(G)I-DLE Soyeon’s Plagiarism Controversy Resurfaces As Posts Mentioning The Issue Get Taken Down Across Forums

(G) I-DLE’s Soyeon seems to be in the hot waters again with Korean netizens over the plagiarism issue that significantly dented her reputation as a songwriter back in February of 2022. She produced a song titled “SUN” for MBC’s survival show My Teenage Girl, which had some similarities with ATEEZ’s 2019 hit “WAVE.” Though both Soyeon and CUBE Entertainment apologized for the issue, it has resurfaced almost a year later.

When ATEEZ fans pointed out the similarities between “WAVE” and “SUN,” the group’s agency, KQ Entertainment, released a statement explaining that though the original producer Eden-ary had been properly credited, neither Soyeon nor MBC had previously reached out for permission to sample the song. Following this, both CUBE Entertainment and Soyeon addressed the situation in their statements. While CUBE clarified that the two agencies are trying to resolve the issue, Soyeon said she “sincerely [apologizes] to the original composer, the artist, and fans for the confusion caused.”

After this, the controversy died down until June when a Twitter user found “SUN” to be credited and copyrighted to Soyeon on the website of the Korean Music Copyright Association (KOMCA). She was not only credited as the producer but also as a backup singer, which meant she had full ownership of the song and could technically make licensed revenue through any and all use of it. Netizens criticized the (G)I-DLE member for trying to make money off of a plagiarized song by copyrighting it like so.

As a result of these two controversies, the issue got reported and discussed quite a lot, both in the news and on online forums. But on January 6, many netizens noticed that all posts on Korean internet forums that discussed Soeyon’s controversy were being taken down in real-time. In most cases the posts were being removed with copyright issues or defamation being stated as the reason.

A netizen compiled screenshots of multiple posts being removed from online communities and posted on a blogging forum, which got more people talking about the issue. Many commentators on the post predicted that the compilation post would also be gone in a few hours, and it was.

Many netizens opined that if this is an attempt by Soyeon’s agency to bury the incident, it will not only be ineffective, but could end up hurting her reputation even more.

| Instiz

• “After the apology, was it right to go behind to register the copyright and remove the articles altogether…? If it was all over with public acknowledgment, that would’ve been a different situation, but the matter isn’t even over yet.”
• “This is something else.”
• “Why do they keep deleting…Not doing anything would have been more helpful though? The more they try to cover and draw out the spreading flames, the bigger the fire gets.”
• “In that case, are they keeping a tab on the internet communities? That’s crazy.”
• “It’s really annoying.”
• “Wow.”

Though plagiarism accusations happen in K-Pop quite often, it can be really damaging at times, as seen in the case of Yoo Hee Yeol, whose reputation as a musical genius evaporated overnight. Though it is not certain who is behind the removal of the posts, the question remains whether this incident will end up putting this situation to rest or turn it into a bigger issue.