Broadcaster Lee Sang-min, a member of the co-ed group R.ef, has recounted an incident tied to a past uproar over alleged song plagiarism.
In a video posted March 2 on the YouTube channel “Jjanhanhyeong Shin Dong-yup,” titled “Can this even air? Tak Jae-hoon, Lee Sang-min, Kim Jun-ho,” Lee addressed reports that he caused a commotion after R.ef’s third-album title track “Cheonsang Yuae” was accused of plagiarism.
“I got angry and hit glass, and I was slightly hurt,” Lee said, adding that he learned then that “everything has to be fact-checked.”
The song, released in 1995, was previously swept up in controversy over claims it plagiarized “Omasuri Ninja” by the Japanese six-member group Ninja. Lee has also said in the past that there were separate composers for “Cheonsang Yuae,” but that he still felt guilty for singing it.
Tak Jae-hoon, reacting to Lee’s account, said he “ran to the hospital crying” and told him, “Even I’m living with just 1,000 won, so why would you die?” He added that when the bandage came off, “a scab had already formed,” suggesting the injury was not serious.
Lee said he had pushed the members to practice and finished recording because he liked the song so much, but the plagiarism dispute erupted before promotions even began. “I was shocked, too,” he said. “There was a singer who sang the exact same song I sang. If it had been a remake, nothing would have happened, but it really hurt my pride.”
Lee again stressed that he was not suicidal at the time, saying, “I didn’t want to die.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.