International Netizens Flood News Of South Korea’s Presidential Election With Comments About aespa’s Karina

Do they really care about politics?

Lee Jae Myung of the Democratic Party was officially elected as South Korea’s president. However, international K-Pop fans are focused on something else.

Lee Jae Myung | OPB

In a post containing the news, X users have flooded the comments with references to aespa Karina‘s recent political controversy.

karina: https://t.co/ChpFVtt5JP pic.twitter.com/bHy4ovXDCa

— ♡ (@lqsserafim) June 3, 2025

karina: pic.twitter.com/xE5G8K78e4 https://t.co/c4vdTCKSws

— 🦚 (@rubykiikii) June 3, 2025

Many referred to her as “Magarina,” a nickname recently coined by netizens.

MAGARINA was ended https://t.co/Claw9f7Bog pic.twitter.com/WZ5kbl7i7P

— FELIPEH #WoT #ECHO (@rmtopresident) June 3, 2025

magarina breaking into the national assembly as we speak https://t.co/bfSHp3GJ3D pic.twitter.com/KuW2dK67Vs

— ᜊ (@ahyesure) June 3, 2025

In a viral post on a Korean forum, K-netizens react to the lengths at which Karina’s reputation has been damaged overseas.

• “It’s over for her as Margarina. The other aespa members just stepped in sh*t by association.”
• “Sigh… Karina’s image has crossed the point of no return.”
• “Her image is trashed in the worst way. She brought it on herself.”
• “What’s Margarina gonna do now, seriously… ugh lol.”
• “Even on BBC’s TikTok, ‘Margarina’ is the top comment, so people are all like, ‘Who’s Karina?’ lol.”
• “So Karina’s known overseas too, huh? Her image is wrecked.”
• “Ka2rina”
• “Margarina lol.”

| theqoo

With the extreme focus on Karina instead of the political parties themselves, many wonder if the posts are merely performative activism in the name of K-Pop fanwars.

People in the qts giving more hate to Karina than actual members of the PPP and u wanna tell me this isn’t performative activism https://t.co/4Nv9qe80ti pic.twitter.com/5N5YI4VGGA

— gagged and tilted🦪 (@blueraspberrya1) June 4, 2025

The way karina is more TALKED than the actual elected president in the qrts says a lot that ppl don’t care about korean politicspic.twitter.com/2MpwMtJbRi https://t.co/W0t4Ucplb0

— Queenrina Bluu🍉 (@yusionbluu) June 3, 2025

See how the comments are all dragging karina? If he had lost, she would also be put on blame. Really shows it's all just a kpop fanwar to you lots, no genuine political concern at all. https://t.co/xacFX1faYS

— ilsa 🦝 (@mysonezen) June 3, 2025