My goal is to lay out the details regarding Hyunjin’s controversy as objectively as possible because there’s no complete or accurate resource about it and most international kpop fans, including Stays, still don’t have a good understanding of what happened. I hope those who asked me for translations and others who run across this find it informative.

Overview: There are four main alleged victims in Hyunjin’s case, all women who accused him of either verbally attacking and/or cyberbullying them while they were students at Seongnae, a co-ed middle school. One of them had previously accused him in 2018, but the issue had blown over back then because she had deleted her post and JYPE had not investigated her claims. Note that middle schoolers in Korea are around 13-15 years old, and ages in these accounts will be inflated because the Korean system adds 1-2 years to one’s age (an explanation is here).

Three of the four wrote that they were contacted by JYPE, and JYPE later announced that Hyunjin met up with some of his accusers. According to JYPE, although everyone remembers what happened differently, Hyunjin sincerely apologized and the alleged victims he met accepted his apology and said they will support him in the future. The important takeaways from this are that none of the accusations have been proven true or false and the alleged victims Hyunjin met up with accepted his apology.

Background: Although the English word “bullying” is used when discussing these cases, the Korean word most often used (학교폭력 or the abbreviation 학폭) actually translates to “school violence.” The closest word to “bullying” is instead 왕따시키다, which is literally “to make someone an outcast/loner.” School violence covers a wide range of actions, including physical and verbal attacks, blackmailing, cyberbullying, etc. Please understand that “school violence” is a serious societal issue in Korea. Some discussions I recommend are: Link, Link, Link, Link.

Why are knetz so quick to believe these accusers? In Korea, defamation laws are so strong that someone can be imprisoned even for telling the truth. There are two types of cyber defamation cases in Korea: (1) the accuser lied to damage someone’s reputation aka “falsity defamation” or (2) the accuser said the truth to damage someone’s reputation aka “truth defamation.” For falsity defamation cases, the accuser typically has to prove what they posted is the truth, and for truth defamation cases, the accuser typically has to prove what they posted was only for the public interest. Here are some resources discussing these laws: Link, Link, Link.

Most Korean sites including Nate Pann, even if they allow anonymous posts, require all users to register an account linked to a verified phone number, which they’ll hand over in an investigation. By posting on these sites, accusers risk getting hit with a defamation lawsuit that they’ll likely lose. This isn’t to say there aren’t antis who post fake rumors, but once they are threatened with a lawsuit, they’ll often delete their posts and sometimes even post an apology. If an agency doesn’t announce they’ll be suing and/or the accuser doesn’t delete their post, it’s generally assumed there is some amount of truth to the accusations or something else the celebrity/agency doesn’t want exposed during legal proceedings. Fyi, none of this applies to twitter, which is a hot mess that doesn’t require the same verification as Korean sites.

Finally, it’s important to keep in mind that even if the accusers are telling the truth, they will, intentionally or not, be biased when telling their side of the story. Same goes for any defenders.

Timeline: (note that this only covers the main events and accusers)

February 10, 2021 

• Famous and popular twin volleyball players are accused of school violence. They admit to their past actions and apologize, and they consequently get dropped from their team and banned from competing in the Tokyo Olympics. (Link) This leads to a wave of other celebrities, including Hyunjin, getting accused in what some people refer to as the “School #MeToo” movement.

February 22, 2021

• 7:40 PM - First alleged victim (A) uploads a post accusing Hyunjin. Her main claim is that in their 2nd year of middle school, Hyunjin added her to a group chat where Hyunjin and other male classmates verbally attacked her with comments such as “You’re like [censored], you look like that because you have no mom” and more, made sexually harassing comments, and said insults about her family. (Translation)

• Several classmates upload posts/comments defending Hyunjin and attacking A, and other classmates upload posts/comments defending A. Summaries and translations of the main posts are included below. With all this back and forth, the general sentiment of the public is that this was a two-sided fight between Hyunjin’s group of friends and A’s group of friends and that the parties should just resolve it privately instead of airing out their dirty laundry.

• 9:35 PM - A classmate (A-1) uploads a post defending Hyunjin from A. A-1’s main claim is that Hyunjin was a good person and it was in fact A who had personality-related issues such as cursing at and bullying another student. (Translation)

February 23, 2021

• 12:58 AM - A classmate (A-2) uploads a post defending Hyunjin from A. A-2’s main claim is that it was two-sided hostility between Hyunjin and A and not one-sided bullying. (Translation)
• 1:07 AM - A classmate (A-3) uploads a post countering Hyunjin’s defenders A-1 and A-2. A-3’s main claim is that what they said about A is false, including the claim that A bullied someone in her 3rd year of middle school. (Translation)
• 2:19 AM - JYPE announces they will be investigating the issue and that they are open to listening to A’s opinions. (Translation)
• 10:27 AM - Second alleged victim (B) uploads a post on Etta (everytime.kr, an online community app for university students) accusing Hyunjin. B’s main claim is that Hyunjin verbally harassed her, such as calling her “fat bitch” and insulting her family, to the point she was taking medication for anxiety and depression. (Translation)
• 11:20 AM - Third alleged victim (C) leaves comments on A’s post accusing Hyunjin but does not yet upload a separate post. C’s main claim is that Hyunjin was an “iljin” who would constantly curse at others, including her for being fat and ugly. “Iljins” are school delinquents, generally known for underage smoking and drinking, breaking school uniform code, skipping school, bullying/harassing other students, etc. (Translation)
• 4:32 PM - A uploads a follow-up post to her first post correcting and clarifying some of her previous claims, including saying she doesn’t remember who added her to the group chat and that the group chat included both male and female students. (Translation)
• 4:35 PM - Fourth alleged victim (D) uploads a post accusing Hyunjin. D is the same person who had accused Hyunjin in 2018. D’s main claims are that because she had broken up with his friend, Hyunjin once rushed towards her like he was about to hit her while yelling, “F*cking b*tch, you want to get hit b*tch?” before being stopped by others, and that he and a group of boys cyberbullied her on Facebook then intimidated her at school the next day. She also explains that she deleted her 2018 post because she couldn’t deal with the backlash back then. (Translation)

• With the additional accusations from B, C, D, and others, the public has turned firmly against Hyunjin.

• 6:00 PM - JYPE uploads SKZ Code Ep. 4 and faces heavy criticism for not temporarily halting promotions for Hyunjin like other companies had done for their celebrities who have ongoing investigations related to school violence.
• 9:11 PM - CLIO announces the schedule for the release of Stray Kids “mild” photos that are supposed to be uploaded this day has been changed, and a new schedule hasn’t been decided yet. (Link)
• 10:38 PM - B deletes her Etta post and uploads a longer, more detailed post of her claims on Pann. (Translation)
• ??:?? - Screenshots of facebook messages, which seem to be from 2018 of a JYPE lawyer warning and pressuring the person who had accused actor Kim Dong Hee of school violence back then, spread widely on various sites. Kim Dong Hee used to be under JYPE before JYPE spun off its acting division. The implication is that JYPE is warning and pressuring Hyunjin’s accusers as well. (Original posts deleted, screenshots)

February 24, 2021

• 4:40 PM - Hyunjin is absent from Stray Kids’s performance at the MBN Y Forum.
• 6:20 PM - JYPE makes a statement about Hyunjin’s absence, saying that his participation in schedules while the investigation is ongoing will be decided on a case by case basis. JYPE also firmly denies that the Facebook messages are by a JYPE lawyer and warns it will sue those who continue to share this false information. (Translation)

February 24-25, 2021

• ??:?? - A edits her follow up post to say JYPE contacted her, and D edits her original post to say JYPE contacted her and she will be going to the company to discuss.

• Nate Pann doesn’t show the timestamp of when a post is edited, so an exact date/time for these edits cannot be determined.

February 25, 2021

• 12:24 PM - B leaves the following comment on her post: “I’ll be going to the company in person today.”
• ??:?? - Hyunjin most likely met with his accusers on this day based on A, B, and D’s edits/comments, B deleting her post later at night, and JYPE’s statement the day after.
• ~10:30 PM - B deletes her post.

February 26, 2021

• 11:30 AM - JYPE announces the results of their investigation, stating that Hyunjin met with the alleged victims and that although everyone remembers the events differently, Hyunjin sincerely apologized and the alleged victims he met accepted his apology and said they will support him in the future. (Translation)
• 11:31 AM - An apology by Hyunjin is posted on instagram. (Translation)
• 12:58 PM - C uploads a post reiterating her prior comments about Hyunjin. (Translation)
• 6:02 PM - News company Osen releases a statement by an anonymous person who claims they are Hyunjin’s former middle school teacher. The teacher’s main claim is that Hyunjin shouldn’t be the only one to blame as the classroom environment as a whole was toxic. (Translation)

• Reaction is extremely negative against the teacher, as the teacher essentially admitted to being aware of the toxic environment of their classroom and not stopping it. Teachers unwilling or powerless to help victims of school violence is one of the main reasons why it’s such a systemic problem in Korea.
• International fans who mass upvoted the article are criticized for being unable to see the bigger issue and manipulating Korean news article rankings.  
• Screenshots of comments left on this article by a classmate of Hyunjin (E) and their prior comments regarding him are shared on various sites. E’s main claim regarding Hyunjin is that while he shouldn’t be the only one to blame for the school violence, he was at the center of it. (Translation)

February 27, 2021

• 8:03 PM - JYPE announces Hyunjin will be halting activities. (Translation)

March 3, 2021

• 6:02 PM - IVY CLUB suspends advertisements with Hyunjin. (Link)

March 8, 2021

• 2:00 AM - CLIO announces that after consulting with JYPE, they decided they will continue with the 7 currently active members of Stray Kids as models. (Link)

March 10, 2021

• ??:?? - An anonymous user posts on theqoo a response allegedly from the Office of Education that says, among other things, that the school cannot verify the identity of the anonymous teacher because there are no teachers who have been working continuously there since 2014 and that it is impossible for the school to confirm whether such anonymous source was a teacher at the school back in 2014. (Translation)

• Note that Osen, which released the teacher’s statement, is a reputable news site, and that the Office of Education did not deny the anonymous source was a teacher, just that they didn’t have the means to verify their identity. This post has also been deleted.

