TW: Alleged school violence victim of Le Sserafim's Garam releases statement + Hybe responds
TW: descriptions of bullying, mentions of anxiety/panic and suicide
Amidst the ongoing controversy over Le Sserafim member Garam's school violence accusations, alleged victim "A" has released a formal statement to the media through her legal representation, Daeryun Law Firm LLC, on May 19th. The statement reiterated the claims that Garam had been a chief participant in school violence against "A" and rebutted HYBE's claims that the accusations were maliciously misrepresented by citing the school violence prevention committee's disciplinary actions against Garam, as well as stating the intent of the victim to sue perpetrators of "2nd-wave violence."
Full statement as follows:
The victim Yoo Eunseo (alias) was subjected to school violence at the hands of Kim Garam and her friends between 2018 late April - early May, and after 1-2 weeks, she could no longer endure her torment by the group and transferred to another school.
Subsequently, a review by the school violence prevention committee was conducted on 2018. 6. 4 and in accordance with legal article 17.1.5 of the committee's regulations, perpetrator Kim Garam was mandated to attend 6 hours of disciplinary anti-violence education and her parents/guardians mandated to attend 5 hours of anti-violence training. Under article 16.1.1 of same law, the victim Yoo Eunseo received protections such as psychological counseling.
Despite the fact that Yoo Eunseo had left the school of her own accord due to the collective violence she suffered, malicious rumors began to circulate that "Yoo Eunseo was expelled due to her bad behavior" and thus she came to struggle with school life even after her transfer.
Approximately 4 years later, in 2022 April, Kim Garam was revealed as a member of Le Sserafim and friends who remembered the incidents from their past contacted Yoo Eunseo.
They expressed their outrage: "How could they let a bully become a celebrity!" And as Yoo Eunseo was forced to remember a past that she wanted to forget, the prospect of having to watch her perpetrator of school violence living a lavish life through mainstream media was very stressful to her.
As this was going on, a post was made to Nate PANN titled, "(classmate) exposing Le Sserafim Garam's school violence." The content of the post claimed, "Even kids in other schools knew Kim Garam for being trashy and whenever school violence happened, Kim Garam was almost always involved, and if there was any kid that she didn't like then she and her friends would seek them out and swear at them and insult and taunt them together, this was daily life for her. I'm a victim too." Several such posts were uploaded claiming Kim Garam was the perpetrator of school violence.
Perhaps because she was known as a victim of Kim Garam, someone then attached comments claiming that Yoo Eunseo was the one who had made the accusation posts. From then on, Yoo Eunseo was attacked through Facebook and Twitter messages by people she's never even met, with comments such as, "Yoo Eunseo is trying to ruin Kim Garam," "she's an orc who's just jealous of the pretty girls," "she overhauled her whole face and she's still ugly," "she's doing this out of jealousy," and someone even posted blurred pictures of Yoo Eunseo with comments such as, "be thankful I blurred you out, if you're stalking Le Sserafim, you're digging your own grave," thus even placing threats against Yoo Eunseo.
The fact that someone had undoctored images of her and the fact that someone, be it the threatener or others, could upload them online and the idea that she could be attacked by anyone, anywhere, anytime, has caused Yoo Eunseo extreme anxiety and fear, and she has begun experiencing periodic panic attacks wherein her heart pounds out of control and she feels like she's struggling to breathe.
-- Serving documents to Hybe and lack of response
Concurrently, HYBE Co. Ltd, (henceforth HYBE) released a statement claiming that, "the suspicions of school violence against Kim Garam are the result of maliciously misrepesented conflicts that she had with her friends, and Kim Garam was in fact the victim of school violence."
Amidst the circumstances wherein Yoo Eunseo was being anonymously attacked and threatened for "smearing Kim Garam out of jealousy," the additional influence of HYBE making the above statement aggravated the indiscriminate "2nd-wave violence" against Yoo Eunseo. Eventually Yoo Eunseo exclaimed, "I feel like I have to die for this to end" and began refusing to attend school, at which point Yoo Eunseo's guardians retained this legal counsel to serve documents to HYBE and begin criminal prosecution of the person who posted the comment claiming that Yoo Eunseo had publicized the accusations.
This attorney has filed a criminal lawsuit against the poster of the false comment with the Seoul Guro Police Office, and posted documentation 2022-4-20 #310410003715, receipient HYBE Co. Ltd, to address Seoul Yongsan-gu Hangangdae-ro 42 by mail, which was confirmed received on 2022-4-21 around 10:38.
