K-pop and feeding into unhealthy fan delusions for profit
11min Read
The disheartening case of RIIZE’s Seunghan
Imagine being a middle schooler and receiving several offers from multiple entertainment companies – including one of South Korea’s most renowned and reputable agencies that has fostered the biggest names in K-pop. Imagine training for two and a half years at this company, with people all around the world waiting for your debut ever since you were announced a star trainee, and finally getting a chance to debut with six of your friends. Now, imagine all of your dreams and plans getting ruined by the rise of uncontrollable fan delusion just a few months into your debut.
This isn’t just some hypothetical scenario for 21-year-old Seunghan – it’s his reality. From attending Korea’s best Performing Arts School to achieving his dream of being a singer, he seemed to have it all. That was until photos of him smoking and kissing a girl got leaked to the public, leading to a downward spiral of both his and the company’s image for reasons I want to explore in this piece.
So what happened?
Hong Seunghan, now an ex-member of a South Korean seven-member boy group RIIZE, was announced to permanently leave the group on October 12th, 2024.
The very unfortunate situation that happened to Seunghan can be explained through this simple timeline:
- August 2023: A month after the seven members of RIIZE were officially introduced to the public, photos of Seunghan smoking a cigarette and kissing an unidentified woman leak, gaining traction among Korean fans. Seunghan releases a statement “apologizing to the fans who are supporting RIIZE” for causing damage to the group due to his carelessness.
- November 2023: Two months into RIIZE’s debut and right after the promotions of their first comeback, criticism of Seugnghan and his “wrongdoings” only see a rise, resulting in an official and indefinite hiatus. Once again, Seunghan releases a handwritten apology letter.
- October 10, 2024: After 10 months of hiatus, RIIZE’s official social media accounts announce that Seunghan will begin to gradually participate in group activities starting from November 2024.
Seunghan’s departure was foreshadowed for many by his almost one-year hiatus and the absolutely chaotic decisions made by SM Entertainment, a label he is signed to, like re-recording RIIZE’s song giving Seunghan’s part to another member and removing his name from various YouTube content before even officially stating that he is not part of the group. However, when the decision to bring him back was announced, it took over the internet, with not only RIIZE fans but the majority of K-pop fans feeling happy and relieved after being rightfully outraged by the situation.
So why did he decide to leave two days after coming back to the team? The full extent of the negative pushback the decision to bring back Seunghan received can be described by one main event: death wreaths. Yes, actual death wreaths were sent to SM headquarters with texts like “RIIZE is 6” and “Hong Seunghan out” by fans who did not wish to approve his return.
Funeral wreaths with slogans “RIIZE is 6” and “Hong Seunghan out” in front of SM HQ in Seoul
The group has also received online hate from OT6 fans (fans who supported RIIZE as a six-member group without Seunghan as opposed to seven), to which one of the members, Wonbin, released a handwritten letter. In this letter, Wonbin stated that the decision to bring his fellow member back was made after careful thought and numerous discussions together with Seunghan and the company, apologizing for “failing to make all the fans happy“. After Seunghan’s official withdrawal from the team, the letter was removed by the company.
Unhealthy fan-idol relationships are literally what K-pop is built upon. The music and the high-production videos may play a role in the attractiveness of the industry, but so does the fact that K-pop revolves around idols being extremely close to their fans. Idols do live streams more often than any Western artists, they even have a separate platform made for personal interactions (Weverse), and they put out so much online content such as vlogs and variety shows that it is quite impossible not to feel close to these idols. This often false perception of familiarity and closeness gives fans the entitlement to their idol’s private lives.
It is important to note that SM Entertainment too has not been completely unproblematic with its artist management before this situation. And this is obviously not the first time a K-pop idol got bullied out of their group. So what makes Seunghan’s case special?
SM’s response and history of poor artist management
SM Entertainment has had this habit of poorly managing cases like Seunghan’s. There have been multiple cases when SM idols have taken a hiatus after being accused of various actions, ranging from cheating and manipulations directed at fans to driving under the influence. The scenarios of response and action from SM usually include 1) putting the artist on hiatus before returning them to the group, 2) debuting the idol again as a solo act, or 3) parting ways with the artist completely.
The first happened to Irene of Red Velvet, who faced bullying accusations but went back to group activities after an apology and a brief hiatus. The second happened to a former member of NCT/WayV Lucas, who has been accused of financial manipulation, cheating, and gaslighting and is now a solo act under SM. The third happened to Jessica from Girls Generation, who terminated her contract after being accused of meddling with her group’s success by working on her personal projects.
While the actions SM takes depend largely on the situation, it is not hard to notice their duality in how they managed previous cases compared to how they dealt with RIIZE’s Seunghan. Cases where SM idols were taken out of the group, on average, were due to serious allegations like DUI or sexual assaults that severely harmed both the group’s and the company’s image in the eyes of the public. There is barely anything a company can do to protect its idols when they are facing such severe accusations, right? Yet, SM stood with their artists until the very end, either ignoring allegations or keeping them in a group/as a solo artist until the charges were dropped or the public went quiet. After his first DUI allegation, Super Juinor’s Kangin accepted legal consequences, including a fine for the DUI, and was kept in Super Junior for seven years until the next allegations came through and he eventually left the group. Even when idols were accused of something completely absurd and unthinkable such as “putting personal happiness over the fans” like after Chen from EXO announced his marriage, SM seemed to be protective of their artists. Concerning Chen’s situation, SM put out a statement saying that they prioritized EXO’s decision to keep Chen in the group.
