Shinhwa's Kim Dong Wan Asks Other Fandoms to Respect Shinhwa and Fans by Not Using Orange

Shinhwa member Kim Dong Wan has now shared his thoughts after his fellow member Eric asked junior groups not to use orange as their fandom color, as their fandom Shinhwa Changjo has been using since 1998. It’s said that Eric’s comments were made in light of the recent reveal of iKON‘s light sticks, which some describe as a shade of orange.

On December 19, Kim Dong Wan updated his Facebook with a letter that addresses the issue. His full post is as follows below.

“I sincerely apologize for all sexually harassing comments that were directed towards junior groups from accounts connected to the name of Shinhwa or Shinhwa Changjo, no matter what the reason or where they originated from.

I hope that Shinhwa Changjo will be respectful of junior groups’ fandoms in the future so that this sort of incident does not occur again.

The way I feel right now is not very different from the way g.o.d‘s Park Joon Hyung, fin.K.L‘s Ok Joo Hyun, or Sechs Kies‘ Eun Ji Won feels. We have to concede many things to the junior groups, and we need to support and encourage them so that they can advance. It is time for us to give some of the benefits we have received to them, under the premise that we will not be letting up with our own activities either. Now, Shinhwa is in a position where we have to get used to giving more than receiving.

The color orange does not belong to us. No color in this world can belong to someone. It’s only that if you are a fan of someone, or if you are a singer with a large fandom, there is an ‘unspoken rule’ that you automatically know and that we keep among ourselves. I do not want us to become a laughing stock for being possessive over something that no one can possess.

But there is one thing that I cannot, realistically, ignore.

It is that next year, Shinhwa will be promoting. Since we have not promoted at the end of the year in a long time, it’s natural that Shinhwa has become distant from the year-end award ceremonies and special performances. Although it’s amazing to stand together with singers who’ve shown us great promotions that year and to wrap up the year with a magnificent ending with so many fandoms…

So therefore next year Shinhwa not only plans to be promoting in the second half of the year, we also plan to be on stage at the year-end award ceremonies, to be together with Shinhwa Changjo. We will be performing the most times during this promotion period since our 2012 album ‘The Return.’ We’ll of course be doing this together with many junior groups and many fandoms.

Shinhwa’s promotion period won’t be long compared to that of the shining and energetic junior groups.

Shinhwa and Shinhwa Changjo have to spend this short time together passionately and warmly. I sincerely hope that there won’t be any obstacles in the way of us spending this time together.

When I hear junior groups say that Shinhwa is a senior group that they admire, or say that they dream of being like Shinhwa, I am so grateful and I think that we’ve done well at getting through a lot.

We aren’t hoping for admiration. We are just hoping that a few of the things we have protected during our long time together will be respected. Those things are Shinhwa and Shinhwa Changjo, and the sea of orange lights that we see when we’re on stage. Respect for us will return in kind to you and to your heroes on stage.”

Do you think other groups should avoid using orange as their fandom color because of Shinhwa?

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