Kpop Idols And Their Worst Encounter With Sasaeng Fans
Kpop (Korean Pop) world is the industry of entertainment and fashion and in the past few years they shook the entire world with their unique style of music and talents. Youngsters are mostly attracted to Kpop music because of their visual, intense choreography and vocals which creates a lasting impression on them. Highly popular Kpop bands are H.O.T, Super Junior, SHINee, EXO, BTS, Red Velvet, GOT7, TWICE, BIG BANG, BlackPink etc.
All this groups have a vast fandom all around the world who consider the Kpop members as idols and love them to the core. Each fandom has their particular names like EXO’s fandom is known as EXO-L , ARMY for BTS, BLINK for BlackPink, SHAWOLS for SHINEE, STAY for STRAYKIDS, ReVeluv for RED VELVET, V.I.P for BIGBANG etc.
But there are some crazy fans who goes to any extent in a desire to gain recognition from their idols and stand out from other fans. In Asia and specifically South Korean culture, a sasaeng, or sasaeng fan is an obsessive fan who stalks, or engages in other behaviour such as invasion of the privacy of a Korean idol or other public figure.
The term sasaeng comes from the Korean words sa meaning “private” and saeng meaning “life”, in reference to the fans’ trespassing into private lives of celebrities’. According to the estimates of celebrity managers in the Korean media, popular Korean celebrities may have “between 500 and 1,000 sasaeng fans”, and be actively followed by about 100 sasaeng fans every day.
Sasaeng fans are mainly females between the age 17 to 22, and their excessive love for them lead them to commit terrifying activities. Activities such as chasing celebrities at their dorms or homes, stealing their personal belongings or information, harassing family members etc. Here’s a list of some of the creepiest sasaeng fan stories in K-Pop history.
Taeyeon (Girls’ Generation)
During the 2011 Angel Price Music Festival, a male sasaeng fan somehow managed to get on stage during the middle of the famous girl group Girl Genenration’s performance and tried to kidnap Taeyeon. He grabbed her forcefully and began dragging her offstage, but fortunately Sunny and the MC of the event rushed over to save her. Somehow the fan never got punished for his actions.
EXO (Sasaeng Cross dressing)
Once when the EXO members were touring in China, some female fans went such extreme level that they shaved their hair off and pretend to be boys and followed the members into the bathroom. They even took pictures while they were inside.
BTS Chased by Sasaeng
Once after a shoot at Sweden BTS stopped at a cafe to eat something and relax. A group of sasaeng fans were watching and waiting outside for the boys to come out. Due to which the cameraman decided to step outside and ask them to move. Instead of actually moving, the fans pretended to leave but started chasing the boys after they came outside.
SUPER JUNIOR Heechul’s Car Accident
Once while he was driving he saw a sasaeng fan following him with their car. As he didn’t particularly want to be followed, he tried to divert them. He took different routes to try to get away, but ended up getting in a car accident while doing so.
G-Dragon
G-Dragon the member of the Kpop group BIGBANG has to encounter the sasaeng fans as they used to wait outside his house to catch the glimpse of the famous idol. His mother and sister became frightened of the fans and didn’t want to leave the house themselves. G-Dragon had to send out a tweet asking them to stop.
He tweeted “I understand how much you all love me and nowadays the kids are following me to my house but I request them to stop it.. my mother and sister get scared.. don’t hide in the front.”
EXO (Nearly getting Kidnapped)
EXO was one such Kpop group who had to face the worst and most embarassing sasaeng encounters. During their early years, EXO after finishing one of their schedules they headed towards what they thought was their van. EXO almost entered the van but the manager thought something was a little off and their manager stopped them from getting in. Sasaengs rented out a van identical to EXO’s and parked it where the group would usually come out of a building.
Sasaengs cannot be considered as fans, their love and admiration is gradually changing into obsession which make them to do such scary activities. Idols are celebrities but prior to that they are also humans. They also have their private life and they need privacy. Being their fan doesn’t give us the right to invade into their personal life. They does entertain us with all their sweat and tear so in return respect their privacy in the name of humanity.
Pic Courtesy: google/ images are subject to copyright
