Kyungbok High School Filed Apology to Aespa Over Sexual Harassment Controversy, “Not Students but Outsiders”
Aespa (under SM Entertainment) was recently sexually harassed while attending a festival at Kyungbok High School.
On the 2nd, in an online community, a photo of aespa surrounded by crowds without proper security at the Kyungbok High School festival spread. The members held each other’s hands and barely moved. A netizen presumed to be a student released a photo of aespa and left a sexually harassing review saying, “I did everything except touch.”
In this regard, Kyungbok High School released an article titled ‘Apologizing for the 101st Anniversary Ceremony’ on its official website on the 2nd. They said, “Today, a celebration for the 101st anniversary of the school was held by the Kyungbok Alumni Association at our auditorium. Idol group aespa was invited to perform at the ceremony. However, after the event, there were reports and events that unilaterally damaged both aespa and SM Entertainment’s reputation, so we would like to apologize first.”
However, Kyungbok High School claimed that the malicious comments online were made by outsiders, not students. They said, “However, as a result of conducting an in-school survey of our students following the media reports, it was determined that some outsiders who are not affiliated with our school visited the venue and we did not allow them to enter for security reasons. Thus, we can infer that the malicious comments that were posted on the internet are not true.”
The full apology from Kyungbok High School is as follows:
“Today, a celebration for the 101st anniversary of the school was held by the Kyungbok Alumni Association at our auditorium. Idol group aespa was invited to perform at the ceremony. However, after the event, there were reports and events that unilaterally damaged both aespa and SM Entertainment’s reputation, so we would like to apologize first.
However, as a result of conducting an in-school survey of our students following the media reports, it was determined that some outsiders who are not affiliated with our school visited the venue and we did not allow them to enter for security reasons. Thus, we can infer that the malicious comments that were posted on the internet are not true.
However, after today’s event, we would once again apologize to SM Entertainment and aespa for damaging their reputation.”
