aespa becomes target of sexual harassment following performance at all-boys school

K-pop

Published: 03 May. 2022, 11:41

aespa becomes target of sexual harassment following performance at all-boys school

Girl group aespa performed at an all-boys high school on Monday and became the target of sexual harassment from students. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Girl group aespa performed at an all-boys high school on Monday and became the target of sexual harassment from students, outraging Korean netizens and international fans alike.

aespa performed during a school festival at Kyungbock High School. The all-boys school located in central Seoul is the alma mater of Lee Soo-man, the head of aespa’s agency SM Entertainment. Rookie K-pop acts under the SM label have traditionally performed at the school’s festival over the years.

Controversy arose when a number of boys rushed onto the stage uninvited during the performance to take pictures with the group, then later when students swarmed aespa as the group was leaving. aespa lacked enough body guards and appropriate security measures for the duration of their time at the school.

Afterward, screen captures of social media posts uploaded by the high school students, which show pictures they took of aespa along with sexually inappropriate comments, started circulating online.

aespa fans and Korean netizens alike are expressing outrage toward the students’ behavior as well as the overall lack of proper security. “Secure the safety of aespa” has been a trending social media hashtag among MY, the name for aespa fans, since Monday.

Kyungbock High School soon issued an apology on its website for the students’ disorderly conduct, but denied that the inappropriate social media posts were made by its students.

“After we looked into the matter and asked students, we are assuming that some outsiders who were not allowed inside the school but came to see the performance wrote such posts maliciously,” the school stated. “We apologize again for damaging the honor of SM Entertainment and aespa.”

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]