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Parent of Kyungbok High student asks for post to be taken down, irks aespa fans 

The K-Pop girl band (Image via Instagram/@aespa_official)
The K-Pop girl band (Image via Instagram/@aespa_official)

aespa's performance at Kyungbok High School and the ensuing controversy took another turn after a message was received from the parent of one of the students present at the event.

On May 2, the K-pop group performed at the all-boys school for the institution's 101st anniversary celebration. Following the performance, the members were reportedly subjected to s*xual harassment.

According to a post made on a social media forum, a number of students had gotten on stage with the members and forced them to take pictures, something which was not agreed upon. Some of them later uploaded pictures with inappropriate captions and explicit comments about the idols and their bodies.

SM sent aespa to an boys school with 0 security (only 1 woman trying her best to protect them), the boys crowded them, shoved their cameras on their faces, made sexual harassment jokes with e/o & teachers, jumped on stage, made sexual captions on their posts..They deserve HELL https://t.co/2YttFXdVlt

After receiving severe backlash from aespa fans, the school issued an apology.

Kyungbock High School made an official statement with an apology directed to SM and aespa on the bulletin board of their webside.SECURE THE SAFETY OF AESPA#에스파 #æspa #aespa https://t.co/jO1nNPOh2R

aespa fans were upset at the mother's lack of remorse

On May 4, a fan of aespa uploaded a message from the mother of one of the students involved. A post titled An aespa Fan Received A Message From A Parent Of A Kyungbock High School Student was uploaded to several Korean online forums.

In a screenshot of the message, one of the student's mothers can be seen requesting the fan to take down one of the posts since it mentioned her son.

One of the fans received this message (Image via The Qoo)
One of the fans received this message (Image via The Qoo)

The message said:

"Hello, I am a parent of a Kyungbock High School student who is affiliated with the controversy. The post you made has gone so viral that every time it is retweeted, our son’s real name is brought up and is cursed at by other users. As this is the first time we are going through something like this, our son is afraid to the point he is receiving treatment for trauma. We, as a family, aren’t able to sleep out of fear. I know I am in no position to ask you to take your post down, but I ask you…"

The OP was agitated at the parent's lack of remorse at her son's actions. Moreover, the comments about trauma didn't sit well with the aespa fanbase. The post was captioned with:

"I’m so taken aback. Is your family the only thing important? The only thing aespa members received in return for their performance was s*xual harassment. Have you ever thought of the members who went through that? How do you have no shame? Why are you afraid of a situation you made?"

Several other fans of the girl group also left furious messages in response to the mother's request, calling out her insensitivity. While many said that her request was not invalid, they stated that it should have been preceded by an apology and a promise to discipline her child first.

@Koreaboo But what that boy did was really bad... For everything bad one person does that person definitely need to face the consequencesWhen they thought about his son having a trauma they should've thought from the girl's side how they would've felt
@Koreaboo they're right...if the perpetrators feel uncomfortable how must the victim feel? It's definitely worse and the parents didn't even apologise at all, they went straight to trying to help their sons 😐

Some of the comments include:

“They should have apologized first.”

Many had some pointers on parenting:

“That parent probably believes not disciplining their children shows them, love. If you really love them, you should hold them accountable when they do wrong.”

Those sympathetic to the situation opined:

“If the perpetrators think they are going through a tough time, they should know it’s always worst for the victims… I hope the perpetrators are held accountable.”

However, the detractors chimed in:

“They are not the victims. Why do they only think of themselves?”
i need to hear no less than a sincere apology from that teacher and the students who laughed about the fact that if they touched aespa, they're gonna be imprisoned for sexual assault.
The school and the principal disgust me.. like wtf how could you blame fans and say we started this mess when we all want what the best for aespa!! Proof is everywhere and the apology letter is trash!! That was traumatizing for the girls fvck y’all!!
the person who climbed on the stage saying sorry to aespa fans wtf. apologize to aespa and not to usin korea, if something bad happens, they really post an apology to the public/fans but they dont apologize to the person who suffered https://t.co/TEP2A8pAsA

Incidentally, Kyungbok High School is the institution from which SM Entertainment's CEO, Lee Soo-man, graduated. Since 2008, several groups under SM Entertainment have performed at the school, including Girls' Generation, Red Velvet, and NCT 127.


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Edited by Sijo Samuel Paul
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