AOA Bullying

More K=pop sad news. Recently, two of the artists I listened to (and even saw in concert) committed suicide. The first was Sulli from f(x) followed by Hara from KARA. I think Sulli was depressed from the pressure of being an idol. She started in f(x) while she was very young. For Hara, I think it was abuse from her boyfriend, who was recently sentenced to only 1 year in prison for a whole bunch of crimes.


Sulli


Hara

Now the focus is on Mina from AOA (Ace of Angels). I followed them since their debut since they had a live band subgroup. Mina was my favorite since she was the bass player and us bass players have to stick together. They've had a lot of hits but in 2016, the lead singer ChoA left the group citing mental health issues. then in 2019, Mina left the group as well to focus on acting. However, recently she posted a bunch of text about how she was bullied by the group's leader, Jimin, for over 10 years. She even included a photo of scars on her wrist from suicide cutting attempts. It's really sad. Even though I like the music and the spectacle of K-Pop, the business practices are disgusting. From slave contracts to working their artists non-stop, K-Pop agencies don't have a good reputation.


AOA - Mina is third from the left

All the text is in Korean but here are translations from several Reddit posts:

In an Instagram post, former AOA member Kwon Mina reveals she left the group because she was bullied for ten years and considered committing suicide

Kwon Mina apologizes for worrying fans + reveals that all AOA members visited her house and Jimin gave her an apology

It was hard reading her posts since I can imagine her committing suicide. I'm glad all the members went to visit her, even Jimin, though Jimin's apologies don't seem sincere. Hopefully Mina can get some counseling help so she can be in a better place mentally.


AOA Black (band) - Front row is Mina, ChoA, and Jimin