identity of the upcoming album 'Arirang'.
The Seoul metropolitan government announced it would light 15 landmarks, including N Seoul Tower on Mount Nam, Lotte World Tower, the Sebitseom islands and Cheonggye Stream, in red on Friday and Saturday nights to celebrate BTS' return. The decision led some fans and internet users to speculate it aimed to promote the People Power Party—whose symbolic color is red—ahead of the June local elections, as Mayor Oh Se-hoon belongs to the party. In a statement on Wednesday, Hybe said: “The red color theme was chosen to reflect the key visual identity of BTS' upcoming album 'Arirang.' The Seoul city government is using the color at our request.” The agency urged the public not to excessively interpret mass cultural events through a political lens. The statement followed a surge of online posts from BTS' global fandom, ARMY, criticizing the decision. Some fans used hashtags like #BTSisPurple to highlight purple as the group's longstanding symbolic color, noting that landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and Empire State Building have typically been lit in purple. 'Arirang,' the band's fifth studio album, is set to drop at 1 p.m. Friday, marking the first project with all members in three years and nine months.
