The K-pop industry has not always been filled with sheer luxury or pleasure. Sasaeng is one of the negative elements in the never ending K-pop industry. As the years passed, the development of sasaeng followed the technology. If in the 2000s most sasaeng activities were done physically, nowadays they can be ‘annoying’ physically and online.
In the 2000s, sasaeng sought attention directly from their idols. One thing that fans really remember is the TVXQ group.
In 2006, Yunho once received a gift of orange juice drink from a fan, but after finishing the drink, Yunho vomited blood and passed out.
It turned out that the drink had been mixed with strong glue by a sasaeng. This person also includes a letter stating the reason he gave the drink.
He said, he hated Yunho.
Yunho tried to fight his trauma by collecting all the drinks from the same brand and trying to drink them all.
TVXQ’s Yunho story is one of the scary sasaeng stories. Every year, idols are always faced with issues like this. BIGBANG’s GDRAGON asked fans to stop waiting in front of his private residence.
GDRAGON’s brother wrote that he was scared because the fans waited in the parking basement and on the apartment floor where the Untitled 2014 singer family lived. EXO members also almost got into the wrong car after appearing because the van was similar to the agency car, it turned out to be owned by Sasaeng.
While performing with SNSD, Taeyeon was pulled by a man forcibly. Sunny, his groupmate immediately arrested Taeyeon assisted by the host and other staff so that the action could be stopped.
GOT7’s Jackson was also involved in an accident after a car hit the back of his car. He had to walk to the airport with the help of the staff. Then, the WANNA ONE flight was delayed at one time because a group of sasaeng wanted to take the flight. They also break through the locker room or dormitory to meet WANNA ONE.
Each agency always tries to protect their artists from sasaeng attacks, but somehow sasaeng also always has a way to get the artist’s attention. The agencies also always try to warn fans not to overreact through official statements.
JYP Entertainment, for example, on several occasions they stated that they would legally sue people who tried to contact the artist’s personal contact or continued to wait in GOT7’s dorm.
Likewise, SM Entertainment is committed to protecting its artists from rumors spread on social media. They also asked fans to respect the artist’s realm of privacy.
However, the number of cases like this does not encourage the South Korean government to impose penalties. Usually, a sasaeng act is only convicted if it has the implications of a criminal case, such as illegally breaking into someone’s house or following their idol who caused the accident.
Hashtags like #ProtectWAYV are one of the many things fans are doing so that the agency can take action immediately. Because, fast or late, this sasaeng activity really disrupts fans’ lives.
