South Korea’s newest K-pop phenomenon has had a remarkably brief honeymoon period after a petition was launched demanding that the group be banned from performing because one of the three Japanese members previously sang the Japanese national anthem at an event for the military.

The South Korean-Japanese pop project IZ*ONE was formed out of the 12 finalists from a Korean music talent show and released its first eight-track album on Monday.

Any hopes that the spiralling diplomatic relationship between Seoul and Tokyo might be reversed through the lyrics of K-pop and that historical differences of opinion might be set aside have quickly been dashed.

A petition on the website of the Blue House, the official residence of Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, is demanding that the “Japanese right-wing” singers be banned from appearing on television programmes.

The petition, which had gathered more than 26,000 signatures in its first three days, is calling for the group to be barred because Sakura Miyawaki sang the national anthem at an event for the Japanese Self-Defence Forces and other “right wing-related concerts”.

The row comes at a difficult time for relations between South Korea and Japan.

On Tuesday, Mr Moon said he hoped to build “forward-looking” ties with Japan after the South Korean Supreme Court ruled that a Japanese steelmaker should provide £69,100 in compensation to each of four Koreans forced to work at the company’s factories during World War II.