Popcorn ‘controversy’ involving Ex-KARA member explained

Kang Ji-young, a former member of the girl group KARA, raised a few eyebrows when she uploaded an Instagram story featuring a popcorn machine Sunday while fellow ex-bandmate Goo Ha-ra was in the midst of an assault scandal involving her ex-boyfriend.

Kang, who now works mostly as an actress in Japan after KARA disbanded in 2016, decided to update her Instagram story showing a popcorn machine.

(Koo Ha-ra and Kang Ji-young's social media)

The act of eating popcorn is often associated with the idea of sitting back and enjoying someone else’s drama in modern pop culture.

The familiar clip of Michael Jackson eating popcorn at the cinema -- taken from his “Thriller” video -- is one of the most widely shared examples.

A screen shot of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video.

Given this backdrop and the timing, observers guessed there was a hidden meaning behind her Instagram story.

“The popcorn was uploaded around two days after the scandal broke,” one Naver user wrote.

Others, however, advised against reading too much into the post.

“People love to doubt,” another user wrote.

Kang’s agency has denied the rumors. One of the officials from her agency told the Korea Economic Daily that the two had a good relationship and Kang posted the short clip because she found the image of popcorn kernels popping in a machine interesting.

Speaking to Edaily, Goo branded the popcorn controversy as something not even worth talking about. She denied that she and the actress had “that kind of relationship.”

By Yim Hyun-su (hyunsu@heraldcorp.com)