Sometimes, falling in love can be toxic.
We all have a favourite celebrity. What’s yours? Is it a popular K-pop band like BTS, a talented Western artist like Billie Eilish? Well, music is a universal language and sometimes, it becomes our source of motivation, happiness and colour in life. But there are moments where we might take our love…a bit too far.
I’m not saying we could be one of them but in the South Korea, dedication for their favourite celebrities go on a higher scale — stalking, obtaining personal information and in some cases, trespassing into their homes. Logically speaking, this is a crime. But unfortunately, the country takes cases like these pretty lightly.
The sasaeng culture in South Korea has been around as long as music thrived into the Penisular. Here is a scary, insane peek at the crazy life of hardcore fans who do anything to meet their “oppas”.
What does “sasaeng” mean and what do they do?
The term, “sasaeng” (사생팬) is broken down into two Korean words, which are 실생활 (shil-saeng-hwal), meaning “private life” and 팬 (paen), meaning “fan”. Combine those two together and you get: someone who intrudes the private life of a celebrity.
A sasaeng.
Sasaengs are usually defined as teenage girls who group together for the same motive — to get attention from their “oppa” a.k.a their idols. But there are many instances which males are involved as well.
Throughout the long history of K-pop, incidents involving sasaengs have been very evident especially on social media. Let’s start with legendary boy group, TVXQ.
The TVXQ boys have gone through a lot.
From being harassed by fans, photographs of the members sleeping in their dorms being leaked across. the group getting into car accidents as they try to outrun chasing sasaengs, finding hidden cameras installed in the car parks of their own apartment building…there really is no privacy.
No one can blame the boys for all the pent up frustration and anxiety caused by these sasaeng fans whose only goal is to see them up close, with creepy, gleeful smiles all over their faces.
TVXQ’s case is just one of many.
Other groups like EXO, BTS, GOT7, 2PM, NCT to name a few have faced similar cases involving their crazy sasaeng fans. This culture is upsettingly still vastly present in this era today. Not just in South Korea but globally. A virus that has already taken its full dominance, it brings a question as to whether a cure is possible.
A sad reality of love gone “too far”.
Dealing with “sasaeng” fans is a lot harder than you think.
Stalking, one of the common acts performed by “sasaeng” fans is nothing but a minor crime in South Korea. Those accused will receive a mere fine of 100,000 won which is close to $89. Not only that, many of the accused are minors, meaning at most, they will only receive a warning and nothing more.
The thing is, the behaviour of “sasaeng” fans itself, can be considered a psychological disorder. Kwak Keum Joo, a psychology professor at Seoul University describes it as an act of self display.
She also blamed the South Korean media for its role in cultivating such behaviour among fans, feeding the ego of attention. And honestly, she is very right.
“Stars have to raise their own voices if they want to bring about changes. It requires courage and this could upset some fans. But still, they need to be more firm and let the fans clearly know the dos and don’ts.”
In South Korean media, the aspects of sasaeng culture are humanized and sometimes, twisted to become a topic of comedy. For example, SNL Korea produced a segment starring boy group SHINEE in a skit which described the life of a sasaeng fan. Popular drama series Reply 1997 also depicted scenes of a sasaeng fan’s life by narrating the story of young Siwon who is obsessed with a K-pop boy group H.O.T.
Many scenes of the drama depicted various imagery of what “sasaeng” fans are defined to the South Korean society. Young, teenage high school girls who spend all of adolescence raving over male idols, picking into fights with fans from rival groups, building a hierarchy among one another and doing anything to be closer with them… the world of “sasaengs” is indeed scary.
A small spark of hope?
It is already 2020.
In the present world of K-pop, things are slowly changing in terms of how sasaengs are treated. As more people become educated and exposed to the nature of such fans, perhaps there could be an end to such toxic culture.
JYP Entertainment, home to groups like Twice, GOT7 and Stray Kids announced their plans to take legal action for violation against their artists’ privacy. Sublime Artist Agency who handles sensational star Rain, issued a warning to sasaengs coming to his home. Big Hit Entertainment shared a blacklist of sasaeng fans containing their social media IDs and details of violations, as a means to protect their artists.
K-pop fan communities are working together to stop the culture of sasaengs by acting as whistle-blowers. They are exposing accounts selling phone numbers of K-pop idols and banding together to call out users with suspicious, sasaeng symptoms.
But will this be enough to battle against the dark culture of sasaeng?
A majority of “sasaeng” fans are comprised of young teenage girls who still have a bright future ahead, but were misled into the wrong path. Perhaps, they are struggling with personal issues and needed a place to feel accepted.
The issue of “sasaeng” fans in South Korea is a complicated one. It could be why, even after all these years, this problem has continued to progress without much changes as there is still no answer on how to fix this.