A’s Post Accusing Hyunjin (210222 19:40) - Link

Title: Exposing Stray Kids Hwang Hyunjin School Violence

*Edit

I’m adding this because there are many comments asking if I’m the person who posted on various other sites before*.

[*T/N: Comments asking if A is the 2018 accuser aka D.]

I have never uploaded this story anywhere, and I am clearly stating that the post I uploaded on Nate Pann now is my first post. Please don’t get confused.

I’m someone who never even thought that Hwang Hyunjin would debut as an idol that will receive attention and support, and on top of that, love, from many people. People may make the lame excuse that he was joking around as a young child, but I was someone who was a victim of school violence from Hwang Hyunjin, and as I previously stated, I didn’t even think he’d become an idol, so I didn’t collect proper evidence and have only proof I attended the school, my memories, and my friends’ testimonies. Those hellish times would have remained buried if he had remained a non-celebrity and out of my sight, but with Hwang Hyunjin’s debut as an idol, those memories come to life and bother me whenever I see him on TV. Seeing those celebrities who were perpetrators [of school violence] currently experiencing the bitter taste of reality due to the school violence controversy, I’m trying to summon the courage like this with the hope that I’ll find out you [Hwang Hyunjin] will not be so confident as well.  

Stray Kids’s Hwang Hyunjin is an alumnus from the same middle school as me, and we were classmates in the same room* the 2nd year of middle school. But we weren’t close enough to have shared more than 10 words in 1 year. In that kind of situation, I was subjected to so-called school violence without even knowing why, and I couldn’t understand at all just what kind of grudge he had against me at that time to do that.

[*T/N: In Korea, students are assigned to one classroom for the whole year. Instead of students moving to a different classroom for each period/subject, teachers are the ones who rotate in.]

I quit early, but I have experience of being part of a small company, learning how to act, and going to small shoots as a supporting actress back then. But I didn’t tell my friends around me that I was working, and only the teachers knew when I was absent from school because of a shoot.

Nevertheless, Hwang Hyunjin, who somehow found out I was doing this work, asked me, “What company is it,” “What kind of shoot is it,” etc. and started prying into my affairs, and I generally evaded his questions by saying, “It’s nothing special. It’s not a big company.” After that, whether it was because he was offended by who knows what, he even told me, “I’m going to debut before you.” After that incident, I faced inexplicable verbal abuse.      

At that time, there were two reasons that Hwang Hyunjin gave me for having a grudge against me and for bullying me in the class group chat.  

Of the two reasons, he said the first was, “I didn’t like how you told me, who was sitting at the very back, to close the back door.” Hwang Hyunjin said in a Kakaotalk* message, “Close it yourself, why are you telling others to do it?” I replied, “You all are the ones opening it, so why should I close it,” and received only a reply that was like, “Am I your servant?”

[*T/N: Kakaotalk is Korea’s most popular messaging app.]

The second reason was that because our school had lunch delivered in carts that came to the front of our classrooms, there were often problems with distribution because the quantity was fixed. One day after lunch was distributed, my friend, who had been on lunch duty handing out the food, didn’t receive as much as they should have because there wasn’t enough, so we shared lunch since I had received more than them. However, ignoring the truth which was that “I shared food with my friend who didn’t receive enough lunch,” he said, “I don’t like how you received a lot of lunch. It’s because of you others can’t eat lunch,” and criticized and mocked me for a completely childish reason, which is a bit ridiculous when I think about it now. (These are the two reasons he told me through Kakaotalk on the day of the incident.)

For the two reasons above, around the end of the school year in winter during the 2nd year of middle school, he added me to a class group chat that I wasn’t part of before, and many male students, including Hwang Hyunjin, verbally attacked me with comments such as “You’re like [censored], you look like that because you have no mom” and more, made sexually harassing comments, and said insults about my family.

At that time, I was on the way home after eating out with my family, so I couldn’t check Kakaotalk, which was ringing loudly and full of mocking and abusive language, and I [finally] ended up checking it because my friend called me and told me to check Kakaotalk quickly. Sure enough, the messages that welcomed me when I checked Kakaotalk were the taunts of Hwang Hyunjin and the male students he encouraged, such as, “Why aren’t you checking Kakaotalk, you scared?”

I wasn’t the type who was quiet or who couldn’t express my opinions confidently, so even back then I didn’t think it would hurt me very much, but after exchanging a few words at first, the taunts, the verbal abuse, the sexual harassment, and the insults about my family were difficult for the then 15-year old me me to handle, and I soon fell into a panic.    

Thus, except for the few words in the beginning, I couldn’t deal with Hwang Hyunjin anymore, so my sister and brother pretended to be me and answered when responding to him, such as through Kakaotalk replies. With the intervention of the two who were adults at that time, he was pushed back and the argument fizzled out and I left the group chat, but after that, there was even more inexplicable mockery, insensitivity, provocations, and so on, such as him saying he wants to hit me in class.  

In addition, I confirmed through a screenshot my friend took that with Hwang Hyunjin leading them, they uploaded comments insulting me on not just Kakaotalk but Kakaostory* as well on the day of the incident. After checking this, frustrated because I couldn’t understand at all what he disliked about me and why a boy that I barely spoke to for a year had that kind of malice towards me, I told him at first, “If you have that much to say, don’t do it on Kakaotalk but say it to my face. Come to the front of the school now, and if you can’t come out, call me.” He refused with the excuse, “My mom is crying so I can’t come out,” and mocked me with the other male students in our class on Kakaotalk as expected.  

[*T/N: Kakaostory is similar to Facebook and is linked to one’s Kakaotalk profile.]

Whether it’s because from the time he told me he would debut before me he didn’t want to leave any evidence, although he took the lead when inciting the other boys and harassing me, he did it hiding from the back or seemed to have made holes he can escape from when uploading public posts on social media.

I don’t really know how school life passed after this until the end of the school year. Every time I went to school since then, I had to hear inexplicable taunts and ridicule. Also, for the rolling paper* at the end of the school year, mine was full of insulting words and ridicule. Of course, I thought to myself regarding that rolling paper, “There’s no reason for me to keep this since it’s just hurting me,” so I threw it away after returning home without telling anyone about it.  

[*T/N: A piece of paper on which people write messages for one person. Example.]

The mockery of many people that Hwang Hyunjin started made the 15-year old me increasingly intimidated, and going to school every day made me worried. Nevertheless, I was able to withstand this because of my friends and family who simply stood by me. I endured day after day and waited for time to pass quickly, the school year to end, and our classrooms to change, and as the school year changed, I gradually forgot about this incident and regained a peaceful school life.

It was becoming a forgotten memory, but every time Hwang Hyunjin appeared on TV after he debuted, it seemed like I could hear the inexplicable criticism and mockery of that time again, and I realized that I wasn’t able to erase that memory after all. I thought I had forgotten because even in my opinion, my experience didn’t seem to be on the severe side when compared to other victims, but seeing around me the face of the perpetrator who hurt me back then, I started to remember again, to the point I was trembling, the words and actions that they said and did back then purely to mock me. I hope [people won’t think] there was no inexplicable verbal abuse committed against me for the reason that it wasn’t severe. Even though I know what happened was wrong, the violence inflicted by the inexplicable harassment of a 15-year old young child is still a pain I can’t avoid.

I don't think violence should be justified for any reason.

I hope that the violence committed won’t be justified for the reason that he was young, and I hope for a direct apology.

[Post-it: 2021.02.22 Nate Pann Anon Diploma

Diploma: Diploma / Name *Name Covered* / 2000 *Birthdate Covered* / This diploma is presented to the person above for completing the 3 years of middle school. / 2016 February 4 / Seongnae Middle School Dean Lee Kyung Ran]

[Post-it: 2021.02.22 Nate Pann Anon Graduation Yearbook]

[*T/N: A hid the other person’s name using Kakaotalk’s screen capture feature which has the option to mosaic the profile picture and replace the name with a random one for privacy.]

You remember that at the end of our 2nd year of middle school, Hwang Hyunjin instigated our classmates on Kakaotalk,

And they mocked and verbally attacked me for a stupid reason, right?

Tbh, you can’t even call it a reason ^^,,,

Yeah

You’re right

I remember

Tbh, I don’t remember the reason why, I guess it was that meaningless

Can you talk a bit about what you remember?

