[Photograph by Yoo Dae-gil = dbeorlf123@ajunews.com]
"JYP is currently aware of stalking issues known through social media and online communities," the nine-member band's agency said in a statement released through social media on Monday. The agency promised to take all necessary actions to ensure the safety of its artists. JYP also urged fans to share information about the stalking issue.
The stalking issue surfaced in October when a male YouTube user uploaded a set of video content targeting a member of TWICE. The person also had consistently asked other TWICE fans about the location of the girl band's dormitory in Seoul. The video content showed that the man had actually visited the part of Seoul where the JYP headquarters building is located.
Cases that involve Sasaeng, a K-pop term used to describe overly intrusive fans who consistently stalk and violate artists' privacy, are not rare in the K-pop scene where celebrities try to interact with their fans more closely.
In June this year, SM Entertainment, one of South Korea's entertainment powerhouses, urged fans to stop violating the privacy of artists after Chanyeol, an EXO member, filed complaints with police against two fanatic Chinese fans who tried to break into his studio apartment in southern Seoul in April.
In May, the management agency of Yang Yoseob, a member of boy band Highlight, urged fans not to disturb or follow the singer who is on his duty as a conscripted policeman in Seoul. In the latest case, Taeyon, a Girls' Generation member, complained in an Instagram post that she was suffering from depression due to intrusive fans who have repeatedly called her at night.
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