To someone who has been a K-pop fan/follower for quite a while, there has been a very obvious shift in the idea as to which idol wrongdoings are acceptable and which are not. Super Junior’s Kangin has for sure encountered backlash for driving under the influence in 2009, but it looks like at the time it was not enough to be suspended from the group. His almost immediate military service leave in 2010 happened to help him go under the radar for two years and wait out the public discontent. Unless the allegations were incredibly heavy, it seems like back then (i.e. during the first and second generations of K-pop from 1992 to 2012, give or take a few years) the public was not as obsessed with idols smoking or dating.
Considering SM’s quick action to remove singer Taeil from their group NCT who got under a police investigation for sexual crimes in August 2024 (his case has now been handed over to prosecution), the decision to remove Seunghan appears to be even more disheartening and concerning.
K-pop and feeding into unhealthy delusions
While there might be an argument presented in SM’s defense saying that RIIZE is a new group and all the other scandals happened to established idols, this does not and should not imply that the trend of K-pop companies feeding into absurd fan delusions is in any way healthy or right.
RIIZE is indeed a new group and the first couple years after debut are the most crucial for a group’s reputation, especially in the eyes of the Korean market. As someone who has been following the K-pop industry for around 8 years, I too noticed a drastic shift in the way an idol’s image is constructed. New-generation groups are now incredibly cautious about how their actions are going to be perceived by the public. The rise of what I would call “delusion rage” among K-pop fans and especially Korean netizens has put so many restrictions on idols that the mere idea of an idol dating is something unthinkable and unacceptable. You can see this from incidents like Karina from Aespa (another SM group) apologizing for dating actor Lee Jaewook after receiving huge backlash from fans, who claim to be “giving enough love to Karina for her to date someone”.
What is more upsetting is that K-pop agencies seem to be purposefully feeding into fan illusions by forcing parasocial relationships between idols and fans. RIIZE’s one particular Valentine day themed Youtube video has frankly disgusted me, showcasing how far the companies are ready to go to push nonsensical ideals about singers. In the video, RIIZE members are fighting for the love of Briize (the name of their fandom) which is used to embody the character of a woman they are “in love with”. Now, I understand that this happens not only with RIIZE or SM groups and it is a rather common occurrence in K-pop (and it is also interesting to note that this usually happens with boygroups rather than girlgroups). However, drawing a parallel with older K-pop groups once again, though they too personified their fandoms, it did not reach the extremes we are seeing today where idols have this reputation of being perfect human beings who do not think about anyone outside their fans.
There is also the issue of smoking. Although the arguments made against Seunghan with regard to smoking are somewhat understandable, it is still absurd how harshly he was criticized for something the half industry does with little to no repercussions (just look up NCT and their countless smoking and vaping accusations that are more of an inside joke than actual scandals). From the concept to their looks, RIIZE members were positioned to be seven relatable guys who were united through their love of music. Unlike so many other groups that are more flashy and heavily conceptual even with their outfits, the clothes RIIZE members wear are much more casual and trendy, reflecting this relatability factor. So why is it not relatable for a young adult to smoke or be in a relationship?
The bottom line is that by not protecting Seunghan and by prioritizing delusional fans over the supportive majority inside the fandom, SM has set a precedent for this madness. Now, more than ever, fans will be justified in hating idols and bullying them out of their groups after any minor action they deem inappropriate. K-pop fans have already been very vocal about their complaints, having the habit of sending banners, trucks, and wreaths with messages, and even though I believe that sometimes they are more than justified when they address serious concerns, sending death wreaths because you are upset by an idol smoking or dating is quite of a stretch.
The question of international fans and my final thoughts
This incident has also raised the question of international fandoms and their say in the companies’ decisions: it seems as though the international fanbase does not matter as much as the domestic fanbase. This would be understandable if it wasn’t for the fact that international fans outweigh Korean fans in number which is backed up by official reports (the industry even jokes that some groups are “foreign groups”). The domestic support for K-pop was the highest when K-pop was still a relatively small niche, but now, when nearly every group sells out world tours, it would be natural for agencies to view international fans and their input more seriously.
So, do I think Seunghan might come back? We can look at this through NCT’s Lucas and his case. Although Lucas’ solo career did not go far and seems more like a concession to part ways peacefully when his contract eventually ends, accusations against Lucas were war more serious than those put against Seunghan. So, considering that AND the backlash SM is facing now with fans boycotting any SM’s output and creating petitions, I believe that there is a possibility of Seunghan getting a solo debut under SM. It might be risky since K-pop idols who become solo artists after a scandal are not as twice popular as they would have been if they stayed in their groups (like Dawn from Pentagon who was also kicked out of his group for dating his colleague Hyuna), but I don’t think it is an option we can cross off confidently.
This whole situation shed light on something I turned a blind eye to for a while: the toxicity of fan-idol interactions. I am not sure exactly how the K-pop industry can start disengaging from toxic fans or building healthier relationships with their fanbases when the most ridiculous things become reasons for scandals, boycotts, and sales drops. However, one thing I am sure of is that the industry must address this issue as soon as possible until the extent to which fans feel entitled to their favorite singers does not result in more tragic outcomes like the deaths of Goo Hara of Kara, Sulli of f(x), and unfortunately, so many others. For now, I can only hope that Seunghan finds peace and success in his life, idol or not.
P.S. As I was writing this, on November 15th, SM Entertainment released an official statement announcing that Seunghan will debut as a solo artist in the second half of 2025. Well, I guess this was quite expected (although I have to be honest, I thought SM would wait a little before announcing this).