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School bullying allegations against LE SSERAFIM’s Kim Garam continue to surface on online forums. On May 21, a blog post on Pann Nate revealed an alleged victim’s message of her interaction with the K-pop idol. Henceforth called Ms. C, the alleged victim revealed that she was the idol’s classmate and was verbally attacked by her.
Ms. C alleged that Kim Garam screamed at her, belittling her and her mother only because she accidentally dropped her pencil box. She claimed that she had even apologized for it.
However, Ms. C added that the attack grew when Kim's squad started picking on her in school and on Facebook after the incident. She ended the DM by asking the person to share her story on her behalf as she feared retaliation.
Additionally, she sent another message claiming that she heard HYBE’s directors trying to silence people and visited Yoo Eun-seo’s (alias) place. Yoo Eun-seo was another alleged victim of the LE SSERAFIM member.
“I was constantly picked on”: New alleged victim shares her experience with LE SSERAFIM’s Kim Garam
School violence and bullying allegations against Kim Garam, the 17-year-old LE SSERAFIM member, sprang up just a day later when she was revealed to be a member of HYBE’s new group in April. Although HYBE and Source Music denied the claims multiple times, new allegations from anonymous netizens, including photos, were constantly released.
On May 21, alleged victim, Ms. C, claiming to be Kim Garam’s classmate in high school, shared that she, like the previous victim, had a similar terrible experience with the now K-pop idol.
“Hello, I was in the same class with Kim Garam when I was in 7th grade. I accidentally dropped Garam's pencil case so I apologized. While picking it up she said, ‘Your mom is disabled so do you have a disability too? Are you blind? Don't go around if you can't see in front of you etc.’”
She further stated that she had been harassed by her group following the incident. She was also afraid to reveal this on her own, so she requested the netizen to post it on her behalf on social media.
“From the next day onwards, I was constantly picked on by her group of friends and received attacks on Facebook. I wanted to reveal this because it was so upsetting but I'm afraid she'll retaliate against me if I post it so I shared it. Can you post it for me? Please, I'm sorry if it's uncomfortable.”
In another message, Ms. C alleged that HYBE attempted to make the school’s department and Yoo Eun-seo “shut their mouths” regarding Kim Garam’s bullying.
"I heard the head of the department was silenced. HYBE went to the victim Yoo Eun-seo's school and made them shut their mouths."
HYBE and Source Music announced on May 20 that the 17-year-old had halted her activities until further notice. They also stated that LE SSERAFIM will continue promotions as a five member group in the meantime.
HYBE added the update to a detailed statement explaining the school violence committee's report in retaliation to the public statement of law firm Daeryun.
