K-pop star Karina issued an apology after her relationship with a famous actor went public.
The 23-year-old singer - whose real name is Yu Ji-min - is part of the four-woman girl group named Aespa, who released their debut single, Black Mamb, in 2020.
The group, which is under SM Entertainment, is hailed as one of the most successful K-Pop groups, selling a staggering 2.1 million copies in South Korea with their record-breaking album, My World.
There are many things K-Pop fans obsess over, and one of them is anything relating to public dating news.
It's common for K-pop agencies to promote their celebrities as romantically obtainable, with some even having "no dating" clauses in their contract and prohibiting them from having a mobile phone. This is why news about Karina being in a possible relationship with actor Lee Jae-wook caused a lot of commotion.
Despite the 25-year-old actor's agency, C-JeS Studio, confirming the dating news and asking for "warm respect... as this involves his private life," outraged fans reportedly drove a truck to the headquarters of SM Entertainment with an electronic sign attached demanding an apology. This is one of the practices used by K-pop fans to express support or dissatisfaction.
According to the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, the message (translated from Korean to English) reportedly read: "Was the love given by Karina's fans not enough? Why did you decide to betray the fans?"
"Please apologize directly. Otherwise, album sales will decrease and concert seats will be empty," they concluded the ominous message.
Due to this, the 'Drama' singer took to her Instagram to share a handwritten letter, which read: "I apologize for surprising you greatly," as cited by Sky News.
"I know very well how disappointed [my fans] who have supported me are and how upset you're thinking about the memories we shared together," she told her 12.8 million followers, stating: "I want to make up for my hurt fans from now on."
"I have always been sincere to you, and still each and every one of you are truly precious to me," she said, promising to "show more maturity and work harder going forward to all [my fans] without disappointment."
Despite the backlash, many of her followers shared supportive comments as one user penned: "Karina, you don't need to apologize!! you deserve to be happy it's your freedom to choose who to love. we will support and be happy for you."
Another user said: "Why apologize for something not wrong at all? You deserve to be happy. Your happiness is our happiness. Stay healthy and happy Karina!!!" while a third user slammed: "Kpop industry sucks, and I feel damn bad for every artist putting their life at the risk of it."
"It’s not worth it. And it’s proven to be not worth it many times. I want Karina to keep dating this man, and to not bow down to her fans' discriminations," they continued. "Toxic fans should not feel superior and have their ego uplifted because they will do something worse."
It is not the first time the world of K-pop has been embroiled in a dating controversy.
Back in 2018, the stock of record label Cube Entertainment dropped massively after two of their biggest artists, Hyuna and Dawn, announced their relationship.
The label decided to kick the artists out, explaining in a statement that there was no way they could "rebuild the broken loyalty and trust" that had been shattered by the dating news, per Metro.
