AOA, aka Ace of Angels, originally consisted of Kwon Mina, Jimin, Seolhyun, Cho A, Hyejeong, Channi, Yuna, and Youkyung. The last-named member left the group after her contract expired in 2017, and Chol A left due to health issues.
In May 2019, Kwon Mina left the group and decided not to renew her contract with FNC Entertainment.
Jimin quit the group and the entertainment industry as a whole in July 2020, and a month later, Mina posted about ten years of emotional pain and abuse. At that time, she hadn’t named anyone in particular but later quoted the person in the post as Jimin.
The messages and transcript released by Dispatch are of a chat belonging to the group just months after Jimin’s father’s death in April 2020. According to the public, Kwon Mina had attended the funeral and apologized to Jimin, who also apologized and hugged Mina.
Fans believed both had buried the hatchet. That was, however, not the case, as revealed in the leaked messages.
What did AOA members discuss in the leaked group chat?
Initial messages revealed that Jimin and Mina’s misunderstanding was resolved, and the two did hug each other at the former’s father’s funeral. However, in July 2020, Kwon opened up about being bullied.
Dispatch has leaked about 2 hours of conversation between Mina and other members of the AOA at this time.
In the transcript, after Kwon Mina’s confession, Jimin apologized in the AOA chat. However, she did mention that she didn’t remember what she had done.
Mina then said that this was no apology. The other members of AOA then tried to calm things down, but it didn’t work out.
One conversation read:
“Mina: (to the members) She was especially mean to me?”
“Chanmi: We can’t really side with anyone.”
“ChoA: Members are not in a position to say anything. And Jimin, you leaving the group won’t solve anything. If she’s upset about something, just listen to her. You’re older than her.”
“Jimin: I’ll listen.”
“ChoA: And, to be honest, how many times have we met before a fight like this? And how many more will we meet in the future? Just listen to her like now and say, ‘Oh, that’s how you’ve felt. I was immature back then. I’m sorry.”
“Jimin: I’m sorry.”
“ChoA: From my perspective, we had a really busy schedule back then. You could have lashed out at her, and Mina could have taken things more personally because she was also stressed. Don’t you think?”
The conversation continued:
“Hyejeong: Okay, I’ve heard things from Mina. But unnie can’t remember anything. Now you two are...(implies the other members are suffering from them as well).”
“Jimin: Sorry, I’m sorry. (cries)”
“Hyejeong: Mina, you have to apologize too.”
“Mina: I’ll say sorry to the members, but I don’t have to apologize to Jimin unnie.”
“Hyejeong: But you shouldn’t do that.”
“Jimin: I’m so sorry to you all. I just wanted our team to do well.”
“Hyejeong: I know.”
“Jimin: I remembered as I just did things for you to be more successful. So I think I didn’t even realize I was really wrong. Now that I listen to you, you guys were so stressed, and I’m apologizing for that.”
It was ChoA who had managed to wrap up the conversation, but the feud was still not resolved. It was after this that Jimin had posted an apology and quit the group. She also left the industry as Mina continued to expose her.
It was also revealed that Mina continued to text Jimin until May 2021 despite former AOA member not responding. These messages also revealed that Mina cursed Jimin in the text messages.