Just what happened on Kakaotalk

It’s fine if it’s something small

Yeah

There was something

That time the boys were also instigated by him and cussed me out

That time

In our class group chat

I think he said something

All the others were there, but the several boys

Who were close to him

I remember him and them saying something to you

And the next day, he even came to school and said he wanted to hit me

Do you remember him doing that

Crazy

I remember that

So I told him to hit me, and he said, “Aren’t you going to rat on me”

Hahahahahahahahahaha

That’s right, that time you did say

“Try hitting me”

The day after that the classroom atmosphere was fucking bad..He kept chattering away next to that male student who was held back

Ah hahahahaha that person

Who was held back 1 year

He acted so fucking tough in class

That person was friends with him yeah

And they’d go around together and smoke~

Anyway

Back then you and him, instead of really wild

Physical fights if I should call it that

You and him just fought with words

Ah and

I remember that time

Because they were talking shit in the group chat

You called [him]

When I told him to come out, he didn’t, saying his mom was crying

And said let’s meet and talk

But he said no

Saying, “My mom is crying now so I can’t come out”

He didn’t even answer my call

Saying his family dog is blah blah

Blabbering on~

I remember him doing this

Hahahahahahah

No why is someone who was mocking you just fine on kakaotalk right before that

Suddenly not answering when you call him

And saying, “No, my mom is crying”

Exactly, you know that they were shouting at me all together, right?

Fucking strange,,ha

Ha…

Ikr

Hahahaha that’s right fuck

The boys came in a rush

To gang up on one girl

The reason he gave was “Am I your servant” when I told him to close the back door…

?

Ah

“Why are you eating so much school lunch..”

Crazy

Ah

Hahahaha wow

No way

Because he kept leaving the back door open

Yeah you remember how I lost the drawing and had to sit in the back row

[You said to him] like “Close the back door when you’re going around, be considerate of the people sitting in the back”

A-1’s Post Defending Hyunjin (210222 21:35) - Link

Title: Hwang Hyunjin’s school violence controversy is a lie.

Hello. I’m a student that graduated from Seongnae Middle School in 2016. After seeing the false post uploaded about SKZ Hwang Hyunjin’s school violence, I wanted to let people know that there were no incidents related to school violence at all during middle school, so I registered for Nate Pann for the first time and am leaving a post like this.  

Rumors about his handsome visuals spread since Hwang Hyunjin entered the 1st year of middle school, so many of our peers were envious and jealous. He always had a bit of a hard time because of the rumors. However, he was always bright and got along with his friends, and he’s a student who won the trust of our classroom peers to the point he was class president during the 2nd year of middle school, when A claimed she was hurt. He was a kid who made school life have no issues to the point so many people think this way even 6 years later.  

I’ll begin refuting the post that was uploaded recently.

That incident was a fight between two students, and it’s a different story from school violence.

First, the story of how he said, “I’m going to debut before you,” is a lie. At the end of the 3rd year of middle school, he ended up auditioning for an agency after being street cast, and he passed. Before that, he didn’t have any thoughts of becoming a celebrity, and he was a student who studied hard by going back and forth to a hagwon* after school.  

[*T/N: A hagwon is a private after-school and/or weekend academy. Most students in Korea attend at least one hagwon.]

Second, I’m cautious because it’s about the classmate who uploaded the post, but I’m telling you this with the hope that what happened doesn’t become misrepresented. The classmate who uploaded the post about [Hyunjin’s] school violence had a lot of personality-related issues.    

(1) There was a time she cursed saying ** even though cursing was banned and argued with other students during a ball game in our 1st year of middle school.

(2) During the 3rd year of middle school, she led others in bullying **Min, and a student disciplinary committee was called.    

I want to give more detailed information on these issues, but because I think there’s no reason to provide more details about a non-celebrity, I’ll write just up to here.  

Please don’t brutally trample another person’s life because you don’t like them. Don’t you have any sense of guilt about your actions, that you wrote a post about being the victim of school violence? Please think about the tears you inflicted on the victim that will be having a hard time even now reading this post. Please.

[Post-it: 2021.02.22 Nate Pann Confirmation]

[Post-it: 2021.02.22 Nate Pann Confirmation

Diploma: #14667 / Diploma / Name *Name Covered* / 2000 *Birthdate Covered* / This diploma is presented to the person above for completing the 3 years of middle school. / 2016 February 4 / Seongnae Middle School Dean Lee Kyung Ran]

[Post-it: 2021.02.22 Nate Pann Confirmation]

As a 2016 graduate of Seongnae Middle School writing this post, I inform you that there are no words advocating for nor lies about Hwang Hyunjin [in this post].

A-2’s Post Defending Hyunjin (210223 00:58) - Link

Title: I’m a former classmate of Stray Kids Hwang Hyunjin.

Hello. I’m a student who was in the same class as Hwang Hyunjin in the 2nd and 3rd year of middle school. From the line “I learned how to act being part of a small company” in the post “[Idol School Violence] Exposing Stray Kids Hwang Hyunjin School Violence,” I figured out who wrote it. Thinking about that person while reading her post, I felt distrust at the words that included lies. And with A spreading one-sided rumors from her subjective point of view, I ended up writing this post to refute her post that caused serious criticism.

When I was trying to write this post, because I’m writing a post about what happened during the 2nd year of middle school by relying on my memory and without evidence like A, I had the thought that I should clarify my thoughts by listening to the stories of many people because my memory may be fuzzy. I contacted three friends who were in the same class that time and asked them for their memories and thoughts about A, and I’ll only write about the parts for which we all expressed the same opinion.  

First, the back door

When A was in the farthest back seat, our classmates didn’t close the door properly as they came and went. A got mad at our peers who kept leaving the door open and shouted at them to just close the door with curse words mixed in.  

Hwang Hyunjin entered the classroom when A opened the door and yelled, and he told A, “You can just close the door, what are you saying so harshly?” Afterwards, A responded, and Hwang Hyunjin and A ended up fighting and exchanged bad words with each other.  

Second, the lunch

At that time, we took turns for lunch duty, and because it was students distributing it, it was inevitable that there would be people who received relatively more and people who received relatively less. The students on lunch duty distributed their own food after all the other students received their meals, so if there were students before them who said, “Give me more,” and got more, there were times the students on lunch duty couldn’t get food. So the students on lunch duty used to joke around saying, “I can’t get lunch because of you,” to the students who received more that day. I think this is something students who find meals important are perfectly capable of saying to each other, and I remember my friends and I have all said this to others.

Third, the group chat

I also want to tell you that in A’s sentence “For the two reasons above, around the end of the school year in winter during the 2nd year of middle school, he added me to a class group chat that I wasn’t part of before and verbally attacked me,” there are one truth and two lies. First, she wrote, “For the two reasons above,” but Hwang Hyunjin and A normally didn’t get along. But it wasn’t one-sided harassment from Hwang Hyunjin, there were many times A started an argument, and they didn’t get along well. There were also cases where A and other boys teased or made fun of each other and it turned into a fight. The two of them didn’t speak nicely to each other and showed no respect for each other.

A said Hwang Hyunjin led the bullying and she was intimidated, but the 2nd year Class 2 peers never once bullied A. It wasn’t “a class group chat that A wasn’t part of,” but a situation that happened when Hwang Hyunjin and the boys he was close to said they’ll talk to A in their own group chat then added her to it. I don’t know in detail what kind of conversation occurred because it was a private group chat with only boys including Hwang Hyunjin, but the two of them didn’t have a good relationship normally and fought often, so I think they exchanged bad words.

Also, I want to once again A if she’s sure she really suffered one-sided school violence and not that she and Hwang Hyunjin had a bad relationship.

* I’ll leave photos confirming that my friends and I attended Seongnae Middle School.

[Post-it: 2021.02.23 Nate Pann Anon Graduation Yearbook]

[Post-it: 2021.02.23 Nate Pann Anon Diploma

Diploma: Diploma / Name *Name Covered* / 2000 *Birthdate Covered* / This diploma is presented to the person above for completing the 3 years of middle school. / 2016 February 4 / Seongnae Middle School Dean Lee Kyung Ran]

[Post-it: 2021.02.23 Nate Pann Confirmation]

[Post-it: 2021.02.23 Nate Pann Confirmation]

A-3’s Post Countering A-1’s and A-2’s Defense of Hyunjin (210223 1:07) - Link

Title: A post countering the posts countering Hwang Hyunjin’s school violence controversy (with confirmation [of school attendance])

Hello. This is my first time writing a post on Pann so please be understanding even if it might be lacking. First, I’ll get straight to the point.

I’m writing to prove that the post https://pann.nate.com/talk/357931155 “Exposing Stray Kids Hwang Hyunjin School Violence” is true, and the post https://pann.nate.com/talk/357936611 “Hwang Hyunjin’s school violence controversy is a lie.” is false.

I’m an alumnus from the same middle school as A and was in the same class as her in the 3rd year of middle school, so I know the issue well. The post that claims A’s expose is false has ridiculous lies written in it and is victim-blaming her, so I’m writing this rebuttal. I left a comment on that post, and I also provided confirmation that I graduated from the school.

[this is ridiculous (2021.02.22 23:11)

Wow this is the direction you’re going to take? The victim-blaming is unreal. Also, you know that I can confirm [I went to the school] and that you can be sued for posting false rumors, right? I’m going to respond to the other posts too, but this is so ridiculous I’m posting a comment here first. I was in the same class as A in the 3rd year [of middle school], and everything you wrote is a lie. Also you said she was leading the bullying? You’re talking about that incident, but it wasn’t school violence but an argument among a group of girls that got a little out of hand. In the end, everyone apologized to and made up with each other, and we all got along well with each other during the last semester. I kept in touch with A, and I also kept in touch with all those people who were involved in the incident...This is a little ridiculous.]

