Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Hey, remember that gigantic mess involving Lovelyz‘s Seo Ji Soo? Remember those incredible accusations that she was everything from a sexual abuser to a lesbian (!!!) to an animal abuser? Well now in addition to a man being arrested for the rumors earlier and the “evidence” against Seo Ji Soo slowly falling apart, police have also charged two people and fined them for spreading the rumors. Additionally, prosecutors have said that the rumors were false.
The investigation in this case were led by the Seoul Western District Prosecutor’s Office and the Suwon District Prosecutor’s Office‘s Ansan Branch, and they ended up charging one defendant with fines while the other defendant was charged with fines as a juvenile.
Prosecutors wrote in the arraignment, “The defendants have spread false information through the use of Social Networking Services (SNS) for the purpose of slandering the victim, and therefore has harmed the victim’s reputation.”
Woollim Entertainment then released a statement backing Seo Ji Soo.
Woollim Entertainment stated once more, “It has been confirmed, through various legal processes, that the rumors spreading on the Internet were not only false, but were used to harm an individual. After a long period of hardship and pain, the case regarding the spreading of false information and the defendants’ malign actions has finally come to an end. From now on, we plan to act much more strictly and strongly towards malicious actions happening both online and offline towards our artists.”
However, the company haven’t determined when they will add her back to the group.
Regarding questions on Ji Soo’s participation in the group, one representative of Woollim Entertainment stated, “There’s no talk of her joining the group’s activities yet. Seo Ji Soo is still struggling with psychological instability, since she has gone through this at such a young age.”
Given the public sentiment, the rookie status of the group, and company statements to date, it sure seems like they are trying to ease her out of the picture. That would be extremely unfortunate, because based on what we know to this point, there’s no rational reason that she shouldn’t be able to come back. Then again, I guess expecting things to proceed in a way that makes sense is always just a tad too much to ask.
