AoA member, Jimin Shin (left), revealed to have bullied former member Mina Kwon (right) to the point of self-harm and thoughts of suicide. 

Kpop is not only popularized in Korea, but it has also accumulated international fans who love and adore their idols. But would idols still be supported after being discovered that they’re involved in a controversial scandal?

FNC’s Entertainment group, AoA, debuted with a total of eight members, which slowly decreased to only half of the group still intact. One of the biggest scandals arises as a former member shared her reason on why she left the group, causing an uproar from fans as well as anyone who is familiar with AoA. 

On July 3, Mina Kwon started to write a series of posts that accused one of the AoA members of bullying, which was the main reason for her departure. Fans and netizens (citizens of the internet) started to analyze her claims and decided that the group’s leader, Jimin Shin was Mina’s bully. But Jimin denied the allegations and posted a black Instagram story that read one word, “fiction.” 

In August, Mina Kwon uploaded an image of a cut wrist while the caption read, “Do not even come to my funeral even if I die…” This alerted fans who saw this as a sign of suicide. Mina then continued to post on Instagram, with long captions that described her mistreatment while being a member of AoA. Some suggested that this was related to Mina’s bullying statements back in July. Worried, netizens contacted her agency, Woori Actors who later reached out and gave an update regarding her health. 

Woori commented, “We are continuing to check up on her, so there’s no need to worry.” 

Not only did this concern fans, but also stirred chaos among netizens, who strongly believed Shin Jimin is in fact Mina’s bully. Videos and clips were uploaded onto several social media platforms, such as Instagram and Youtube by Mina’s supporters, highlighting Jimin’s rude behaviors. A video titled “AOA Jimin Being a Bully” posted by Youtuber, YoungOne Blink4eva has accumulated 5 million views. The video has a compilation of clips that showed Jimin ignoring Mina, not doing her job as a leader to comfort her members, and acting out selfishly. Although her actions may not be so severe as to lead Mina to self-harm, all the videos were only examined when the group was on camera, so imagine Mina’s treatment off camera. This furthered Mina’s claims, and fans started to bombard Jimin’s Instagram account (now deactivated) with hateful comments and demands for an apology. 

In the end, even after exposing her bully, Mina received no justice as she still suffers from the trauma and emotional abuse from the incident that she held in for the past 10 years.

Jimin Shin decided to leave the entertainment industry as her reputation is damaged. Mina Kwon deleted everything from her Instagram account and takes a break while slowly recovering from the drama.