[Post-it: Nate Pann This is Ridiculous]

First, a rebuttal to “Hwang Hyunjin was street cast in the 3rd year of middle school. Saying that he said, ‘I’m going to debut before you,’ during the 2nd year of middle school doesn’t make sense.”  

To start, during the last semester of our 3rd year of middle school, the situation was that rumors about Hwang Hyunjin being cast by JYP had spread to the point everyone knew about it then. But A had told others not during the 3rd year of middle school (but during the 2nd or 1st year of middle school) that before being casted by JYP, Hwang Hyunjin had already received a lot of business cards from other agencies and was considering them. To be honest, there’s no transcript or evidence of this, but saying this situation is false is a weak argument to push.

Second, rebuttal #1 to “A had a lot of personality-related issues” (cursing during a ballgame).

The statement about her cursing during a ballgame is really distorted and a ridiculous statement. What A-1 said was a fight with curse words was actually A exchanging slang with her friend for fun, and a student from another class who was walking by at the time heard that slang and misunderstood, so there was a little argument.  

Third, rebuttal #2 to “A had a lot of personality-related issues” (A was actually the bully?)

As a former classmate who was in the same class as A in the 3rd year [of middle school], I think I should point this out.

It is true that at the time, the girls in the class did not like each other and fought. However, it was definitely not bullying or school violence, and there was no official school violence committee called.

Wee Class* hosted a session, and we all gathered and talked, resolved our misunderstandings, reflected on ourselves, and apologized to each other. After that, we all had fun together on a school trip and got along well until the end of the last semester.

[*T/N: A government-funded school counseling program.]

When those who entered the same high school ran into each other, they greeted each other without any awkwardness. Even after becoming adults, we often contact each other.

I’m also well aware that students who weren’t in our class at the time believe it was a school violence committee and that the rumors that spread weren’t good. I also saw that another post had been posted about this. https://m.pann.nate.com/talk/reply/view?pann_id=357941187&order=N&rankingType=total

- “I’m so frustrated by Hwang Hyunjin’s school violence [controversy] that I wrote this post*”

[*T/N: This post has been deleted (repost), but in summary, it was by a former classmate who said A’s post and the accusation in 2018 are true and that they and other alumni weren’t surprised when these accusations sprang up. They said they also saw the posts defending Hyunjin for having been a good student but a good student wouldn’t have used the phrase “motherless bitch” like he did in his Ask responses. Finally, they said there was a school disciplinary committee called, but the person who bullied **Min wasn’t A but someone else. They revised their post later to say no school violence committee had been called.]

I think it’s correct that they’re also a former classmate, and while I know that they revised their post after having said a school violence committee was called, it’s true that most people think it did happen. It seems like this OP revised the parts that were false after posting it.

The fact is that it was definitely not a school violence committee. And A is definitely not an instigator of bullying or a bully herself. Therefore, please don’t post anything about that incident or the names of the people involved.

Fourth, rebuttal #3 to “A had a lot of personality-related issues.” (regarding the community site post*)

[*T/N: Referring to the 2018 accusation. Reposts of it were circulating on community sites, including a screenshot of a comment that said the 2018 accuser had a lot of personality-related issues. D addresses the comment in her post.]

Let me start with the conclusion. The OP of the post that is being circulated around community sites and A are absolutely not the same person. There are people who believe that at that time, OP wrote the post, comments complaining about it were left on the post, and OP disappeared after JYP said they were preparing to sue, but that’s absolutely not true. I hope you don’t get confused, and I hope you don’t muddle that situation.  

At the time, A did read the post that was first uploaded to community sites, but she didn’t write one then because she was scared her private information would be spread everywhere and because her mind and body were not stable.

Finally, to end this post

First, I wrote this post to counter [A-1’s post], and if you have any questions about this, please write a comment. Also, it’s absolutely forbidden to mention the names of non-celebrities. I hope you please don’t mention names related to A and names of people related to Hwang Hyunjin (like his ex-girlfriend), and I hope you stop victim-blaming A.

The fact is that Hwang Hyunjin called up his friends and they verbally attacked A with personal attacks and insults about her family. This is an undeniable fact. You may be frustrated because there’s no evidence for this, but I hope you note that this incident took place no less than 7 years ago. Also, she had a difficult time and was frustrated for a long time from the trauma regarding this. I hope you support A, who wrote her post after gathering her courage with difficulty. It would be nice if you understood that she wants nothing but a sincere apology.

Also, I heard that many classmates want to write about this. However, it would be good if this is the last post and no more posts are uploaded. I look forward to an official announcement regarding Hwang Hyunjin.

Thank you for reading this long post.

----(++Edit)------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After uploading this post, another post was uploaded so I read that post as well.  https://m.pann.nate.com/talk/357946864 - “I’m a former classmate of Stray Kids Hwang Hyunjin.”

To rebut a few things about it, I think it’s funny that someone who wasn’t even involved and isn’t sure what happened is thoughtlessly discussing whether she’s a victim or not based on their own experience. The content of the post, which was like “the victim and the person in question didn’t exchange pretty words” and “neither of them were good,” is absurd.  

I think forcing the victim to act like a victim is a violent act. Yes. Although she wasn’t continuously bullied, what’s certain is that, as mentioned in her post, they added her to a group chat and personally attacked her, and the victim alone received all that.  

Now I’ll really end it here. Thank you.

JYPE First Announcement (210223 02:19) - Link

We are making an announcement on the issue regarding Hyunjin that is currently spreading on various online communities.

First, the company is doing its best to confirm the truth regarding this issue.

We are listening to the opinions of the school the member attended during the time of the issue raised and of his acquaintances, and if A agrees, we are also considering listening directly to the opinions of A.  

However, we have confirmed that there are many parts among the contents currently spreading indiscriminately that are false, and we have identified those who are intentionally creating and spreading malicious rumors. Thus, we will conduct a detailed investigation through various routes and confirm the undistorted, exact truth, and we plan to take legal action regarding the spread of false information.

We will do our best to protect our artist by investigating clear facts, and we will properly take strong action regarding the spread of false rumors.

B’s Post Accusing Hyunjin (Etta*) (210223 10:27) - [original post deleted, screenshots]

[*T/N: everytime.kr, an online community app for university students.]

Title: Stray Kids Hwang Hyunjin

It’s true he’s a perpetrator of school violence, I was one of his victims. The post that famously blew up isn’t me. I don’t care even if I get reported by JYP because it’s true. I’m also in the middle of collecting evidence.

Comment: I can show you my yearbook. I was harassed a lot for a year. Because I couldn’t block a ball during a ball game, I heard “fat bitch,” insults about my family, etc. a lot. Endless insults in the group chat. Snide insults during breaktime (he purposely called another person, whose name is similar to mine, by my name to mock him since I was an outcast). My suffering was endless, and I was taking medication back then. I had a really hard time. Although people may be able to refute what was posted on Nate Pann, they won’t be able to refute me. Ah, would he even remember me? Because I had anxiety and depression for a while, I couldn’t even go about my daily life well.

C’s Comments on A’s Post Accusing Hyunjin (210223 11:19) - Link

1st comment (11:19): I was in the same class as Hwang Hyunjin in my 1st year [of middle school], but Hwang Hyunjin’s personality was fucking awful. He was an iljin*. All the posts defending Hwang Hyunjin are by his friends, don’t trust the posts defending him.

[*T/N: “Iljins” are school delinquents, generally known for underage smoking and drinking, breaking school uniform code, skipping school, bullying/harassing other students, etc.]

[Post-it: 2021.02.23 Nate Pann Confirmation

Screen: School: Seongnae Middle School / Verification that the person above completed their studies and graduated on February 4th, 2016. / February, 23, 2021 / Principal of Seongnae Middle School]

2nd comment (11:20): This is my student ID.

[Post-it: 2021.02.23 Nate Pann Confirmation

School ID: Verification that the person above is a student at this school. March 4, 2013. Principal of Seongnae Middle School]

3rd comment (11:37): I was in the same class as him only in our 1st year, and I was in a different class starting the 2nd year, so I don't really know about the incident A wrote about. During our 1st year, if there was someone Hwang Hyunjin didn’t like, he would curse at them and be obvious about how he hated them.

4th comment (11:39): Whenever he caught sight of me, he would curse at me for being fat and ugly. I was young then, so I didn’t think about saving evidence. I know there are many people who won’t believe me because I don’t have evidence, but please trust what I’m saying.

A’s Follow-Up Post Correcting and Clarifying Previous Claims (210223 16:32) - Link

Title: Exposing Stray Kids Hwang Hyunjin School Violence + Additional Information + Edit

+Edit

I was contacted by a JYP representative. Also, there are posts exposing him that are being uploaded to many different places right now and a lot of comments saying they’re all by me, so I’d appreciate it if other victims sent me a DM so this can be explained and ended conclusively.

Instagram: asaspp_

Since I uploaded my first post, there have been a lot of controversies with many speculative comments and misunderstandings, so I ended up writing a post like this again. I’m uploading an additional post to tell you about the parts all of you have misunderstood.    

