Korean YouTuber Under Fire For Comforting Former K-pop Singer Accused Of Harassment

One of Korea’s most beloved YouTubers, Kwak Joon-bin, is facing uncertain career prospects following controversy over his words of comfort to Lee Na-eun, a member of former K-pop group April, who continues to be under the public scrutiny for her alleged involvement in bullying scandals.

As a winner World bone tour 2Kwak is set to appear in a spin-off series that will see him traveling around Ulleung Island. The premiere is scheduled for October 19.

Cable station ENA, which is set to air the series spin-off, said it could not provide detailed information about Kwak’s show on Thursday (September 19).

“There have been no changes to the broadcast schedule (of the spin-off series) so far,” said an official from the agency representing ENA.

“Details regarding the broadcast cannot be given as the series’ (broadcast) schedule is still quite far away,” she added.

The comment comes after a wave of criticism of Kwak flooded the trailer for the spin-off series, following the controversy surrounding Lee and Kwak.

Viewers responded with comments such as, “Please blur out Kwak’s face in the series,” “Cancel the series like the Ministry of Education did,” and “The series’ reputation was ruined even before it started.”

On Tuesday, a Ministry of Education promotional video featuring Kwak for an anti-school violence campaign released last week was removed from its official YouTube page due to the controversy.

Kwak became the face of a nationwide controversy after he posted a video from his trip to Italy on Monday in which he apologized to Lee for an earlier misunderstanding over now-debunked bullying allegations.

The accusations made against her in 2020 were refuted and the accuser apologized.

However, the controversy was exacerbated by a separate accusation in 2021 that Lee bullied her bandmate Lee Hyun-joo while they were both in the K-pop girl group April.

Although a police investigation in 2022 found discord between group members, it did not classify the incident as bullying.

Despite the results of the police investigation, the public was still unconvinced whether bullying had occurred, especially after it was revealed that Lee Na-eun and her agency had taken unnecessarily aggressive steps by suing Lee Hyun-joo and her associates seven times over bullying allegations.

Lee Hyun-joo was acquitted of all seven charges.

Amid such public sentiment, fans found Kwak comforting Lee particularly shocking, as Kwak had been the subject of severe bullying during his high school years.

“Kwak… has abandoned the identity he built over the years. It is true that the hidden sympathy of the public contributed to the growth of Kwak’s channel to some extent, and today he himself has denied it,” read one of the top comments with 4,700 likes under the latest video uploaded to Kwak’s YouTube channel.

Other Kwak fans said one of the biggest problems was that the YouTuber appeared to be forgiving Lee on behalf of the alleged victims.

“Who is he to say that what Lee did was part of a misunderstanding? What Lee did to her bandmate has never been conclusively proven,” said former fan Kwak Korea Herald on condition of anonymity.

Kwak Joon-bin (left) and Lee Na-eun chat during their trip to Italy, in a video posted on his channel. Photo: YouTube

The former fan also added that the public outcry may have been fueled by fatigue over a series of school bullying scandals reported in the media.

Recently, actors Ahn Se-ha, Song Ha-yoon, and Jeon Jong-seo were embroiled in similar bullying controversies.

“We’ve seen one beloved celebrity after another embroiled in bullying scandals. It’s just exhausting at this point,” he added.

Meanwhile, according to Namoo Actors, the agency representing Lee Na-eun, the 25-year-old actress will continue to star in the upcoming drama series. Eye shopping.

“There is no change in (Lee’s participation) Eye shopping“- said an official from Namoo Actors. – The Korea Herald/Asia News Network