I had to double check the date after hearing this news, it is indeed the year 2024 and not 2004. Twenty years ago it would absolutely be the norm for K-pop stars to apologize to their fans for their personal lives but one would imagine in this day and age this groveling would not exist. Unfortunately for Karina of Aespa, the happy news of her dating Lee Jae Wook (both young and beautiful) would be fine but her fandom actually spent money to send a loud truck to SM Entertainment castigating her including with such gems as “Isn’t the true love of your fans enough”. Lol, no especially when it’s late at night and the alternative is a major hottie like Lee Jae Wook as a real man and not a symbiote like these K-pop fans. Her apology letter actually made all major Western news channels including CNN and BBC and now K-netizens are feeling embarrassed.
Well, so much for International Women’s Day.
LOL. Those fans don’t have a real life. I was just watching Alchemy Souls I. LJW is hot. I agreed. OK. I’m off now to binge LJW. LOL.
One thing that pisses me off is Western people being idiots claiming only Korean and Asian fans in general were being rabid savage towards this couple but the reality on their internet’s social medias like Twitter/X tells another story. Western fans were rabid savage towards them too.
Something else that must be mentioned is the vile attack on LJW’s character by KPOP’s fans all over internet.
lol wow on the news. Sounds like good publicity to put these crazy fans to shame on a whole new level. But why she should apologize in the first place like that is crazy in itself.
The company obviously made her do this, clearly there’s. Nothing to apologize, but they want to milk every Pennie’s out of those crazy fans despite their action having a negative effect on their artist. This unnecessary apology is embarrassing on her part, her boyfriend as if a crime was committed , the company, and those crazy fans. If u want change, then u gotta set the example so that those norms don’t happen and your life & industry do changed. Look at Jiso, YG never cared and their fans expected that hence the commotion was less and Jiso’s ex got less of bad rumors too. The weird rumors that LJW got was to the level that his agency sent statements they will sue.
SM has been notorious for treating their artists unreasonably with very limited freedom for them. How many suicides under that agency? YG and JPY are way better in comparison.
She shouldnt pen such an apology letter. She didn’t do anything wrong. I find such behaviour a sell out.
Kpop fans as symbiotes? 🤣🤣🤣
She shouldn’t have written it. It’s not a good thing for a future. She should get rid of the crazy fans now.
Idols always have to apologize for the most ludicrous things like living their lives.
Her company told her to do so. End of story. Happy Woman’s day btw.
Hopefully, she isn’t forced to do harm on herself. Korean stars suicide rate is high.
Spending money for that ? Seriously ! Wake up , there are so much people in need , help them instead of focusing in the private life of an idol who may not be active in a few months or years ! For International Women’s day , single moms , pads for the girls who can’t afford it, centers to help women to rekinkle with life after sexual abuse, old women who are left alone ,….
My husband who never read ent news, he came home 2 nights ago and ask me if such news are true because he saw it in a mainsteam UK news. I was surprised he knew. Just a dating news and you have such crazy fans. Worst then having enemies.
I did tell my husband, I think such unhealthy cultural comes from many very unhappy young kids, young adults in SK. I have personally seen just how unhealthy balance of work-life in SK especially in the city. it is normal to spend hours away from loved ones and study at school and cram school. The kids spend more time amongst people that age day and night… They end up turning to idolism to find emotional fulfillments and of course share similar interest with their friends.
It does not help in SK, money is invested to culture such idolism to it extreme. Fans really buy into the love of their idols and such love also makes them part with their money and time. they give alots to their idols and equally expect lots back. These unhealthy relationship building is so dangerous. But such culture is not just in SK, China, Japan too have such strong fandom followings.
Of course such conversations can go on endlessly. I am just speaking aloud my opinion and no offense intended against anyone. I really feel it is easy to blame the fans but the main ones responsible are more then the young fans…it is also the irresponsible adults behind it who is making lots of money out of these fans. It is a sad situation which will not get better if no changes are made.
Do you wanna know another sad thing is that KPOP’s fandom culture is present in every country right now. KPOP’s fans all over the world have adopted and live this mentality of believing they own their KPOP’s idols heart and soul.
It is but in poorer parts of Asia, the kids do not have so much money or even time to spend on idolism. I dont think thus culture is not as bad those parts of Asia who is struggling with day to day living…but of course it is down to prospective.
I do agree SK Ent industry is very aggressive at foster such craziness. They strongly encourage the insane idolism adoration so they can earn more money. They manufacture new idols yearly and use lots of phycological tactics to draw fans in. It is just too scary for me. The downside is the obsession the fandoms feel towards their idols.
It’s the same in China. Idol worship and toxic fan culture is rampant there. This news was on the Western media because Kpop is extremely popular worldwide now. But C-ent not yet.
I think C-ent will only be popular in China. I really cannot see it expanding elsewhere… Their toxic culture can stay in China… Again, I may be wrong.
I don’t see C-ent expanding outside China either. It once looked creative and promising but now I see it degrading in artistic values. Acting has been stale in general because actors just don’t have interesting material to work on. Whenever I found a fun Kdrama to watch, either inspiring or just entertaining to kill time, it always occurred to me how bad Cdramas in general compared to that. Empty plot and boring stories. Bad directing didn’t help either. K actors keep improving cos they continue to have interesting projects to work with. But C actors just lack opportunities to challenge themselves with intriguing proposals from script writers and directors.
Is C-ent interested in reaching to the Western media? I would say no. C-ent now seems to be in self-contained mode. It is not letting in foreigners unless they totally submerse in speaking Mandarin and following the C-culture. K-drama is always in Netflix. C-drama not. I don’t think C-ent cares what the rest of the world view it, it is so controlled by the C-government that no one can say anything else except their own people.
@Jessica, I won’t say C-drama producers aren’t interested in expanding the market outside China. They also crave for lucrative revenues from streaming rights bought by international streaming sites. Just look at how Tencent and iQiyi have made efforts to take some market shares in SE Asian countries, but mostly in mini dramas at lower production costs. It’s the reality driving C-drama to be so-called “self content” with focus on the domestic market LOL since regular C-drama by far still can’t compete with K-drama.
I’m seeing idol worship in C-ent more in the C-drama coup, similar to Kpop. I used to be a very active 2nd gen Kpopper. I gradually outgrew it when my life got very busy with exams and work promotion etc. Never feel missing anything. LOL. But my fandom back then was a smaller fandom compared with those huge ones.
You dont need to apologize karin..
I also think it’s awful the crazy possessive fans did this to the woman and not the man.
The man is a Korean actor so maybe there’s something cultural surrounding the job of an actor like they have to kiss different actress in each project they take on so his fans maybe not see him as a boyfriend. While the woman here is a KPOP’s star so fans believe they own her. A KPOP’s star is all about passing the image of being owned by fans.
I’d not say he is not getting damaged by this whole messy situation he is in. Karina’s fans, her group’s fans, KPOP’s fans in general are all trying to ruin his reputation with slander and defamation.
I too think being a K-actor and being a KPop idol may have different types of fans…