2019 hasn’t been a kind year for JYP Entertainment’s super girl-group TWICE. With Momo being wrapped up in dating rumors and Mina halting activities to deal with an anxiety disorder, the girls have not had it easy. In addition to Momo and Mina dealing with their own struggles, Nayeon has been dealing with a scary situation involving a German “fan” allegedly stalking her.
Between September and October, a German “fan”* of TWICE started posting online that he was trying to find Nayeon to talk to her. At first, people found this person’s posts as harmless, but recently, his actions have become alarming as he continues to post erratically regarding his plans to find her. Since December, he’s been in Korea, and he’s even managed to “run into” other TWICE members in his pursuit of reaching Nayeon.
While in Korea, the man visited placed Nayeon has been known to visit in hopes of finding out more about her and her family, and he’s even passed out messages to shopkeepers asking them to deliver his message to her. Some ONCEs managed to get the man to identify his plans online including how he plans to wait outside J.Y. Park’s home in hopes of reaching Nayeon. He also revealed that he won’t stop pursuing Nayeon until she “gets to know him properly” while hoping she will fall in love with him, marry him, run off to Australia, and have children with him.
TWICE and Nayeon have been under police protection, but the man has not stopped his pursuit and still tries to interact with the K-Pop star on vLive and various other means.
“We have informed you that we are now under investigation for the production and distribution of malicious rumors. As soon as the final ruling comes out, we will also tell you that we are preparing to proceed with a civil action against those who will be charged,” JYP Entertainment said. “I repeat that we will continue to take all possible stern measures without any prior cause.”
However, police protection has not prevented the situation from escalating.
On December 31, 2019, TWICE were on a flight from Japan to Korea. An alarming Instagram story appeared on TWICE’s account with the message “Please go home. Please stop. I beg you.” Fans that managed to catch the video prior to deletion said the voices featured in the video sounded distressed, and fans scrambled to figure out what was going on that such a message was posted and quickly deleted.
Fans soon got confirmation of what was happening when Nayeon’s stalker posted on Twitter that he was “attacked” by TWICE’s managers on the flight while he attempted to give Nayeon love letters. JYP Entertainment also confirmed the man was on the flight in their own statement.
Hello this is JYP Entertainment.
Today [December 31] when boarding a return flight from Japan to Korea, a stalker of TWICE member Nayeon attempted to approach her numerous times after boarding. We were able to respond to the situation right away, and [Nayeon] wasn’t harmed, but she is currently quite discomfited and anxious.
Due to the incident, Nayeon is currently under police protection. We warned the stalker several times to halt his actions, but he ignored our warnings and attempted to force his way through and raised his voice, escalating the situation with problematic behavior.
As a result, we will be taking the highest level of legal action available to us against [the stalker].
Furthermore, we are also investigating the illegal dissemination of our artists’ flight schedules and information. Especially after this recent disturbance, we are searching for a way to put an end to such activity as soon as possible.
We sincerely apologize to the other passengers on this flight for the disturbance caused by this incident. We will ensure that such an issue doesn’t happen again.
Thank you.
Following the flight, it’s unclear if any legal actions were taken against the man following Nayeon. However, given how he continues to post on social media, no legal actions were taken.
Cases like this often have frightening endings. In May 2016, J-Pop singer Mayu Tomita was stabbed 60 times by an obsessed fan after police didn’t take her stalking reports seriously. She is still recovering and struggles with eating, singing, and using her hands. The incident also left her partially blind. Tomita’s stalker admitted he stabbed her because she rejected his advances.
Fans have pointed out that the man following Nayeon has alluded to serious actions, including death, on a Reddit page revealed to be his.
K-Pop fans who’ve watched the social media posts and erratic behavior unfold need to stop reaching out to this man and stop giving him attention. They are, however, encouraged to forward messages to JYP Entertainment and Korean authorities in order to help them fight this issue in a safe way.
“We ask fans to actively report to us about the issue, and we will take the best measures possible to ensure the safety of our artist,” JYP Entertainment said.
Hopefully people will do the right thing and report this man and his behaviors to the appropriate authorities in order to protect Nayeon and TWICE. Doing so may help them while also attempting to give the man any mental health help he may need.
* He will not be named as this person already has too much attention.
Photo Credit: UHD Wallpaper
—-Olivia Murray