On January 21, MBC released an article posting photos of NewJeans' Minji leaving Incheon International Airport and heading to Paris Fashion Week.

The article was released with the title, "NewJeans Minji, Sharp beauty, international elegance," which at first glance, seems like an article praising the idol's visuals. However, Korean netizens pointed out that the title incorporated the word "Kalguksu" as an acrostic poem, with each new phrase beginning with a successive letter from the word (Kal Guk Su).

The article title refers to the incident when Minji apologized for a past incident that occurred during her appearance on webtoon artist Lee Mal Nyeon's YouTube channel in January 2023. During the session, she mentioned being unfamiliar with Kalguksu, a well-known Korean noodle dish, attributing it to her selective eating habits and lack of prior experience with the dish. However, this statement drew criticism and accusations, suggesting that she may have feigned ignorance about Kalguksu to maintain her idol image.

After the articles were released, K-netizens criticized MBC for their mockery of Minji. They criticized the lack of professionalism of the journalist who released the article.

With growing criticism and backlash, MBC removed the article and issued an apology on their website.

MBC wrote, "iMBC Entertainment is well aware of the importance of artists' intellectual property (IP). Recently, there was controversy surrounding a photo article title related to NewJean's, and we promptly took measures to delete it. We apologize to the affected artists and their agencies for any distress caused by this incident. iMBC Entertainment promises to take thorough measures in content management to ensure that such incidents do not recur in the future."