When you’ve been around K-ent long enough it’s just a matter of when for many K-stars to get lobbed a bully allegation or worse. Not most though, there are still plenty of stars whom have never misbehaved in private to warrant fear of public reveal, but there are more stars than we know of who have and it’s just not out there yet. Which is why it’s never a surprise but merely a “really?” followed by resignation that another one may have to be set side. The latest is Nam Joo Hyuk, who after nearly a decade in K-ent is getting his first public bully allegation. It’s from an unnamed high school classmate who said he was bullied by Nam Joo Hyuk in middle school and high school. He said Nam Joo Hyuk hung around a big group of all bullies, made kids run errands for him, cut in the lunch line, pushed the student, and used swear words a lot. The alleged victim posted a picture from the high school yearbook of 2013 which was a year Nam Joo Hyuk attended. Nam Joo Hyuk’s agency Management Soop swiftly denied the allegations and has stated it will take legal action for the spread of unfounded rumors and defamation.
Let’s see how it plays out. If he’s innocent, sucks on him to be dragged down. If he’s not, poor dude on the other end who had to dealt with it during his school days.
aren’t there any sanctions for the people to drag other people down?
its quite tiring and definitely irritating to hear people bringing the past just to put some people down — to thinks that the “actions” were done during the puberty period. can’t they just move on? can’t they accept the fact that some are trying to live better, straighter lives and have matured as compared to 5-10 years ago? or are these bashers simply envious that some celebrities are now in a stable state that they would simply like to rock the boat?
i mean, i find raising bullying issues of 5-10 years ago super unacceptable. people do talk about past relationships, attitude problems and negative experiences during gatherings and reunions to reminisce and laugh about; but to announce it to the ‘world’ to tarnish somebody’s name, well that’s a totally different matter.
You forgot to mention that he is accused of bullying the victim for six years. The story is not believable because Joohyuk spent the first two years of his middle school in Busan, then he moved to Suwon in the 3rd grade of middle school, so he only spent four years of school time in Suwon, not six years.
Yeah, that’s what make many korean netizens side with him or stay neutral. They ask if the alleged victim got bullied by Joohyuk through Bluetooth. I laughed out loud when I read that comment on Netizenbuzz.
This is funny 🤣. U made my day.
Here we go again. Really? He’s innocent until proven guilty by the court of law. Op already insinuating he’s guilty by mere allegation. It’s so easy to come forward to “allege” something that happened years ago. I question the timing. Why now? Why not when he debuted? If alleged victim really wants closure and money for mental anguish, approach the alleged offender for private settlement mediated by their respective attorneys. Settle it privately. By going public, the intention is to harm NJH’s career and reputation beyond repair ala Heard Depp court case.
Yes, it’s scary that bully allegations. As we see with depp vs heard case. All those yeas heard claimed he abused her&make him lost all his movie&people cancel him.
I hate bully&think they deserve punishment worst than what they do to the victims but until it was proven guilty we must not blindly trust those claims. One’s career on stake.
Look what happened to tablo and his family have to endure those false claimed.
Agree. These days, people make a career out of victimhood. Without a single proof, I hope people will respect the position of “Innocent until proven guilty”. Too many people out there saw the power of those allegations and there are bad people who take advantage of real victims’ experiences to take others down and that’s unfortunate.
Koala must still be on a high from Alchemy for Joo Hyuk to be spelt Joo High.
The agency did a great job dealing with the accusation. I’m usually skeptical when I read a response from an agency after their artist gets into a scandal, but soop’s strong response makes me believe that it’s not true.. well, let’s see if we will hear more from the alleged victim today. If there’s indeed a big group of bully and he’s part of it,I’m sure more victims will speak up as well.
Must be some truth to it otherwise why risk being outed by NJH’s legion of fangirls. No surprises. Sienna Hong a youtuber explained the drinking culture, rape culture (roofied) and repressed nature of SK men due to conservatism. She’s a Canadian Korean who went back to live in Korea. Culture shock for her. The difference between local Koreans and overseas Koreans is that the locals sweep taboo topics under the carpet and not talk about it. I suppose bullying is very rampant in their culture too.
the alleged victim’s statement is proven to be false, though. He says he was bullied for six years, how could he not remember that Jooohyuk went to middle school and high school in Suwon for only four years.
Njh is not the only bully. The victim can be a bullied for 6 years and in those 4 years NJH was part of it. Just saying.