(OP note: this sort of documentation isn't a lawsuit but basically like an affidavit or statement of evidence)
The above documents consisted of a detailed written account of the collective violence perpetrated against Yoo Eunseo by Kim Garam and friends, a statement by Yoo Eunseo describing her suffering due to being misunderstood as someone who deliberately misrepresented Kim Garam, and the results of the school violence prevention committee's review of Kim Garam's actions.
The victim did not ask for any restitution from the agency, only that the inaccurate statement be retracted and revised to reflect the truth, that an apology be made to the victims, and that future official statements would not be made solely based on the perspective of Kim Garam and her friends.
Yet HYBE has yet to make any sort of response to these requests and Kim Garam's career in entertainment has continued as though nothing were happening.
Unable to withstand the extreme anxiety and terror caused by the 2nd-wave violence, Yoo Eunseo attempted suicide, prompting her parents to completely halt her academic life and withdraw her from school. Though she is currently in the 7-week waiting period before a full withdrawal can be granted, Yoo Eunseo is still refusing to attend school and is instead receiving psychiatric treatment, while her mother has put all other aspects of her life on hold since Yoo Eunseo's suicide attempt and has fully devoted herself to her daughter's care out of the fear she will try to end her life again.
-- Rebutting the claim that Kim Garam's school violence accusations are malicious slander
The reason that Yoo Eunseo and her parents have not pursued civil or criminal charges for the school violence and instead sent a statement of evidence to HYBE and chose to pursue charges against the false commenter is because more than any other restitution or conclusion, Yoo Eunseo and her parents most desperately want the 2nd-wave violence to stop.
Yet the request for HYBE's assistance in ceasing the 2nd-wave violence was ignored, and even as news of the school violence prevention committee review emerged, HYBE has maintained its position that the accusations are 'slander' and even threatened 'legal action'; as such Yoo Eunseo's parents determined they had to take stronger action on behalf of their child's pain and requested that this victim statement be released through this legal office.
This statement has refrained from explicitly describing the details of the school violence that Kim Garam inflicted on Yoo Eunseo because the victim's side is still hoping for a reasonably amicable solution. However, if HYBE continues to refrain from apologizing to the victims and to claim that 'the accusations are slander and Kim Garam is a victim herself,' then in the interest of protecting the safety and well-being of the victim who is still a minor, this legal office will consider revealing the entirety of the school violence prevention committee's review against Kim Garam, as well as the victim's own descriptions of the violence she suffered and the profane messages that Kim Garam sent to intimidate the victim. As such, we hope that HYBE and Source Music will carefully consider helping end the 2nd-wave violence against the victim.
-- In closing
We as a society must consider what solution we can offer to a young student who does not have the luxury of forgetting the violence committed against her, who cries out that maybe she needs to die for this to end.
From the perspective of the perpetrator, perhaps the reasons for inflicting school violence are a joke, or because of something the victim did, or just simple 'conflicts between friends.'
But for a young student whose whole world still consists of their school and the people they meet there, the experience of collective violence is a deep wound to the heart that cannot be erased through any restitution or treatment, and this is a truth the gravity of which perpetrators must understand.
Impressing the true weight of school violence upon our children and teaching them sincere remorse for the pain it causes is the least we can to do to protect those who would become the next victims.
Since the release of Daeryun LLC's statement, HYBE/Source has responded by calling them 'one-sided claims.'
The agency stated:
"We consider it unfortunate that the points of controversy surrounding Le Sserafim member Garam involve the wellbeing of several minors and yet Daeryun made the choice to release a one-sided statement to the media. Daeryun has chosen to selectively present certain aspects of a case dating from 2018 in a way that stirs public sentiment to their side and as such we will be coordinating our response, to be soon forthcoming. We ask that the media refrain from presenting a slanted perspective from one side of this issue. We reiterate that this controversy is due to certain false information being spread about this member on the cusp of her debut and we determined that the spreading of these rumors was being done maliciously and thus began legal proceedings promptly, which are still underway.
We have not been more extensive in rebutting the accusations because these incidents date back to when this member was in first grade of middle school (13-14 y.o) and many of her peers who were involved are still minors, thus we felt it was necessary to act with caution.
The current information about this case from 2018 is being presented from a biased perspective and once this agency has fully examined the extent of Daeryun's claims, we will release a more thorough response."
