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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] A White Day gift sent by Jaemin, a member of K-pop group NCT DREAM, to fans has sparked unexpected controversy after reports emerged that most of the gift cards had already been redeemed at a specific E-Mart store before it opened.
E-Mart said on March 16 that it has launched an internal investigation to determine what happened.
“We apologize for the inconvenience caused to customers using E-Mart due to the gift card issue,” an E-Mart official said. “We are currently conducting an internal investigation to confirm the circumstances.”
On the night of March 14, Jaemin shared 30 Shinsegae mobile gift cards worth 100,000 won each with fans through the paid fan communication platform Bubble to celebrate White Day.
In his message, he wrote phrases such as “Today is White Day,” “My limit couldn’t be helped,” and “Happy Happy White Day,” while sharing an image containing the gift card barcode so that fans could use it on a first-come, first-served basis.
Some fans visited E-Mart stores the next morning to exchange the mobile gift cards for physical gift certificates. However, controversy arose after it was discovered that most of the gift cards had already been redeemed or used before the nationwide store opening time of 10 a.m.
In particular, many of the gift cards were reportedly redeemed at an E-Mart store in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, leading to speculation that a store employee may have used the gift cards before the store opened.
As the controversy spread online, posts claiming that an employee had been fired also circulated, but the claim has not been confirmed.
E-Mart said the matter is still under investigation and that no employee has been dismissed.
“Depending on the results of the investigation, we will take follow-up measures such as additional staff training and strengthen management standards related to gift card issuance and redemption to prevent similar incidents,” the company said.
Meanwhile, after the controversy escalated, Jaemin reportedly sent fans an additional 10 gift cards of the same value, saying, “There were still some left.”
알파경제 Paul Lee 특파원(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
