A pop superstar is hitting back against malicious comments while the rumor mill spins wildly about a possible romance with another music icon.
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Indeed, Winter from aespa, who has been caught up in dating rumors with BTS’s Jungkook (who recently completed his military service for South Korea), announced plans to take legal action against fans taking the gossip a little too seriously.
SM Entertainment, per The Chosun Daily, issued a statement concerning the posts and possible legal action.
“We have confirmed numerous posts defaming Winter’s character and reputation, malicious postings aimed at publicly disparaging the artist, and sexual harassment content on platforms including DC Inside, Women’s Era, Nate Pann, Instiz, Theqoo, Instagram, X, formerly Twitter, and YouTube. After reviewing the posts, we plan to gradually expand legal procedures,” the South Korean entertainment company explained.
The agency identified the malicious posts through internal monitoring and fan reports submitted to its ‘KWANGYA 119’ reporting center.
“We will respond firmly without leniency to any acts of creating, producing, or distributing malicious content related to aespa,” SM Entertainment added.
The dating drama started, as it often does, on online forums. Eagle-eyed netizens began to piece together a potential romance, pointing to similar tattoos and fashion choices as their Exhibit A and B. For their part, both stars’ agencies have remained tight-lipped on the matter.
According to Chosun, Winter has since been flooded with hate-fueled comments. Some of Jungkook’s fans took things up a notch, organizing truck protests outside Big Hit Music’s building with messages like, “If you won’t remove the couple tattoo, leave BTS activities,” and “What ARMY, who waited through military service, got back was fan betrayal.”
Pop Superstar Fuels More Fan Speculation With Recent Social Media Post
Meanwhile, after weeks of silence following rumors of a romance with the pop superstar, aespa’s Winter returned to social media late last month. Netizens were quick to notice a striking detail in her recent photos: the apparent removal of a “couple tattoo” that had previously fueled fan speculation.
According to the Korea Times, Winter posted several captionless photos to social media. While she looked stunning in a black and gold dress, fans were more interested in what was missing—namely, the tattoo that fueled romance rumors with BTS’s Jungkook.
Despite the drama, Winter, Jungkook, and their agencies are sticking to the “silence is golden” strategy, leaving fans to do all the talking.