SEOUL — The agency for K-pop superstars BTS apologized Wednesday for members wearing a T-shirt depicting the explosion of an atomic bomb and a hat with a Nazi emblem.

Japanese TV broadcasters recently canceled or stopped discussions on appearances in that country after images went viral of the musician wearing the shirt. The South Korean boy band ran into more troubles after news broke out that another member wore a hat featuring a Nazi symbol in a magazine photo book and band members flew flags with what appeared to be the Nazi swastika during a concert in the past.

“We would like to again offer our sincerest apologies to anyone who has suffered pain, distress and discomfort due to our shortcomings and oversight in ensuring that these matters receive our most careful attention,” the band’s agency, the Big Hit Entertainment, said in a statement.

The T-shirt portrayed an atomic bombing juxtaposed with the celebration of Korea’s 1945 liberation from Japan at the end of the World War II. The United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki before Tokyo’s surrender.

Before its division into North and South Korea after the liberation, the Korean Peninsula was colonized by Japan from 1910-1945. Many in both Koreas still harbor strong resentment against the Japanese colonial masters. But in South Korea, it’s extremely rare for anyone to publicly celebrate or mock the atomic bombings. The atomic bombings killed more than 200,000 people in Japan. A South Korean government estimate says about 40,000 of the dead were Koreans, while a victims’ group put the Korean death toll at 50,000, many forcefully mobilized as laborers by Japan.

South Korean politicians criticized the Japanese broadcasters’ decisions to cancel BTS appearances, accusing Japan of harboring “self-centered views on history” and letting politics interfere with cultural exchanges.

It doesn’t appear the T-shirt controversy is seriously affecting the band’s huge popularity in Japan, with 50,000 people reportedly filling up the Tokyo Dome to watch their performance Wednesday evening after a similar reception on Tuesday.

The BTS agency said the A-bomb shirt’s wearing was “in no way intentional” and that it wasn’t designed to “injure or make light of those affected by the use of atomic weapons.” It said it still apologizes for “failing to take the precautions that could have prevented the wearing of such clothing by our artist.”

Regarding the hat furor, it said all apparel and accessories used for the photo book were provided by a media company involved in its publication. It said the flags in question were aimed at symbolizing South Korea’s restrictively uniform and authoritarian educational systems, not the Nazism.

“We will carefully examine and review not only these issues but all activities involving Big Hit and our artists based on a firm understanding of diverse social, historical and cultural considerations to ensure that we never cause any injury, pain or distress to anyone,” the agency statement said.

The seven members of the band, which has a worldwide following, in May became the first South Korean artists to top the Billboard 200 albums chart with “Love Yourself: Tear.” The band began its Japan tour earlier this week.

South Korean K-pop and movie stars are extremely popular in Japan and other Asian countries.

Story: Hyung-Jin Kim

LONDON — In a hard-won victory, British Prime Minister Theresa May persuaded her fractious Cabinet to back a draft divorce agreement with the European Union on Thursday, a decision that triggers the final steps on the long and rocky road to Brexit.

But she faces a backlash from her many political opponents and a fierce battle to get the deal through Parliament as she tries to orchestrate the U.K.’s orderly exit from the EU.

May hailed the Cabinet decision as a “decisive step” toward finalizing the exit deal with the EU within days. It sets in motion an elaborate diplomatic choreography of statements and meetings.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier declared there had been “decisive progress” — the key phrase signaling EU leaders can convene a summit to approve the deal, probably later his month.

Crucially, Barnier said that “we have now found a solution together with the U.K. to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.”

But the agreement, hammered out between U.K. and EU negotiators after 17 months of what Barnier called “very intensive” talks, infuriated pro-Brexit lawmakers in May’s Conservative Party, who said it would leave Britain a vassal state, bound to EU rules that it has no say in making.

Those “hard Brexit” voices include several ministers in May’s Cabinet. Emerging from the five-hour meeting at 10 Downing St., May said the Cabinet talks had been “long, detailed and impassioned.” She said there had been a “collective decision” to back the deal, though she did not say whether it was unanimous.

“I firmly believe, with my head and my heart, that this is a decision which is in the best interests of the United Kingdom,” she said.

In a warning to her opponents, May said the choice was between her deal, “or leave with no deal; or no Brexit at all.”

If the EU backs the deal, as it likely will, it must be approved by Britain’s Parliament. That could be a challenge, since pro-Brexit and pro-EU legislators alike are threatening to oppose it.

Pro-Brexit lawmakers say the agreement will leave Britain tethered to the EU after it departs and unable to forge an independent trade policy.

On the other side of the argument, pro-EU legislators say May’s deal is worse than the status quo and the British public should get a new vote on whether to leave or to stay.

In between those two camps are May’s supporters, who argue that the deal is the best on offer, and the alternatives are a chaotic “no-deal” Brexit that would cause huge disruption to people and businesses, or an election that could see the Conservative government replaced by the left-of-center Labour Party.

Failure to secure Cabinet backing would have left May’s leadership in doubt and the Brexit process in chaos, with exit day just over four months away, on March 29.

She still faces the threat of a coup attempt from her own party.

Under Conservative rules, a no-confidence vote in the leader is triggered if 15 percent of party lawmakers write letters requesting one. The required number currently stands at 48 lawmakers; only the lawmaker who collects the letters knows for sure how many have been submitted.

Pro-Brexit Conservative lawmaker Conor Burns said he wanted a change of policy rather than a new leader, but added: “There comes a point where if the PM is insistent that she will not change the policy, then the only way to change the policy is to change the personnel.”

The main obstacle to a withdrawal agreement has long been how to ensure there are no customs posts or other checks along the border between the U.K.’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after Brexit. Britain and the EU agree that there must be no barriers that could disrupt businesses and residents on either side of the border and undermine Northern Ireland’s hard-won peace process.

The solution in the agreement involves a “single EU-U.K. customs territory,” to eliminate the need for border checks.

As part of the agreement, the U.K. will agree to follow EU rules in areas like animal welfare, environmental standards and workplace protections — another source of anger for Brexiteers, who say Britain should be free to set its own rules.

The solution is intended to be temporary — superseded by a permanent trade deal. But pro-Brexit politicians in Britain fear it may become permanent, hampering Britain’s ability to strike new trade deals around the world.

Leading Euroskeptic Conservative legislator Jacob Rees-Mogg urged his colleagues to vote against the deal, saying it “will lock us into an EU customs union and EU laws. This will prevent us pursuing a U.K. trade policy based around our priorities and economy.”

The draft agreement also mentions potential “Northern Ireland-specific regulatory alignment” to avoid a hard border.

Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which props up May’s minority government, insists it will oppose any deal that leaves Northern Ireland subject to different rules to the rest of the U.K. after Brexit.

“We could not as unionists support a deal that broke up the United Kingdom,” DUP leader Arlene Foster said.