The group H1 KEYcomposed of four members of the Grandline Group (GLG), debuted on January 5, 2022 with the song Athletic Girl and quickly attracted attention. However, soon after the group’s debut, controversy arose as one member’s father contributed to the Thai military regime.
At that time, after the news of StarAfter the debut of , Thais responded negatively via SNSs such as Twitter. This is because the idol’s father publicly supported the military regime while working as a director in Thailand.
His father was Thai actor and director Sarunyu Wongkrachang, who was reportedly a supporter of the People’s Democratic Reform Committee, which played a key role in Thailand’s 2014 political crisis, according to both. The Times of Korea AND The Bangkok Post.
More seriously, Sitala wrote in her profile that her father is her role model. This has led many people to believe that she and her family support military dictatorship.
Thailand has been under a military dictatorship since the 2014 military coup. Anti-government protests calling for democracy are periodically held in this country. Meanwhile, the army forcibly represses protesters calling for democracy to maintain government power.
A Thai criticized “The government has taken away the dreams and hopes of all people, especially teenagers. Many young people were incarcerated, but Sitala was given a good opportunity.” Another Thai also gave a negative response, saying: “Sitala’s family supported dictators.” At that time, Thais posted more than 1,000 comments H1 KEYaccount of.
However, Star received great support from Koreans.
Korean netizens on Instiz showed various reactions, saying: “Although it has nothing to do with our country but…”, “The company didn’t know, right?”, “I’m interested in the other members because they seem beautiful and attractive.”
But things didn’t go well. Just 5 months after its debut, Star announced his departure from H1-KEY.
On May 25, 2022, H1-KEY – GLG agency said: “Sitala, who has been with us as a member of H1-KEY, has decided to withdraw from the group for personal reasons.”
