Soo-young, a member of the girl group Sistar and a singer, has once again mentioned the racial discrimination she experienced from a foreign airline.
On the afternoon of the 20th, Soo-young opened up on her SNS, stating, "I only consumed a small amount of alcohol served with my meal in the lounge before boarding the (American) aircraft, and I completed the boarding process without any sanctions or issues."
She explained that she requested a Korean flight attendant to confirm the meal time, but due to a mistranslation of her English sentence, the purser and a security officer came instead. She emphasized that she returned home without any further issues.
However, she reiterated that there were incidents that made her feel humiliated. She mentioned that the flight attendant gave her instructions in a condescending manner and that when she inquired about a Korean menu, she was given a foreign language menu instead, which she found incomprehensible.
Soo-young stated that even though a flight attendant who could communicate in Korean apologized to her, she still feels regret about the situation.
Furthermore, she clarified that she is not seeking compensation or aiming to expose the airline, saying, "I courageously left a message on SNS hoping that no one else would have to go through what I did."
On that day, Soo-young shared on SNS, "After finishing my schedule in New York, I boarded a flight to Korea via Atlanta," along with a photo of her Delta Airlines ticket. She explained, "I was just trying to confirm the meal time while being extremely tired and requested a Korean flight attendant, but the purser judged my attitude and treated me like a problematic passenger, suddenly calling security."
She expressed, "I even had to say, 'If I'm the problem, I'll get off,' and I had to endure cold stares and attitudes throughout the flight," adding, "At that moment, I thought, 'Is this racial discrimination?'"
She continued, "I couldn't eat anything during the more than 15-hour flight, and that experience left a deep wound stemming from racial prejudice," and added, "I hope no one is suspected or insulted because of their race."
Amidst this, eyewitness accounts from other passengers on the flight emerged, intensifying the controversy. One netizen pointed out, "Soo-young said she wouldn't eat because she was tired while being in a drunken state," and added, "I heard the staff saying that you shouldn't board a plane while drunk. You can't just say 'I'm wronged' or 'this is racial discrimination' like that." However, the authenticity of this post has not been confirmed.
[Ji Seung-hoon, Star Today Reporter]
