Murder threats targeting K-pop industry: ‘I will kill Winter’, online post terrifies aespa girl group member
- South Korea’s K-pop industry has become the latest target for online threats of violent copycat crimes in recent weeks
- Winter of aespa girl group, has been targeted, as have staff at SM Entertainment, home to a number of K-pop acts including boy band NCT
The K-pop industry has become a target for online threats of violent copycat crimes triggered by random stabbing attacks in South Korea in recent weeks.
On August 3, 22-year-old Choi Won-jong rammed a car into pedestrians outside a department store in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, before attacking shoppers with a knife inside the building.
The attack, which killed a woman in her 60s and wounded 13 people, is believed to be a copycat crime of the stabbing spree that took place on July 21 in which Cho Sun, a 33-year-old man, killed one man and injured three others in southern Seoul.
These incidents have led Korea to see a spike in the number of internet posts threatening to carry out similar crimes, with 119 people caught sharing them as of Friday, according to the police. K-pop stars and their staffers are now also victims of these threats.
Hanam Police Station in Gyeonggi Province revealed on Friday that a man in his 20s – whose identity has been withheld – uploaded a post online saying he would kill nine members of staff at SM Entertainment. SM Entertainment is home to a number of K-pop acts including boy band NCT and girl group aespa.
The man insisted that he committed the act “in a fit of rage,” because he believed an SM artist – a girl group member who he has been following for 10 years ― did not like him. He reportedly sent her social media messages about his feelings for her. The police found he had mapped out a criminal plan.
