BTS's fan club ARMY began an online protest against the Korean government with the hashtag "South Korea apologize to BTS" after news broke that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism ordered an investigation into the alleged chart-rigging practice, sajaegi in Korean, by the boy band's agency HYBE back in 2017.

The hashtag movement began Saturday night when local media reported that the Korean Culture Ministry said it would hand over a petition it received regarding the BTS case to the Korea Creative Content Agency (Kocca), the state-run institution in charge of all genres of popular culture in Korea.

The Culture Ministry said it received a petition to investigate why the BTS agency was blackmailed for chart rigging practices and paid off the blackmailers back in 2017.

Another petition sent to the Culture Ministry requested that the Order of Cultural Merit, given out by the minister of culture, sports and tourism, be revoked from the group should the allegation be true.

Kocca will begin a thorough investigation and demand an answer from HYBE after the ministry gives the order.

The investigation comes after online posts pointed out last weekend that HYBE, formerly Big Hit Entertainment, was blackmailed by a person surnamed Lee and three accomplices in 2017 for allegedly using “expedient marketing strategies” while promoting BTS’s album in 2015.

Lee was sentenced to a year in prison and the three others were let off with a fine, but the term “sajaegi marketing” was specifically mentioned in the ruling, with the court saying that Lee had made a “sajaegi marketing deal” with Big Hit Entertainment and threatened the company based on that account.

“The victim did provide grounds [for Lee] to make the blackmail by proceeding with expedient marketing measures,” the court said in its reasoning for sentencing Lee to a year in prison.

HYBE said Thursday that it reported malicious posts defaming the boy band and will continue monitoring online communities to prevent further damage against the artists.

“The victim did provide grounds [for Lee] to make the blackmail by proceeding with expedient marketing measures,” the court said in its reasoning for sentencing Lee to a year in prison.

HYBE said Thursday that it reported malicious posts defaming the boy band and will continue monitoring online communities to prevent further damage against the artists.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]