Source: 스포츠동아, 머니투데이 (OP translations)
Amidst the ongoing controversy over Le Sserafim member Garam's school violence accusations, alleged victim "A" has released a formal statement to the media through her legal representation, Daeryun Law Firm LLC, on May 19th. The statement reiterated the claims that Garam had been a chief participant in school violence against "A" and rebutted HYBE's claims that the accusations were maliciously misrepresented by citing the school violence prevention committee's disciplinary actions against Garam, as well as stating the intent of the victim to sue perpetrators of "2nd-wave violence."
Full statement as follows:
The victim Yoo Eunseo (alias) was subjected to school violence at the hands of Kim Garam and her friends between 2018 late April - early May, and after 1-2 weeks, she could no longer endure her torment by the group and transferred to another school.
Subsequently, a review by the school violence prevention committee was conducted on 2018. 6. 4 and in accordance with legal article 17.1.5 of the committee's regulations, perpetrator Kim Garam was mandated to attend 6 hours of disciplinary anti-violence education and her parents/guardians mandated to attend 5 hours of anti-violence training. Under article 16.1.1 of same law, the victim Yoo Eunseo received protections such as psychological counseling.
Despite the fact that Yoo Eunseo had left the school of her own accord due to the collective violence she suffered, malicious rumors began to circulate that "Yoo Eunseo was expelled due to her bad behavior" and thus she came to struggle with school life even after her transfer.
Approximately 4 years later, in 2022 April, Kim Garam was revealed as a member of Le Sserafim and friends who remembered the incidents from their past contacted Yoo Eunseo.
They expressed their outrage: "How could they let a bully become a celebrity!" And as Yoo Eunseo was forced to remember a past that she wanted to forget, the prospect of having to watch her perpetrator of school violence living a lavish life through mainstream media was very stressful to her.
As this was going on, a post was made to Nate PANN titled, "(classmate) exposing Le Sserafim Garam's school violence." The content of the post claimed, "Even kids in other schools knew Kim Garam for being trashy and whenever school violence happened, Kim Garam was almost always involved, and if there was any kid that she didn't like then she and her friends would seek them out and swear at them and insult and taunt them together, this was daily life for her. I'm a victim too." Several such posts were uploaded claiming Kim Garam was the perpetrator of school violence.
Perhaps because she was known as a victim of Kim Garam, someone then attached comments claiming that Yoo Eunseo was the one who had made the accusation posts. From then on, Yoo Eunseo was attacked through Facebook and Twitter messages by people she's never even met, with comments such as, "Yoo Eunseo is trying to ruin Kim Garam," "she's an orc who's just jealous of the pretty girls," "she overhauled her whole face and she's still ugly," "she's doing this out of jealousy," and someone even posted blurred pictures of Yoo Eunseo with comments such as, "be thankful I blurred you out, if you're stalking Le Sserafim, you're digging your own grave," thus even placing threats against Yoo Eunseo.
The fact that someone had undoctored images of her and the fact that someone, be it the threatener or others, could upload them online and the idea that she could be attacked by anyone, anywhere, anytime, has caused Yoo Eunseo extreme anxiety and fear, and she has begun experiencing periodic panic attacks wherein her heart pounds out of control and she feels like she's struggling to breathe.
-- Serving documents to Hybe and lack of response
Concurrently, HYBE Co. Ltd, (henceforth HYBE) released a statement claiming that, "the suspicions of school violence against Kim Garam are the result of maliciously misrepesented conflicts that she had with her friends, and Kim Garam was in fact the victim of school violence."
Amidst the circumstances wherein Yoo Eunseo was being anonymously attacked and threatened for "smearing Kim Garam out of jealousy," the additional influence of HYBE making the above statement aggravated the indiscriminate "2nd-wave violence" against Yoo Eunseo. Eventually Yoo Eunseo exclaimed, "I feel like I have to die for this to end" and began refusing to attend school, at which point Yoo Eunseo's guardians retained this legal counsel to serve documents to HYBE and begin criminal prosecution of the person who posted the comment claiming that Yoo Eunseo had publicized the accusations.
This attorney has filed a criminal lawsuit against the poster of the false comment with the Seoul Guro Police Office, and posted documentation 2022-4-20 #310410003715, receipient HYBE Co. Ltd, to address Seoul Yongsan-gu Hangangdae-ro 42 by mail, which was confirmed received on 2022-4-21 around 10:38.