1. Hwang Hyunjin and OP didn’t get along well.

As mentioned previously in my original post, despite the fact that we were in the same class, we have never shared more than 10 words in a year. There has to be some level of acquaintance between two people to be able to judge whether they get along well or not, but the fact that such a judgment was made about us when we didn’t even speak to each other in the first place is confusing and questionable. I never had any connection to Hyunjin that could be judged as a good or bad relationship, and we were just Classmates #1 and #2 in the same classroom. This situation, where it’s becoming the fault of both parties because someone mentioned the school violence inflicted on me was [actually] two people not getting along well, just takes me aback.

2. Hwang Hyunjin was street-cast during the 3rd year of middle school, so why would he say something like that during the 2nd year of middle school.

Regarding this, as I’ve said before, I don’t know why he talked to me like that when we had no prior relationship. There were many rumors around that Hwang Hyunjin “received a lot of business cards from talent agencies.”

However, I had not heard even once, “He became a trainee, he belongs to a company,” so I just thought he must be street-cast a lot, and I didn’t hear anything after that, so I naturally came to the conclusion that “he must not dream of becoming a celebrity.”

But then on the day of the incident, he commented in the group chat, “I’m going to debut before you,” and now looking back on how he encouraged others to also participate even though he was at the forefront instigating the whole thing, I think perhaps he was trying to create a hole to escape somehow.

3. Both parties are at fault for the fight that happened in the group chat.

I still don’t understand why he added me to the group chat and verbally attacked me. A two-sided fight, which some people have said this was, is when two people fight with no one else intervening, not something you say when many people make derogatory comments to bring someone down. For a phrase like “two-sided fight” to make sense, Hwang Hyunjin should have stopped the other male students from intervening or contacted me separately in a personal Kakaotalk chat.  

Also, the only person who could protect me in a one vs. many situation was me. I tried to grit my teeth and fight back to protect myself, but in the end, I couldn’t protect myself from the verbal attacks in the group chat and the public slander on Kakaostory. I tried to solve it on my own, but my sister, who saw me with hands trembling from panic, asked me what was going on and intervened. She said at that time, “They’re young kids, but it’s unforgivable how they’re cyberbullying you like this,” and pretended to be me on Kakaotalk. After this, as a result of exchanging Kakaotalk messages with me, the atmosphere of the chatroom that was sharp towards me changed and I was able to escape the group chat safely. It’s really sad how my efforts to protect myself turns violence into nonviolence. I was too young to have listened to such insults and endured everything in that situation while thinking about the consequences [of my actions]*.

[*T/N: The translation is awkward, but A is saying that she was too young to have considered how defending herself instead of just enduring the insults would cause people to view the situation as a two-sided fight.]

The fact that I fought back can’t justify many people making derogatory comments to me.

4. OP wasn’t an outcast.

After what happened, I didn’t become an outcast. The [expected] result of all school violence is going to be the victim becoming an outcast at school because of the perpetrator. If it was as he intended, he would have wanted me to live discouraged, unable to say a word at school, but I knew too well that’s what a perpetrator would want so I never let myself break or hide my face.

I had friends and family right next to me who believed in me and helped me, so the situation just didn’t go the way Hwang Hyunjin intended. Instead, I went around proudly with my head up.

Please do not force a victim to act like a victim. I endured harm, not avoided* it. To conclude that I’m not a victim because I said, “If you’re going to hit me, hit me,” and, “Call me,” is also forcing me to be a victim with the idea that the victim “has to be quiet and just get hit.”  

[*T/N: Wordplay. “Avoid” sounds like “harm.”]

5. Was the school group chat a new group chat or did he curse at you like that in a classroom group chat that everyone was in?

The clear fact is that I was added to a group chat that had a lot of people. Since it was the end of the school year, I didn’t think it was necessary for me to be in the classroom group chat, so I had left that group chat.

On the day of the incident, verbal attacks poured out in the group chat that I had been suddenly added to and there was no time to check who added me then, so although I can’t list in detail who was in the group chat, there were male and female classmates, so I concluded, “Oh, I was added back to the group chat I had left.” Also, another reason I thought it was the classroom group chat was because my friend who called me and told me about it was in that group chat as well.

6. Regarding his dog’s death

I’m leaving this here because of comments saying I mocked him for his dog’s death.

I didn’t know he was raising a dog at that time. When I said, “If you have so much to say, don’t do it in a group like this but say it to my face,” all he said in response was, “How can I go out when my mom is crying?”

I rationally thought it was definitely a lie and an excuse because [otherwise] he would have been slandering and verbally attacking someone on Kakaotalk while his mom was crying.

I learned about the fact that “his dog was sick” through a classmate at school the day after the incident, and that same friend told me, “His mom was crying because of their sick dog.”

In addition, it seems like there were also comments from people who saw just the Kakaotalk messages from my friend and said my friend was mocking the situation for using the word “dog,” but it was a situation where they didn’t even know that his dog had died (I also found out his dog had died from the comments.) and that friend said that because they thought he was using a strange excuse like I had thought then.  

Although there was no mention that his dog had died even in the original text, I’m leaving this message because there were comments that said there was.

I took the courage to do this with the hope that school violence and all other violence won’t be justified and that there will be no more innocent victims like me and others outside of this site informing people that they’re a victim. I sincerely hope that this will become an opportunity for perpetrators who are reading this post to think twice.

Finally, I also checked the announcement from Hwang Hyunjin’s agency. If a JYP representative contacts me first, I’m willing to respond. I’m not asking for anything great. The reason I wrote the post even while forcibly bringing out the memories I want to erase and being insulted by some people is because I want to receive a sincere apology. Nothing more, nothing less.  

This post was written as a response to just some important questions selected from the comment section that was filled with many comments, speculations, assumptions, and additional attacks overnight. After this time, I will not write any additional posts.

I’m sharing an Instagram account where I can be contacted.

Instagram ID: asaspp_

I will not respond to confrontational DMs unless it’s from JYP.

D’s Post Accusing Hyunjin (210223 16:35) - Link

Title: I’m the person who uploaded the post exposing Hwang Hyunjin a few years ago. (+Edit)

++ Edit

I don’t know how a JYPE representative discovered my contact information, but they contacted me, and I said I would discuss at the company.

I have worried about this a lot since yesterday. A close dongsaeng sent me the link so I found out this has become an issue again. Since then, I couldn’t sleep properly because I was checking the comments and posts all night. It’s my first time writing a post like this on Nate Pann, so please understand that it may be messy. The first thing I want to tell you is:

The first person who uploaded the post exposing him this time and I are not the same person. Also, the contents of that post are not false either.

I went to the same elementary and middle schools as Hwang Hyunjin, so we’re acquainted that way, and we have never once been in the same class in middle school.

The first time I heard abusive language from Hwang Hyunjin was in the 2nd year of middle school.

Back then, I had dated and broken up with Hwang Hyunjin’s friend then met another person.

At that time, among the group of girls close to Hwang Hyunjin, one girl that always cursed at me whenever I got a new boyfriend first mocked me on social media for changing boyfriends often, and the next day, the girls and some boys, including Hwang Hyunjin, stopped by the front of my and my boyfriend’s classroom, sneered at us saying trash was dating trash, and mocked us while watching us.

I was aware of everything then but tried to ignore them while talking to my friends, but Hwang Hyunjin spoke to me first. He asked me, “Are you dating again?” so I just ignored him at first and kept doing what I was doing, but Hwang Hyunjin said, “Hey, you're ignoring me? I'm asking you a question,” so I said, “Fuck off*.” Whether it's because he got angry at that, he said, “F*cking b*tch, you want to get hit, b*tch?” and rushed towards me like he was going to hit me, and some of my friends stopped him. I couldn't say anything at that time, and I remember my friend hugged me while I was crying from surprise and confusion.

[*T/N: The literal translation is “Is it your business?” but it has the same tone as “fuck off.”]

And when I was in my 3rd year of middle school, those friends of mine got pulled into a matter with around 15 boys including Hwang Hyunjin that had nothing to do with them, so I wrote one post on my Facebook saying it was ridiculous, and for that reason, curses about me started suddenly coming up on Facebook in a rush. Here’s what I screenshot about that.

[Notification Bar: Saving screenshot...]

Hwang Hyunjin

6 min ago

What is this, she’s bossing ** around

Likes 4 / Comments 8

__ (4 min ago): I want to tag her.

Hwang Hyunjin (3 min ago): Even if you don’t tag her, she’s probably reading this haha

__ (2 min ago): What’s going on, I’m curious

Hwang Hyunjin (2 min ago): ** has boy issues, she’s fucking dirty haha

__ (2 min ago): Try sending her a Facebook message

Hwang Hyunjin (1 min ago): Yes hyung

__ (now): What did you tell her?

__ (now): ??

I should have just ignored him

But Hwang Hyunjin looked at me and said, “You’re dating again?”

Anyone can see he was shaming me for it hahahaha so I ignored him

The reason you suffered school violence in the first place

Wasn’t it because you were dating Hwang Hyunjin’s friend

Then a month after breaking up with him

You dated another guy?

But because he said, “Hey, I’m asking you a question,” I told him, “Fuck off”

And he suddenly lurched at me on his own

Saying, “Fucking bitch you want to get hit?”

