Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
BTS‘s Jin was recently discharged from the military, and he decided to do a special hug event as a part of 2024 FESTA, which was for 1000 lucky fans.
Unfortunately, not all fans who got the chance could simply be normal, as there were allegations of a few fans trying to kiss him. One in particular was captured being particularly blatant about kissing him — with Jin being demonstrative in not consenting to such actions — and the police recently confirmed they had received a complaint about the incident and are looking into whether to proceed with an investigation.
A police official stated, “We received the complaint through the National Petition System, but we have not received a formal complaint. We have not booked the suspect yet,” and added that they will review whether to proceed with a formal investigation based on the details of the complaint.
A fellow BTS fan was the one who reported the incident.
Earlier this day, a BTS fan (referred to as A) revealed on an online fan community that they had reported individuals who attempted to kiss Jin during a recent hug event to the Seoul Songpa Police Station. A stated, “I reported a violation of Article 11 of the Sexual Violence Punishment Act, ‘molestation in a crowded place,’ through the National Petition System.”
I believe Article 11 is “Indecent Act At Crowded Public Place”:
A person who commits an indecent act on another person in any public transportation vehicle, public performance or assembly place, or other crowded public place shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year or by a fine not exceeding three million won.
Not sure whether it’s technically sexual harassment or assault under Korean law, but either way it seems relatively clear that there’s a case here, and I hope it’s pursued by police. More than ever it seems fans need to understand where the line is and that there’s consequences for crossing it.
