Why is this project being done?
For those unaware of the situation of Park Jaebum from 2PM and why this project is being done, here's the story.
1.) Jaebum had trained in Korea for 4 years straight since moving there from Seattle to become a Korean idol with the hope of getting his family (mother and brother) out of debt. With hardly any Korean language knowledge, this was a complete culture shock to him, trust me. If you'd seen his myspace, you'd understand the type of guy he was. Very influenced by African-American 'gangster' culture and not at all understanding of the vastly different society he was entering upon training to become a Korean idol (in clothing, he basically went from large, over-sized basketball shorts to skinny jeans and eye makeup). But he's a sweet and awesome guy, don't get me wrong, that's just how he was upon going to Korea. I can't really explain it without using negatively connotated descriptions. He was 18 at the time.
2.) So, he trains for years, has admitted to crying himself to sleep countless nights because of stress, missing home, and culture shock, and FINALLY, FINALLY gets his big break in the boyband 2PM.
Now here's where the need for this project arises.
3.) Comments he made on myspace about hating Korea back in 2005, when he'd first arrived, ( see here) surface to the Korean media on Sept. 4th and become a huge scandal.
4.) For the week following, he'd been endlessly harassed by Korean netizens. Fellow 2PM members attempt to stick up for him and THEY get attacked so much that they have to remove their words of encouragement from their blogs. Just to show you how much hate/harassment was going around, the following petitions were made against him:
- for him to leave 2PM
- for him to leave Korea
- for him to kill himself
Like, not just spoken 'petitions', but ACTUAL PETITIONS. The suicide one, before it was removed from the website, had gotten 3,000 signatures in a matter of a couple days.
5.) Because of all this, JYP (his producer) had to halt all activities for the group. Yes, because of a couple thoughtless words during a time in this man's life that was extremely hard, and that were privately shared between him and his brother/best friend. Imagine being in a country, training days on end, in an unfamiliar society that you're stuck being unable to communicate with. Then, tell me you wouldn't vent a little when things get bad. It's perfectly human, right?
6.) However, because of all the harassment and my guess is from fear that his group will suffer because of him, he officially left the group saying:
Hello, I'm 2PM's JaeBum.
I'm sorry for giving you my last greeting through this letter.
I think it will be hard for me to see you all on stage because of my sorry heart.
I'm really sorry to everyone, and I'm even more sorry to the fans who have shown me love.
From today, I will leave 2PM.
2PM boys, I'm really sorry to the boys and I'm sorry I couldn't be strong as a leader and a hyung and have to leave like this.
However, I hope you will be more cool and charming.
Again, I'm sorry.
JaeBum
7.) Upon saying this, he leaves Korea just a few hours after posting it (and runs into over 300 fans protesting his departure at the airport) and is now home in the United States.
(The complete sequence of events can be found here if you start from the post with his myspace quotes and go from the bottom-up.)
Fans are, of course, in an uproar of sadness and anger. We're trying to fight that unhappiness through this project.
If there are any additional questions, don't hesitate to ask in a comment :)
1.) Jaebum had trained in Korea for 4 years straight since moving there from Seattle to become a Korean idol with the hope of getting his family (mother and brother) out of debt. With hardly any Korean language knowledge, this was a complete culture shock to him, trust me. If you'd seen his myspace, you'd understand the type of guy he was. Very influenced by African-American 'gangster' culture and not at all understanding of the vastly different society he was entering upon training to become a Korean idol (in clothing, he basically went from large, over-sized basketball shorts to skinny jeans and eye makeup). But he's a sweet and awesome guy, don't get me wrong, that's just how he was upon going to Korea. I can't really explain it without using negatively connotated descriptions. He was 18 at the time.
2.) So, he trains for years, has admitted to crying himself to sleep countless nights because of stress, missing home, and culture shock, and FINALLY, FINALLY gets his big break in the boyband 2PM.
Now here's where the need for this project arises.
3.) Comments he made on myspace about hating Korea back in 2005, when he'd first arrived, ( see here) surface to the Korean media on Sept. 4th and become a huge scandal.
4.) For the week following, he'd been endlessly harassed by Korean netizens. Fellow 2PM members attempt to stick up for him and THEY get attacked so much that they have to remove their words of encouragement from their blogs. Just to show you how much hate/harassment was going around, the following petitions were made against him:
- for him to leave 2PM
- for him to leave Korea
- for him to kill himself
Like, not just spoken 'petitions', but ACTUAL PETITIONS. The suicide one, before it was removed from the website, had gotten 3,000 signatures in a matter of a couple days.
5.) Because of all this, JYP (his producer) had to halt all activities for the group. Yes, because of a couple thoughtless words during a time in this man's life that was extremely hard, and that were privately shared between him and his brother/best friend. Imagine being in a country, training days on end, in an unfamiliar society that you're stuck being unable to communicate with. Then, tell me you wouldn't vent a little when things get bad. It's perfectly human, right?
6.) However, because of all the harassment and my guess is from fear that his group will suffer because of him, he officially left the group saying:
Hello, I'm 2PM's JaeBum.
I'm sorry for giving you my last greeting through this letter.
I think it will be hard for me to see you all on stage because of my sorry heart.
I'm really sorry to everyone, and I'm even more sorry to the fans who have shown me love.
From today, I will leave 2PM.
2PM boys, I'm really sorry to the boys and I'm sorry I couldn't be strong as a leader and a hyung and have to leave like this.
However, I hope you will be more cool and charming.
Again, I'm sorry.
JaeBum
7.) Upon saying this, he leaves Korea just a few hours after posting it (and runs into over 300 fans protesting his departure at the airport) and is now home in the United States.
(The complete sequence of events can be found here if you start from the post with his myspace quotes and go from the bottom-up.)
Fans are, of course, in an uproar of sadness and anger. We're trying to fight that unhappiness through this project.
If there are any additional questions, don't hesitate to ask in a comment :)