Japanese Media Condemned For Releasing 80 Photos of NewJeans
Shūkan Bunshun is not a new name to K-Pop fans. The Japanese media, akin to South Korea’s Dispatch, has been at the center of some of the biggest dating news involving idols.
Their latest work, though, involving ADOR‘s CEO Min Hee Jin and her girl group NewJeans, is facing backlash from Korean fans.
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In a recently published article roughly translated as “Many Photos of NewJeans’ Faces,” the media shared 80 photos of NewJeans with Min Hee Jin and 250 (the producer behind NewJeans’ hits like “Ditto” and “Attention), taken in true paparazzi style.
“Weekly Bunshun” followed the girls as they bustled around Tokyo from the moment they arrived in Japan until their concert at the Dome. What was the real face of this most popular group, who openly declared Japan to be their “favorite country,” shown to Weekly Bunshun? The currently available online edition of Weekly Bunshun provides a detailed account of the NewJeans members’ busy stay in Tokyo, revealing aspects of their lives that you don’t see on TV.
— Shūkan Bunshun
The photos did not sit well with Korean fans, who slammed the media for being “sasaeng”-like and harassing the girl group “for no reason.”
- “This is gross. What’s wrong with them?”
- “80 f*cking photos? That’s a lot.”
- “Wow… 80 shots?”
- “Typical sasaeng behavior, if you ask me.”
- “FYI, these seem to be after Tokyo Dome, and there were other staff members present. Min Hee Jin and 250 were the only ones not blurred, though.”
- “I wonder what tool they used to remove the background. They got it down to the individual hair strands, it’s impressive.”
- “Who even is Shukan Bunshun?”
- “Paparazzi shots taken without consent don’t prove how popular NewJeans is. It proves the members were harassed for no reason. Not a single member is Japanese to begin with.”
- “They took so many photos of the members just walking around.”
- “Treating them like J-Pop idols…”
- “Disgusting. What are they, stalkers?”
Previously, Shūkan Bunshun faced backlash for fueling dating rumors of two LE SSERAFIM members. Both debunked soon after, the rumors left Korean fans feeling hostile toward the media outlet.
