Ssangyong Tivoli and Lee Hyori’s bikini dance

K-pop star Lee Hyori’s remarks about Ssangyong Motor Company’s new sports utility vehicle Tivoli have become the talk of the town.

“I hope Ssangyong Motor sells a lot of its new Tivoli car model, so that the company can get stabilized and re-hire those workers who have been trying to get their jobs back,” Lee tweeted Thursday. “If that happens, I wouldn’t mind doing a bikini dance in front of a Tivoli.”

When her Twitter friends proposed that she appear on a commercial for the Tivoli, she replied she was willing to do so for free if Ssangyong hires her. Amid a series of questions about the proposal, Ssangyong officially stated that the Tivoli’s commercials had already been made.

It was not the first time that Lee expressed her interest in the Ssangyong Motor issue. In February, she participated in a campaign to help support laid-off workers of the carmaker at a time when some of them committed suicide after a local court ruled in November 2013 that striking Ssangyong workers pay a total of 4.7 billion won (4.3 million U.S. dollars) in damages to the company. Back then, Lee wrote a letter to the workers, saying she hoped that there would be no more people who give up their lives because of other people’s indifference.

Ssangyong laid off 2,646 workers in 2009 due to financial difficulties. Unionized Ssangyong workers occupied and locked up the company’s main plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province for 77 days to protest the job cuts. Ssangyong and the police filed a lawsuit against the labor union seeking a combined 11.5 billion won (10.5 million dollars) in damages, citing lost production and injured police officers.

From a legal perspective, it is natural to file criminal and civil lawsuits against the illegal protesters. The court held the striking workers responsible for “illegal purpose and means” and “violence” used during the protests. However, some say that it was too harsh to demand each laid-off worker pay tens of millions of won (tens of thousands of dollars) in damages.

Despite different views about the strike and the labor union, the female singer showed a good heart to the people in dire situations. Entertainers’ remarks and behaviors have great influences over juveniles. Recently, entertainers’ campaign to sell calendars and donate the profits is gaining great public support. The more celebrities perform good deeds like Kim Jang-hoon, the couple Sean and Jeong Hye-yeong and the actor couple Cha In-pyo and Shin Ae-ra, the warmer our society will become.