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| Nakanishi Chiyori, the Japanese contestant in "Produce 48." Courtesy of Mnet |
By Dong Sun-hwa
Nakanishi Chiyori, a Japanese contestant on Mnet's survival reality show "Produce 48," is under fire for saying "Korea has kimchi stink."
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| Screen capture of Chiyori saying "It smells like kimchi." |
The clip of her making the comment went viral online Monday.
Chiyori, 23, who was a member of the Japanese girl group HKT48, made the remark on January 8, 2014, when she arrived in Busan with other members.
"It smells like kimchi," said Chiyori, as she arrived at the airport. Other members attempted to stop her, but she made faces to show that she could smell something.
As of Wednesday, the singer was ranked No. 39 out of 96 rivals, with about 127,000 votes.
Only the top 12 will debut as a girl group in Korea. Questions are now being raised about whether Chiyori's comments will affect her ranking.
