• Hyoyeon Criticizes Junior Idols for Not Greeting Seniors, Talks About How Girls' Generation Always Showed Respect

    Girls' Generation’s Hyoyeon took a playful jab at younger idols for not greeting others properly during a recent radio appearance.

    On the November 29th episode of SBS PowerFM’s Cultwo Show, Hyoyeon joined H.O.T.'s Lee Jaewon for a special segment called "Hajima!" (Don’t Do It!).

    During the show, Hyoyeon shared an interesting story from her trainee days. She recalled how the group would always greet delivery workers with a 90-degree bow whenever food was brought to their dorm.

    "We always greeted them with a 90-degree bow," Hyoyeon said, laughing and adding, "We used to open the door and bow, you little brats."

    When asked if she greeted the delivery workers out of gratitude for the food, Hyoyeon explained, "We saw them every day. They brought us food every day," and added that they made sure to clean up so thoroughly after meals, "it was almost like we did the dishes ourselves."

    The conversation soon shifted to the topic of greetings in general, with Hyoyeon expressing concern about how some junior artists forget the importance of greeting people.

    "The one thing I feel is lacking is greeting people," she said, acknowledging her old-fashioned views by joking, "I know I’m a bit of a 'grandpa' for thinking this way."

    Both Baekga and Kim Taegyun, who were on the show, agreed with Hyoyeon, saying, "I don’t understand why not greeting should make someone a grandpa," and "I think greetings are really important."

    Lee Jaewon then asked, "When you go to broadcasting stations, do all the junior artists come and greet you?" Hyoyeon replied, "These days, no one greets anymore." Lee Jaewon shared, "I was a little disappointed when they didn’t greet me the other day."

    Baekga also chimed in, remembering how it used to be. "We used to go to broadcasting stations every year for album promotions. We didn’t let them come to greet us. When the juniors would come in a group and line up, it felt awkward," he said.

    "Now, we didn’t know, but suddenly someone would come in and ask, ‘Who are you?’ and they’d say, ‘I’m the PD.’ It used to be that we lined up to greet them, but now the PDs come to greet us and it feels strange."

    Hyoyeon agreed, saying, "I also find it uncomfortable when someone greets me, so I don’t let them come up, but I think when we see each other in the hallway, we should at least exchange eye contact or a small greeting," adding that nowadays, "I don’t make eye contact, so I don’t greet them."

    Source: [1]

  • Starship Entertainment Issues Apology After Sharing Offensive Photo of Ahn Yujin, Promises Strong Action Against Employee

    Starship Entertainment has issued a public apology after one of their employees shared an inappropriate and harassing synthetic photo of Ahn Yujin from IVE on social media.

    On January 15th, the company posted an official statement on its account, titled "Apology and Commitment to Prevent Recurrence Regarding the Infringement of Artist Rights."

    In the statement, Starship expressed deep regret, saying, "We sincerely apologize to our artist Ahn Yujin, who was hurt by the serious mistake made by one of our employees managing our Chinese social media on January 9th, and to the fans who were also affected."

    The company admitted that the incident was a result of poor management and emphasized that the employee involved had been removed from the duties related to the incident.

    "We have taken the strongest disciplinary action and promise to overhaul our internal management system to prevent this from happening again", they added.

    Starship also personally apologized to Ahn Yujin, saying, "We will do our best to repair the damage caused and are taking continuous legal action against those spreading false information and defamation about our artist."

    The company concluded by saying, "We apologize once again for the disappointment and worry this has caused our fans. We will learn from this incident and strive to regain your trust by becoming a more responsible company."

    The controversy began when the person in charge of IVE’s official Weibo account shared a synthetic photo of Ahn Yujin in a disrespectful context on January 9th.

    Fans from both Korea and abroad were quick to criticize the mistake, which led to the company’s public apology and promise of action.

    Source: [1]