(OP note: this sort of documentation isn't a lawsuit but basically like an affidavit or statement of evidence)
The above documents consisted of a detailed written account of the collective violence perpetrated against Yoo Eunseo by Kim Garam and friends, a statement by Yoo Eunseo describing her suffering due to being misunderstood as someone who deliberately misrepresented Kim Garam, and the results of the school violence prevention committee's review of Kim Garam's actions.
The victim did not ask for any restitution from the agency, only that the inaccurate statement be retracted and revised to reflect the truth, that an apology be made to the victims, and that future official statements would not be made solely based on the perspective of Kim Garam and her friends.
Yet HYBE has yet to make any sort of response to these requests and Kim Garam's career in entertainment has continued as though nothing were happening.
Unable to withstand the extreme anxiety and terror caused by the 2nd-wave violence, Yoo Eunseo attempted suicide, prompting her parents to completely halt her academic life and withdraw her from school. Though she is currently in the 7-week waiting period before a full withdrawal can be granted, Yoo Eunseo is still refusing to attend school and is instead receiving psychiatric treatment, while her mother has put all other aspects of her life on hold since Yoo Eunseo's suicide attempt and has fully devoted herself to her daughter's care out of the fear she will try to end her life again.
-- Rebutting the claim that Kim Garam's school violence accusations are malicious slander
The reason that Yoo Eunseo and her parents have not pursued civil or criminal charges for the school violence and instead sent a statement of evidence to HYBE and chose to pursue charges against the false commenter is because more than any other restitution or conclusion, Yoo Eunseo and her parents most desperately want the 2nd-wave violence to stop.
Yet the request for HYBE's assistance in ceasing the 2nd-wave violence was ignored, and even as news of the school violence prevention committee review emerged, HYBE has maintained its position that the accusations are 'slander' and even threatened 'legal action'; as such Yoo Eunseo's parents determined they had to take stronger action on behalf of their child's pain and requested that this victim statement be released through this legal office.
This statement has refrained from explicitly describing the details of the school violence that Kim Garam inflicted on Yoo Eunseo because the victim's side is still hoping for a reasonably amicable solution. However, if HYBE continues to refrain from apologizing to the victims and to claim that 'the accusations are slander and Kim Garam is a victim herself,' then in the interest of protecting the safety and well-being of the victim who is still a minor, this legal office will consider revealing the entirety of the school violence prevention committee's review against Kim Garam, as well as the victim's own descriptions of the violence she suffered and the profane messages that Kim Garam sent to intimidate the victim. As such, we hope that HYBE and Source Music will carefully consider helping end the 2nd-wave violence against the victim.
-- In closing
We as a society must consider what solution we can offer to a young student who does not have the luxury of forgetting the violence committed against her, who cries out that maybe she needs to die for this to end.
From the perspective of the perpetrator, perhaps the reasons for inflicting school violence are a joke, or because of something the victim did, or just simple 'conflicts between friends.'
But for a young student whose whole world still consists of their school and the people they meet there, the experience of collective violence is a deep wound to the heart that cannot be erased through any restitution or treatment, and this is a truth the gravity of which perpetrators must understand.
Impressing the true weight of school violence upon our children and teaching them sincere remorse for the pain it causes is the least we can to do to protect those who would become the next victims.
Since the release of Daeryun LLC's statement, HYBE/Source has responded by calling them 'one-sided claims.'
The agency stated:
"We consider it unfortunate that the points of controversy surrounding Le Sserafim member Garam involve the wellbeing of several minors and yet Daeryun made the choice to release a one-sided statement to the media. Daeryun has chosen to selectively present certain aspects of a case dating from 2018 in a way that stirs public sentiment to their side and as such we will be coordinating our response, to be soon forthcoming. We ask that the media refrain from presenting a slanted perspective from one side of this issue. We reiterate that this controversy is due to certain false information being spread about this member on the cusp of her debut and we determined that the spreading of these rumors was being done maliciously and thus began legal proceedings promptly, which are still underway.
We have not been more extensive in rebutting the accusations because these incidents date back to when this member was in first grade of middle school (13-14 y.o) and many of her peers who were involved are still minors, thus we felt it was necessary to act with caution.
The current information about this case from 2018 is being presented from a biased perspective and once this agency has fully examined the extent of Daeryun's claims, we will release a more thorough response."
Source: 스포츠동아, 머니투데이 (OP translations)