Idol Death Threat Issue Is Getting More Serious: NewJeans, aespa’s Winter, IU And More
Netizens pour criticism as the issue of death threats against idols continues without a proper measure to stop it
Another idol death threat issue arose once again after a long time. This time, it happened to NewJeans. Recently on June 24th, a post titled, “I bought this to use at NewJeans concert”, in an online community aroused keen attention. Attaching a photo of a knife, the netizen left a shocking message, saying “When they get off the van, I’m going to stab each one of them”.
Fans immediately filed a complaint with the police and reported it to NewJeans’s agency ADOR. The knife in the post is believed to have been taken from an e-commerce site and the post has also been deleted.
It is not confirmed whether the netizen actually planned to commit the crime, but the public is demanding strong punishment for the person who made death threats against NewJeans. In this regard, ADOR released their stance on the 25th, saying “We are preparing to enhance safety measures with the Japanese concert organizer. At the same time, the police in Korea are investigating the case.”
Prior to NewJeans, Winter from aespa also suffered death threats posted in online communities in August last year. Someone made a post threatening to stab Winter when she departed for an overseas schedule. Back then, aespa had to leave for the US to attend a festival. Upon being aware of the threatening post, the airport deployed special security guards for the girl group. Aespa’s agency SM Entertainment also stated, “We have sued the person who made the post to the police”.
Singer IU also faced a death threat once and police were even dispatched to the female singer’s agency and home for investigation. BTS’s Jimin received a total of three death threats in the US from 2017 to 2018. In addition, IVE’s Jang Won-young, TWICE’s Mina, Apink’s Son Na-eun, as well as first-generation idols Baby V.O.X’s Kan Mi-youn also struggled with threatening letters with blood stains and envelopes with razor blades.
Such death threats with weapons have continued since before, and postings hinting at a death threat can result in charges such as attempted murder and threatening under the current law. Moreover, if obstruction of duty charge can also be applied if police are mobilized due to threatening posts.
Until now, there have been no cases of people being legally punished for posting death threats against idols. Even if they got caught, the public doesn’t know how follow-up measures were taken. In reality, only light punishments were imposed, instead of attempted murder charges, so the public has voiced a need for strong penalties even for posts considered jokes without intentions of committing the crime.
