Netizens Furious Over Korean Media’s Lacking Follow-Up Of Taeil’s Sex Crime

In the past week, the K-Pop world was left shaken by the revelation of former NCT member Taeil‘s sex crime.

The news was made public by Taeil’s former agency, SM Entertainment, on August 28 (KST), when they announced his departure from the group for being implicated in a sex crime. Later, the police stated that the idol had been under investigation since June 2024. SM Entertainment admitted that they had known about this investigation since mid-August.

Both the company and Taeil first learned about the indictment in mid-August. Taeil was questioned by the police on August 28.

— SM Entertainment

Despite the news creating shockwaves throughout the industry, the details of Taeil’s crimes have been kept buried as of yet. Neither the police nor SM Entertainment revealed the specifics of Taeil’s crime nor the charges against him. This initially caused a wild goose chase on social media among curious K-Pop fans. But now, the curiosity has changed into concern.

Nearly a week into the “scandal,” Korean media outlets have not followed up on Taeil’s case in the slightest, which many netizens found unusual. While some argued that the silence was probably part of the protocol to protect the victim, others showed apprehension about a possible cover-up.

• “Even an obscure group like TST (that’s the group’s name) had articles revealing its member’s sexual assault.”
• “It has been less than a week since the first police investigation, and the police have determined that if the details of the incident are made public, the general public could guess who the victim is. The victim should be protected throughout the ongoing investigation and the process of being transferred to the prosecution.”
• “Don’t you guys dare commit secondary assault on the victim to shield him by claiming he’s a nobody. No matter how unpopular of a member, he was still a part of NCT. Even if details of the incident are revealed, the victim won’t be identified easily. It’s just that SM is working hard to cover it up.”

• “What are the comments saying below? It’s not about whether he’s getting criticized or not; the issue is serious, yet nothing is being disclosed. Nobody is asking for specific details.”
• “Stop trying to deflect saying he’s a ‘nobody.'”
• “You’re telling me our country is protecting the victim like this? Because her identity could be exposed?? Does that mean the victim is a public figure? It’s weird that his withdrawal notice came out first and not news articles. Also, it’s odd that there wasn’t even a rough outline of the incident, and not a single rumor or tabloid gossip had circulated before August. Let’s not talk about him being a ‘nobody.’ Even the dating news of an idol from an 86-member group is reported with pseudonyms like ‘A’ and ‘B.’