Culture shock is common for foreigners trying to act as locals even though they are not. Different house with different rules. That youtuber really has to adapt to local culture instead of pointing out flaws. But of course, her motive is to attract views which explains her inflammatory videos.
So men openly groping girls when they’re walking on a street is ok Kelly? Or men pulling girls into their cars without their consent? She’s a Korean herself for crying out loud. So you’re admitting local Koreans discriminate against foreign born Koreans. She did say not ALL Korean guys are like that but that the sexual assault behaviour is not being called out. It’s women like you that these men get away with rape.
Wow. A delulu that defends her oppa even if he’s a rapist.
I’ve been to SK multiple times. They have unique culture, yes, but they are good people.
Openly groping in the streets? Where did they go to?
SK is one of the safest place on earth and has the one of the lowest crime rate.
Visiting multiple times don’t give you a full picture. You have to live there full-time. Oh the men don’t target certain foreigners. All foreigners come under a discrimination scale.
Have you been to SK? Go and live there before you blubber unfounded info. I won’t be surprised if you haven’t been anywhere outside your town.
@Sienna – “men openly groping girls” “men pulling girls into cars” There are horrible people everywhere in this world. EVERYWHERE! Not just in Korea. I am not defending anyone here. I travel to many different places. Open your eyes to see the real world. Do not merely watch youtube or your entertaining reads!!! In my opinion, people complaining of culture shock are those who cannot adapt. People who let bully get into their minds need to find ways to cope, ignore the bullies and move on with your life. I am one who speak with experience, this is how I can survive. BTW – who gets away with rape here? Do not exaggerate.
Hope Soop will sue the pants off them. Defamation is no joke ought to be punished severely. Joohyuk fighting back is awesome. Joohyuk’s Soop label mate Jihyun also got copped cyber bullying. She archived her entire ig content to start anew in April. As soon as her comment section was enabled, the bullies got to her again. Some of their comments are just downright vile. I don’t know how she copes with it. NJH and NJH fighting!
i love njh and was very disappointed to see this at first. but soop’s swift and very strong rebuttal has convinced me these allegations are not true. they not only threatened to sue, which is part of standard controversy denial responses from agencies, but also are appealing to press arbitration commission to get the false statement corrected.
Time to stop all these anonymous no evidence allegations. This is equivalent to a witch hunt. further, this was years ago. A person is allowed to be a jerk when young, badly influenced by others and change into a different person and mature and grow up to be a better person. Why encourage a culture of vindictiveness and back stabbing and anonymous allegations such as bullying which happens all the time, just the degree of it is different? not all bullying is the same, and not all bullies grow up to be bigger bullies. Korea should wake up from the victimhood mentality and pity me mentality and grow up. And if you allege you better have proof. proof isnt by mere association or by mere name. Nam Joo Hyuk has nothing to disprove and knetz should be well aware of that. Reputation is everything and person making baseless allegations should be sued, named and shamed because this tantamount to bullying as well.
I’m always confused as to why victims wait until their alleged bully hits fame before speaking out. Innocent/guilty, it’s suspicious that Nam Joo Hyuk has been in the industry for so long and yet allegations are only coming out now. Sometimes it feels like they want to see how far these public people will fall as soon as they’ve hit a high point.
(In no way am I saying real victims don’t deserve their justice. No one should ever feel threatened whether it be mentally, psychologically, or physically.)
i also wonder why these accusers come out at the height of the artist’s career.
i feel bad for the artists who are greatly affected by such LATE accusations. Take a look at NJH’s buddy Ji Soo, who’s now on hiatus even before he got the real feel of being the main lead.
While Ji Soo’s accusations came at a time where he was starting as male lead, he did admit fault so my sympathy doesn’t go to him but rather his victims.
I have come to doubt people who accuse successful actors of bullying. Come out when the so-called bully debuts, not when they have hit the jackpot. Isn’t what they are doing a form of bullying as well?
Honestly I found Soop’s response to this very convincing in that he’s not guilty. It was not just swift, they really are willing to sue the accuser and are absolutely sure (at least in their statement). There was no delay or hesitation. I highly doubt this is true and there’s a reason very few are believing it too.
Glad to see that his agency was so forthright and quick to answer and initiate legal action. I am a fan of NJH so I’m not objective about him. For what I have seen, he seems to be reserved, even shy, and with a sweet personality. I can’t picture him being a bully. For now, I prefer to believe that this is baseless defamation and will wait for further news about this.