BTS leader RM was apparently caught off guard when a photo appeared online showing him posing with the South Korean president.
His first reaction: “OMG is this photoshopped?”
The image came from a photo booth session at the launch of the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange, held Wednesday at Kintex in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province.
President Lee Jae Myung and Park Jin-young, the founder of JYP Entertainment and co-chair of the new committee, stopped by an instant photo booth. The booth uses preset celebrity frames, and that day the featured star was RM. The result looked as if the BTS front man had been there in person.
Park explained during the shoot that RM was not in attendance, to which Lee replied with a laugh, “So let’s just pretend he is here?” The two then posed with finger hearts and thumbs-up gestures. The photos were later posted to the president’s social media accounts.
RM, also known as Kim Nam-joon, saw the images through fan platform Weverse. His comment in a mix of Korean and English — “OMG is this photoshopped?” — quickly went viral, drawing more than 10,000 likes and thousands of replies within hours.
Behind the playful moment was a serious announcement. President Lee said the newly created committee would combine government policy and industry expertise to strengthen the global reach of Korean cultural exports, including Korean music, film, games and webtoons. He described it as a “one-team platform” between the public and private sectors.
Park said his ambition was to create a global festival that could “surpass Coachella.”
The launch featured performances from K-pop groups Le Sserafim and Stray Kids, as well as congratulatory video messages from leading figures such as film directors Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook.
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