And rushed towards me, so the other kids all stopped him

And because I was crying, ** hugged and comforted me

Some friends contacted me asking, “Are you ok?” so that’s how I ended up checking out the situation, and I first took down my post then checked those posts and comments. Really, not only boys I knew but also boys I barely knew the faces of were cursing up a storm about me, and that fact infuriated me the most at first, so I contacted one boy and confronted him, saying, “Do you know me? You don’t even know me so why are you cursing at me?” But then Hwang Hyunjin even uploaded a post saying, “Why is she bossing ** around,” with my name included. Those comments [in the screenshot] are the comments on that post.

You fucking [*T/N: Part of a conversation that’s cut off]

But to be honest, I’m scared

Fuck I still remember

The boys were sticking themselves

To the window of your classroom

And they came into the classroom

And cursed and pushed the desks haha

No, that was actually kinda cute

Not even kicking the desks

But pushing themㅜ haha

But why did I fight with Hwang Hyunjin again?

That time during break, the boys kept stopping by and stepping on my desk

I fought with him once for some reason

Aha..

Something about them

That was really retarded was

I’ve never seen them talk rudely to the really scary boys

They couldn’t say anything to him

All they did was fucking kiss his ass

They were fucking assholes

And just weak to the strong

And the next day, during my break time at school, I was on my way back from somewhere when one friend informed me in a whisper, “Those boys stopped by looking for you, but because you weren’t there, they stepped on your desk and cursed you and left,” and when it was lunchtime, Hwang Hyunjin and the boys from the soccer team swarmed in, cursed at me in front of me and even insulted my family, and since I was crying, they all laughed and mocked me even more.

Even then, Hwang Hyunjin was sitting backwards in a chair right in front of me and sneering at me saying he was having fun. I still remember how that happened during lunchtime and I cried face down on my desk until school ended. Whether it’s Hwang Hyunjin or those boys, they’re all the same, and I hate them all. After that, I didn’t hear a word of apology from even a single person. After I graduated from middle school and around the time I heard the rumors that Hwang Hyunjin had become a trainee, I went to see my friend briefly at the entrance ceremony of the all boys’ high school that Hwang Hyunjin entered. I still remember that I ran into Hwang Hyunjin then, but Hwang Hyunjin greeted me saying, “Hi?” as if nothing had happened haha He must have been nervous since he had become a trainee.

My friend was next to me because I was crying and even had her thigh hit by a school desk that Hwang Hyunjin’s friend pushed.

Not saying a word to me, and especially not apologizing, until we graduated from middle school, then greeting me with a “hi” after becoming a trainee...To me, it felt like he only greeted me to see how I would react because he was nervous, so I responded, “Oh, hi,” because I didn’t want to lose to him either.

And this is the conversation I had with the person who first uploaded the post yesterday. Because there may be a lot of claims that this is also a lie, I’ll just take a screenshot and upload it with only the name and picture hidden. I’m not even close to this person, and the only thing I knew was really just that this person was at my school. Even her contact information I got by asking someone who asked someone, and it was my first time contacting her. A mutual friend of ours knew something like this had happened, so I also heard from her and found out A was this person. That person talked to me knowing something like this had happened to me too when I was a middle schooler.

Hey **

Yeah

You know that right now people are trying to twist our story saying you, me, and the other people who exposed him are the same person

I know

First, are you ok?

So to confirm that we’re not the same person and that there are multiple victims, what do you think about uploading a post saying we’re not the same person..?

[Reply to: First, are you ok?] Sigh…

No his friends are covering up for him

When I uploaded a post some years back

I uploaded just one post on Jjukbbang* back then

[*T/N: A large fancafe on Daum popular among women.]

And I’ve uploaded a post about these things on Jjukbbang Cafe some years ago once when Hwang Hyunjin was a trainee and once after he debuted.

When he was a trainee, I didn’t include his name and my post was immediately buried, and when I uploaded a post after he debuted, I didn’t upload it myself but a member of the forum helped me, and that member organized and uploaded it for me.

The only things that could be considered evidence are only a few Facebook screenshots from then and my words, so I remember sending the screenshots to them and giving them as many details as possible. (I have never uploaded a post on Instiz.)

At that time, I was attending the same high school as Hwang Hyunjin’s ex-girlfriend who had dated him about two times during the 3 years of middle school (Not the person whose real name was included in his Ask responses*.), and that person was someone who had mocked and shamed me for changing boyfriends often when she passed by me throughout the 3 years of middle school, so when I heard that she somehow found out I had uploaded that post and was going around talking about me behind my back again, I had an even harder time. Thus, I deleted the post, even left the forum, and deleted all those pictures.

[*T/N: Hyunjin had a prior controversy related to his responses on Ask.fm, a site where users respond to anonymous messages. He had made vulgar remarks in defense of “Kim Yunhee.”]

I deleted the post because I was having a hard time, not because I was caught lying. And I definitely didn’t delete it because the company contacted me saying they’ll sue me. I wasn’t contacted by the company even once.

A screenshot from back then of comments nitpicking my everyday behavior and saying the story of what I suffered was faked or exaggerated is still going around, but yes, I also know that I didn’t have a quiet personality and that I did things I shouldn’t have done as a minor.

But I’ve never acted that way to my juniors, and also, regarding the motorcycle, my boyfriend at the time when I posted was someone who owned a motorcycle, and all I did was ride on the back of that and get dropped off near school, driven to and from the library, and occasionally given a ride when we went somewhere for fun. I don’t know why people are talking about this as if riding behind a friend who had a license and drove legally is connected to this issue...

Because it seems the screenshot redacting the sentences that seem to acknowledge Hawng Hyunjin was that kind of kid is spreading more than the original, I’m attaching the original here as well. If what I’m saying is really false or exaggerated, and I didn’t include a single piece of personal information when I uploaded that post, then how could someone have figured out it was me and left such a comment? And there were also a lot of comments that said Hwang Hyunjin was indeed that kind of person, but I don’t know why you’re ignoring all of them.  

[Left: Redacted screenshot of a comment from 2018 about D, Right: Original screenshot

The poster of the redacted version wrote this comment on the screenshot: “The entrance of the victim’s victim. They had the victim’s social media and other personal information. After this comment, the victim deleted her original post, and because the original post was deleted, there’s only the archived version left. This victim had no evidence to counter the posts saying they’re also her victim. I deleted the parts unrelated to [D’s] act of school violence, but you can find the original if you search for it.”]

[Translation of the comment from 2018 about D - parts that were not redacted from the original version are in bold:

I’ve been holding and holding it in, but it’s so funny seeing this “news” of how she’s allowed to act a certain way but not others hahahaha In middle school, she used to go around saying she didn’t like me, upload posts attacking me, and straight up curse at me hahaha Because of you, I still have a hard time now thinking of that time, but you’re cosplaying as a victim and can’t think about your own actions? And you weren’t like that to just me, you were like that to the juniors too, and also in middle school you drank and smoked, it’s ok for you but not for a celebrity? That itself is something you shouldn’t be doing haha You’re confident while he gets cursed at, I’m really jealous of how confident you are. Your boyfriend is a perpetrator of school violence. It took 2 weeks for the victim to fully recover, and he would hit them when the villa lights were off but not when the lights were on and he could see their face. Isn’t this what’s truly school violence??

This time too, you’re going to shout, “But I’m a non-celebrity~”?? And getting cursed at by those boys, wasn’t that something you caused? You went around saying so much shit about them, who would like it when you’re going around saying shit about them like that ㅠㅠ Stop going around saying shit, I feel like I’m still in a nightmare because of you, but you’re making those who talked bad about you seem like they’re victim-blaming you even on community sites like this hahaha You uploaded a photo of you drinking alcohol on instagram, you’re living life so well...It’s normal for the victim to not be able to live properly like this while the perpetrator lives well, right? I’m scared you’re going to make me also seem like I’m victim-blaming you. I can’t even go near your school because I’m scared I might run into you~ Please stop making things up, it’s really amazing how you exaggerate haha And stop riding a motorcycle, you scare me, really.]

The reason I deleted my post was because I was having too hard of a time and was too scared because of some people that said, “Aren’t the screenshots faked,” shared my personal information by taking screenshots of even my instagram page and saying, “Aren’t you problematic too,” mentioned my boyfriend at the time, said I was actually the bigger problem, and made all the stories of what I suffered into a lie. I even canceled my meeting with a YTN reporter the day before, and I also told the person who organized and uploaded my story that I couldn’t keep going on because it was too hard for me and asked them to delete the post. Meanwhile, I changed my phone twice so I don’t have the text messages with the reporter, but I do have their contact information, so I’m attaching something like this at least.

YTN Star Reporter Kang Naeri

[*T/N: A reporter for YTN Star named Kang Naeri does exist.]

Yearbook photo confirmation seems to be mandatory, so although I don’t know if this will be enough confirmation, I’ll upload these with my post.

[Post-it: Nate Pann 21.2.23 Confirmation of the OP of the post exposing Hwang Hyunjin some years ago]

[Post-it: Nate Pann 21.2.23 Confirmation of the OP of the post exposing Hwang Hyunjin some years ago]

[Post-it: Nate Pann 21.2.23 Confirmation of the OP of the post exposing Hwang Hyunjin some years ago]

As this is a post that I uploaded after really worrying a lot, I hope you refrain from doing anything that takes attention away from the issue by revealing the personal information of a non-celebrity to cover up Hwang Hyunjin’s fault. Not just me, but all the other victims as well.

And I want to ask Hwang Hyunjin and his friends that are covering up for him: Whether Hwang Hyunjin is a person decent enough to be making a living from people’s attention as a celebrity.

