Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Both NCT member Renjun and SM Entertainment have issued apologies to a commoner after their phone number was revealed by Renjun in a Bubble post because he thought it was a sasaeng.
Renjun is currently on hiatus for worsening health and signs of anxiety, and over a week go he spoke on increasing frustration with sasaengs. He exposed the account of a information seller, saying that if they illegally revealed their number then he would do the same to those accounts. Yesterday, he revealed a phone number after a call from a number he didn’t recognize, but later it was claimed to be a wrong number accident on the part of the caller, which they explained in detail. As a result of fans predictably abusing the person at that number, she went to the police.
“I want to make it clear that I am absolutely not a sasaeng of NCT, and I have no interest in any idol or celebrity. I was surprised when [Renjun] said he’d report [my number], but I thought, ‘Has [my friend] changed their number?’ After receiving abusive messages and calls, I searched ‘sasaeng’ on Twitter [X] just in case, and saw that Renjun had posted my phone number on Bubble, claiming I was a sasaeng. After realizing this, I went to the police station. The investigator asked if I had been making continuous calls, to which I clarified I had only called once by mistake and handed over my phone records.”
Eventually she got an apology from the manager but not from Renjun.
A mentioned the police contacted Renjun’s manager, who apologized on Renjun’s behalf. However, Renjun reportedly declined to apologize directly, expressing concern that A might still be a sasaeng. A added, “A few hours later, the investigator informed me that SM’s legal team was going to apologize, but I haven’t received any apology call yet. I’ve had to endure abusive messages from strangers and change my phone number just because of a mistaken call. I demand a proper explanation from SM.”
Today, SME issued an apology on Renjun’s behalf for the mistaken identity.
“On June 20, Renjun mistakenly thought an unknown number that called him was from a sasaeng and exposed it on a fan communication platform. We sincerely apologize for revealing their contact information on a public platform, and to the person negatively affected by this.
After learning that the victim had contacted the local police station, we immediately apologized through the investigating officer and took steps to remove the post. We will continue to work to prevent any further harm and kindly ask that people refrain from contacting the victim.
Renjun is deeply reflecting on his careless actions, and we also sincerely apologize for our shortcomings in managing our artist. We once again apologize for causing concern to the victim and many others.”
In Korea, SME came under fire for apologizing through the media, and for Renjun himself not apologizing to the commoner, and the person themselves also criticized SME.
Later, Renjun himself posted an apology to Instagram.
“I apologize to the person who was negatively affected by my reckless behavior yesterday. I have always wanted to bring positive energy through music and performances, but I think I made a poor decision due to a lapse in judgment.
I sincerely apologize to the individual who was hurt and negatively impacted by my actions. Due to my reckless behavior, the victim is suffering right now. Please kindly stop contacting the victim.
I deeply regret my actions and will be more careful not to act impulsively in the future. Once again, I apologize to anyone who was hurt by my actions.”
Korean netizens are again criticizing him, this time for lack of sincerity in the apology. And I specify in Korea because internationally, if you look at the interactions with news accounts reporting it, they are incensed at the apology even being made. Essentially it boils down to their frustration with SME at not dealing with the sasaeng problem that caused Renjun to consider taking this action himself, and also they believe that person is actually a sasaeng and SME are apologizing for no reason.
As far as the former goes, I get it. SME has long loathed to deal with sasaengs, likely because they spend money, and NCT has a well-documented issue with them. That’s a bigger picture issue that SME has consistently failed their artists on over the years.
That said, as far as this specific situation goes, it seems simplest to believe it was a wrong number, Renjun was understandably at wit’s end with the calls, and hastily posted the latest supposed offender when it wasn’t a sasaeng. The alternative would involve not only SME and his manager actively protecting the sasaeng, but that also either the police was in on it or the alleged sasaeng risked being found out if any even preliminary investigation was done. So sure, I’m open to changing my mind based on further information if it emerges, but if it was indeed a wrong number, then SME was likely trying to do damage control so they (and Renjun) wouldn’t get into legal problems.