B’s Post Accusing Hyunjin (Pann) (210223 22:38) - [original post deleted, archived page]

Title: Stray Kids Hwang Hyunjin

Hi. I uploaded a post on Etta, but I deleted that post in order to write this post. As someone who was in the same class as Seongnae Middle School 2nd Year Class 2 Hwang Hyunjin, I am a victim of school violence from that person.

I was so distressed that I even considered suicide, and as I try to remind myself again of my truly hell-like past, my hands tremble and I’m scared.  

Ever since this person who was a perpetrator to me debuted, whenever he would appear on TV, I would remember again all the bad memories of that time, and I received so much trauma until now to the point it’s hard for me to live my daily life.

He verbally attacked me for failing to stop the ball during a soccer game at school and poured curses at me about my size.

I became an outcast because I couldn’t block the soccer ball, and even after that, I was the target of many insults from and ignored and harassed by Hwang Hyunjin.  

In the group chat, he would write things like, “Are you (my name)? You’re acting like **,” and make jokes to others by mentioning me all the time in the group chat and using my name.

There were many instances like this, and unable to do anything whenever I saw that group chat, I fell into depression and couldn’t even enter that group chat later on because I was so scared. My self-esteem hit rock bottom.

Not only this, but he would change the last name of another classmate, who had the same first name as me, to my last name and laugh at and enjoy other people’s reactions (Because I was an outcast, most people hated me.), and it left a scar that’s still so big and that I will never forget. Even if I want to wash it away, I still cannot wash it away, and even if I try to forget it, I still cannot forget it. It’s still difficult for me to socialize with people because of the shock, wounds, and trauma that I’ve already received.

I want to say that it took me, who lived quietly without even being able to firmly express my dislike to others, lots and lots of thought and courage to even write this down. It would have been a really difficult thing for me to do alone, but I see the people around me who support me and gain courage to speak up.

I’m a victim, not someone trying to make trouble, and our relationship wasn’t even one worth writing malicious rumors about.

I was the target of a one-sided attack, unable to say a single word.

I may not have solid evidence, but I’m living proof that I didn’t say a single lie and I’m gathering testimonies from other classmates.

I’m sorry I only have my words and no evidence.  

These words that I wrote are really the facts exactly as I experienced them, and I would like to say that while I don’t have any screenshots, recordings, or videos because back then I didn’t want to leave behind anything from when I had such a hard time that I wanted to die, I do have the testimonies of my acquaintances.

Since I’m trying to remind myself again and write down one by one what happened after a long time has passed, I’m sure there are definitely a lot of parts missing, but for now, I briefly wrote down my pain based exactly on the facts I experienced...Thank you for reading this long post.

I always tried hard to stay bright so I can wake up from this nightmare, but I think I’m still unable to get out of the nightmare because I keep seeing that person.

I didn’t write at all about anything I couldn’t remember well, and I’m confident that there is not a single lie or exaggeration.

The first and second pictures are [a conversation] with the same person who was my close friend in middle school. This is what they said when they contacted me after seeing the news articles suddenly published today.

The third picture is [a conversation] with another person from the same class.

I was bullied

By him

That’s right

If you have something so say, try sending something to jyp

But would you have a single piece of evidence...?

I don’t hahahahaha

When I saw those news articles, I immediately thought of you

How could I have known he would become a celebrity and thought to save proof

When we went to the library once, you said you had to stop by your house, so I waited for you in the hallway

But when you came out, you said, “Mom, I love you,” and closed the door behind you

Yeah

So I asked you then if you [normally] say “I love you” to your mom, and you said, “I do these days because I’m having such a hard time right now that I often think about how I don’t know when I will die”

That’s right, I really had such a hard time back then

But whether it’s because this made me really upset, it remains so vividly in my memory and I still remember those words exactly...

[*T/N: A conversation with a different classmate.]

Yeah

Do you also remember him bullying me

By any chance

Because I didn’t have any friends in the same class as me ㅠㅠ

I don’t remember him bullying you, but I remember him cursing and mixing your name with the male student who had the same name as you

I remember that male student’s response too

He didn’t say outright that he hated it or get angry, but he did object to it...And Hwang Hyunjin was laughing

I’m attaching this because while it can’t be evidence of [what I wrote], I think it can at least prove that I was ostracized in that class.

It’s hard to pretend I’m okay

(2014 August 19 7:06 PM)

I’m always pretending I’m okay

(2014 August 19 7:07 PM)

But I’m so sad

(2014 August 19 7:08 PM)

I want to transfer to a different school...Please save me...

(2014 August 19 7:09 PM)

Yeah, I’m having a really hard time and I want to die. I’m sorry for worrying you, and I’m sorry for purposely pretending to be okay

(2014 August 19 8:?? PM)

JYPE Statement Regarding the MBN Forum (210224 18:20) - Link

Title: [Exclusive] ‘Suspected of School Violence’ Stray Kids Hyunjin, Absent from the Stage - Sports Kyunghyang

Group Stray Kids member Hyunjin was absent from the stage amidst suspicion of school violence.

For Stray Kids’ celebratory stage at the online MBN “Y Forum 2021” on the 24th, the stage consisted of 7 members without Hyunjin.  

Accordingly, a JYP Entertainment representative replied to Sports Kyunghyang, “As we previously announced, we are trying to find the clear truth, but regardless, we judged that going forward with his schedule at the present time would not turn out well, so we have suspended them. Whether we will proceed with his future schedules or not will be decided according to the situation then.”    

The company representative continued, “Currently, there is clearly false information being spread on the internet under the title, ‘A message sent by a JYP lawyer to a victim of school violence.’ We don’t know anything about the lawyer mentioned in the post, and we have never asked such lawyer for related work,” and added, “Because we can’t even find the name of such lawyer in the Bar Association database, we have strong suspicions this is a case of impersonation. Regardless of this fact, the writer of the post is spreading clearly false information under the title of, ‘A message sent by a JYP lawyer to a victim of school violence,’ so we are informing [everyone] that we plan to take strong legal action on this matter.”

Meanwhile, before Stray Kids celebratory stage took place, members Lee Know and Seungmin discussed the theme “Trust in You” during the forum’s “Hero Show.”

Lee Know said, “I think I believe in what I think is ‘my way.’ Thanks to the choices I’ve made so far, I met ‘8’ friends who will be with me for the rest of my life, and I have 8 friends who will be with me on the path I want to go,” and “I think I can do even better if I have these friends with me,” and emphasized the entire “8” members of Stray Kids. During Stray Kids’ celebratory stage that took place after, the performance was done with 7 people.

Earlier on the 22nd, a post was uploaded to an online community by someone introducing herself as an alumnus from the same middle school and a classmate from the same classroom as Stray Kids Hyunjin and claiming she suffered inexplicable violence and verbal abuse that was started by Hwang Hyunjin.

In response, JYP Entertainment released an announcement saying, “We will conduct a detailed investigation through various routes and confirm the undistorted, exact truth, and we plan to take legal action regarding the spread of false information.”

JYPE Second Announcement (210226 11:30) - Link

Hello. This is JYPE.

First, we apologize for making many people uncomfortable with negative news related to our artist Stray Kids Hyunjin.

As this is a matter to be careful about, we ask for your generous understanding for the delay in our announcement as it took some time to conduct our investigation through various routes in order to make an announcement based on clear facts.

We heard what the situation was like at the time from the classmates, teachers, and surrounding people who were at the school the member had attended during the time of the issue raised, and with the permission of those who wrote the posts, we met with them directly and heard their opinions.

Combining what we heard from various people and the information we gathered, there were difficulties in clearly proving the truth of everything in the posts because [everyone’s] memories of the situation then differed sharply.

However, there are people who were hurt and harmed by Hyunjin’s immature and inappropriate actions in the past, and as expected, Hyunjin deeply regretted and reflected on himself regarding this, so he met up with the writers of the posts in person and sincerely apologized.  

We thank [the writers of the posts] once again for resolving their disagreements with Hyunjin, accepting his sincere apology, and showing support for his future.  

If there are people we were unable to reach but have been hurt by Hyunjin’s actions in the past, we would like to take this opportunity to apologize to them as well.  

Hyunjin has resolved to live properly while always self-reflecting from now on, and we also plan to pay more attention so our artist can go down the right path.  

Finally, we request that people refrain from spreading false rumors and speculative reports, and we will do our best to take more careful measures even in areas that we have not considered before in the trainee and artist selection process.

Thank you.

Hyunjin’s Apology (210226 11:31) - Link

Hello. This is Stray Kids Hyunjin.

First, I sincerely apologize to those who were hurt by my improper actions during my school years. Looking back on the times when I was more lacking than I am now, I’m embarrassed and have no excuses.

I realized that my words and actions from not knowing how to be considerate of others have hurt other people. It is too late, but I will deeply reflect on myself.

Regardless of whether it was intended or not, I believe it’s unforgivable no matter what to have caused anyone lasting pain.

I am deeply reflecting on myself as I know very well that [just] because I apologized and they accepted my apology, it doesn’t mean that the pain I left in the past will completely disappear.

Although this is shameless, I want to thank those who were hurt because of me for allowing me to meet them in person and apologize even if it was late and to ask for forgiveness through this letter as well.

If there are any others I was unable to meet in person but have been hurt by my improper actions during my school years, I at least apologize even if it’s only through writing like this.

I’m very sorry for causing deep disappointment to the many people who have supported me.

C’s Post Accusing Hyunjin (210226 12:58) - Link

Title: Hwang Hyunjin, leave your group

I still can’t forget how whenever you saw me, you would curse at me and look at me with a hateful gaze. The days when I was careful around you to not stand out in your eyes are still fresh in my mind. I’m not the only one you did this to in our first year [of middle school], you also know that there are more victims. Please leave your group Hwang Hyunjin.

Hwang Hyunjin’s fans too, come to your senses. He’s only smiling at you because he’s an idol now.

+Edit

I’m the user that proved [I was a student] with a school ID in the comments. I forgot and didn’t write this [earlier]. 

[Post-it: 2021.02.26 Nate Pann Confirmation

School ID: Verification that the person above is a student at this school. March 4, 2013. Principal of Seongnae Middle School]

Anonymous Teacher’s Statement  (210226 18:02) - Link

Title: [Exclusive] Teacher A: “Stray Kids Hyunjin, it’s a pity [the claims about] his school violence have blown out of proportion...The criticism focused on him is harsh” - OSEN

Hello, I’m a teacher who watched over the entire school life, from entry to graduation, of the students in the Class of 2016 of the school Stray Kids Hyunjin graduated from.

I ended up writing this post because I felt bad seeing the posts from other students and the controversies surrounding Hwang Hyunjin this time. In case even my memories are distorted as well, I called several teachers who were teaching at the time and confirmed with them the situation at the time. Thus, I will try to write from an objective point of view based on what I recall of the school environment and situation back then.  

When Hyunjin was in his 2nd year of middle school, the classroom he was part of was strongly competitive overall, and the classroom environment was on the sharper side because there were many students with rough personalities. Although some of it can be blamed on the fact that the kids were going through an immature phase, due to external factors, the classroom environment that formed was more one where they would criticize and jeer at each other instead of one where they would embrace each other’s flaws. If I were to cautiously say what the other teachers and I felt at that time, I remember most of the kids in that class were swept up in this classroom environment and expressed themselves immaturely and poorly. Hyunjin too was surrounded by this kind of classroom environment and was experiencing a period of confusion because of various personal hardships, and I think his words and actions were somewhat rough and sharp.    

Although Hyunjin may have hurt someone with immature words and actions at the time, it’s very unfortunate because the claims that Hyunjin led the violence in that kind of class situation have blown out of proportion and are not true.

It’s up to Hyunjin to fully reflect on what he did wrong, to apologize and ask for forgiveness from the people who were hurt, and take responsibility for it. However, I think it’s harsh how the blame and responsibility regarding everything that happened in the class at that time fall only on Hyunjin because he’s a celebrity. The teachers I called all agreed and expressed the opinion that “it’s unfortunate and unfair for Hyunjin to be remembered as a bad-natured child and branded this way.”

I know that this incident has become a hot topic among alumni as well. His classmate from back then, who occasionally contacts me even on normal days, told me, “I think everyone back then said harsh words without knowing we were hurting others. I don’t know if perhaps I had hurt someone too. If I have the opportunity, I’d like to apologize as well. Once again, I feel the weight and responsibility that comes with words.”

It’s quite a shame to think that my students would have had a difficult time in a classroom environment that was rough at the time and been hurt during their 2nd year of middle school where immature, adolescent teenagers gathered. Although they were immature kids, they are all my precious students, and as a teacher who instructed those kids for more than 3 years, I’m cautiously sending this letter with the hope that none of those kids will be hurt again from their memories of that time.    

Comments on Jjukbbang* About the Teacher’s Statement (+ Prior Comments) - [original requires registration, screenshots]

[*T/N: A large fancafe on Daum popular among women.]

Note: Some of the comments by the user “Injeolmi Flavor Almond” were made prior to the teacher’s statement, but their comments didn’t get shared as widely until after the teacher’s statement.

1st comment (2021.02.22): I was in the same class as him in my 2nd year [of middle school], and he was quite...impressive. It's true that there was one male student who was 1 year older who repeated the grade in our class. It was the 1 year when the 15-year old me hated going to school the most in my school life. About half the class was a mixed male/female group that hung out with him, and it was a time the several remaining kids survived by just having friend groups of 2-3 people amongst themselves. I also had exactly one friend who hung out with me. I once had the seat behind him for 1 month back then, and you can see that I was just walking on eggshells for that whole month really. Other than class time, all of my actions were cautions. Also, he even once cursed at the homeroom teacher during class and fought with them in a loud voice while using informal language. The overall class was just too much like that. Also, I don’t know if I’m the only one who knows, but I still remember him standing at the back door of the school with an e-cig around his neck. I was on my way home then, and I thought, “What kind of ballpoint pen does he have around his neck?” But when I passed him and saw it up close, it was an e-cig. I remember this incident so clearly that I could reenact it if asked. After that, I even saw him gather up his friends, play around, and smoke in turn. Because it was the 1 year that the 15-year old me wanted to erase, so I don’t remember it well, but I still remember clearly the things I’ve written above.

2nd comment (2021.02.22): Also, after he debuted, I had the opportunity to speak with one person from his group of friends, and I even heard that when his school violence and Ask* controversies first blew up, his group of friends all sprung into action, saying they need to block [this information] from spreading.

[*T/N: Hyunjin had a prior controversy related to his responses on Ask.fm, a site where users respond to anonymous messages. He had made vulgar remarks in defense of “Kim Yunhee.”]

3rd comment (2021.02.26 18:48): I don't know who you are, teacher, but I lost around 20,000-30,000 won from a wallet inside my bag that was on my seat in Classroom 2 during my 2nd year [of middle school]. When I went to the teachers’ office and said that, my homeroom teacher and the teachers around all responded, “You should have taken care of your money better,” “You shouldn’t have left it in your bag but carried it around.” I still can’t forget that...haha They didn’t even try to find it or give a warning to the students in the class. At that time, the kids in Classroom 2 didn’t mesh well amongst themselves or even with the homeroom teacher. Almost every teacher who rotated* in had a hard time. My 2nd year [of middle school] was wasted to the point I wanted to redo the 2nd year. We really survived on our own back then. Even if we told the teachers, who would help us? How could they set the tone for that class? We couldn’t say anything, and even if we did, our problem wouldn’t be resolved. And if you did try to resolve it, the classroom environment would have gotten worse, right? Of course, it’s bad to blame Hwang Hyunjin for all the problems back then, but you can’t deny that he was the person at the center of it all, making others walk on eggshells the most. We knew what kind of kid Hwang Hyunjin was at that time so we walked on eggshells and lived so cautiously to not attract his attention. In my entire life, I was the most timid when I was 15 years old. I wanted to be in a different classroom then, and I waited so much for vacation so I wouldn’t have to go to school.  

[*T/N: In Korea, students are assigned to one classroom for the whole year. Instead of students moving to a different classroom for each period/subject, teachers are the ones who rotate in.]

4th comment (2021.02.26 18:48): I don’t want to remember that time when I was 15 years old, and there was no reason to remember for the past several years. Even when Hwang Hyunjin debuted, I was okay because he was still a rookie and I didn’t see him. But after seeing him appear as an MC on Music Core, I couldn’t watch Music Core after that because seeing just his face brings up memories of when I was 15 years old. Now he’s starting to get gradually popular, and even if I try not to see him show up here and there, I still see him. And because I see him, I remember those times and get bothered. I really want to stop feeling bothered because of Hwang Hyunjin. I really don’t know who you are, but I’ll be very disappointed in you if I ever find out who you are, teacher.

JYPE Third Announcement (210227 08:30) - Link 

Hello, this is JYPE.

We would like to inform you about the activities of our artist Stray Kids Hyunjin. The company contacted everyone related to the activities that Hyunjin had already been scheduled to participate in, and we coordinated with them to find a way to cancel his activities while minimizing harm to those companies as much as possible.

Hyunjin plans to self-reflect after suspending all activities as a celebrity. He sincerely regrets and is reflecting on himself for hurting many people with harsh and inappropriate words during his middle school days, and he sincerely apologizes to those who were hurt and will try all his best so those people can heal from their wounds.

We sincerely apologize for causing great concern.

Office of Education’s Response Regarding the Anonymous Teacher (210310) - [original post deleted, screenshots]

With the understanding that your civil complaint is, ‘Finding out the facts related to celebrity school violence (** Middle School graduate) and eradicating school violence,’ our response to your request is as follows.

1. First, we regret that an unfortunate situation like this occurred during school activities and feel deep sympathy regarding the complaint you submitted, and we offer our deepest condolences to those who suffered from this. The Office of Education also feels strongly responsible for the suffering of school violence victims and will strive to improve our system and provide administrative support so that school violence can be eradicated.
2. Because there are no teachers who have been working continuously at the school in question since 2014, the school says they cannot verify the identity of the anonymous source who contacted the media. Also, we received a response [from the school] that it is impossible to confirm whether the anonymous source was a teacher at the school back in 2014.
3. Unfortunately, we would like to inform you that the Office of Education does not have the authority or means to determine the identity of the source, so there is no way to investigate this. We are very sorry about this as well. The Office of Education promises that if the identity of the source is later confirmed and it is revealed that the person violated the law, we will take strict action according to relevant procedures.
4. Also, the Office of Education will strive to improve school violence prevention education for teachers, students, and parents of schools in our district.