I also think that she lacked emotional intelligence in this situation, she wanted to explain herself several times and in one of them she said that she would withdraw from the group if she had done something. I think she ended up giving more fuel for the story to take on a larger proportion, cube should have defended her better and prohibited further statements after the first apology. koreans don't forget words and analyze each line to try to distort it, she unfortunately fell for it

thats a really bold, and dumb, move from soojin and cube to say she would leave the group if she wasn’t innocent given the fact there was already little evidence to back up either side of this situation to begin with. that’s just crazy how her career was put on the line like that so easily when they could’ve just kept quiet

nobody knows though whether she left on her own or cube pushed her out. The only thing I can think of is that she could have continued to fight for herself after leaving the group like garam did but didn't for the group's sake

Her statement made sense, but no one read it

From SJ":

No. 1-6 is my response to the claims made by the first accuser (“B”) and her older sister.

1. The reason I knew who “B” was

A long time before B’s sister uploaded her post, I had learned from my old classmates that B was looking for old photos of me.
At school, we were briefly close friends, so I still remembered the name of B’s sister. When she first made her post online, I could guess who she was from her user ID.
I will take this moment to say firmly that my recognition of B was not because I had bullied her.
2. The retraction of thrombocytopenia

In the first accuser’s post, she said that the victim had developed thrombocytopenia (low level of platelets in the blood) out of the stress that I had caused her and that she had spent a lot of time in the hospital.
But when B’s sister met with an agency representative, she said that the thrombocytopenia had started in her third year of school, a long time after the alleged period of school violence mentioned in the post. She also said that the alleged school violence would not have been a cause of the illness.
After the face-to-face discussion, B and her sister changed their statement to be more ambiguous and said that while the alleged school violence had not caused the illness, it likely had an impact.
Since this no longer seemed to be a clear statement of victimization, the reference to thrombocytopenia was eventually removed entirely.
3. Phone argument

First, when I met B in person, I sincerely apologized multiple times for using curse words while arguing on the phone with her. But I could not acknowledge any part of the alleged juice incident. In my first statement, I wrote that while I remembered the phone call, I had no memory of the juice incident, which had been described in such detail. I understand that this ended up causing confusion to those who read my statement, and I accept responsibility for that.
This is what I remember about the phone call. B and I had promised to meet that day, and I was waiting for B at the promised location. A long time had passed without B showing up, and when I called her, B suddenly said that she couldn’t come. Since this wasn’t the first time that B had suddenly canceled a meeting long after the promised meeting time, I lost my temper and cursed at her on the phone. That phone call was just between B and me and there were no other friends involved. It is clearly my fault that I lost my temper and spoke in poor taste, but it is not true that I got angry at B to bully her. As soon as I began to curse, B passed the phone to her older sister. B’s older sister was an adult at the time, and she scolded me for using curse words as a middle school student, and I apologized and hung up. The sister did not once reference the juice incident on the phone, and there was no chance for me to explain in detail the reason B and I were arguing. B said that she got money from her sister to give to me, but I have never received money from B at all. After that call, B and I became distant.
I have never bullied B, committed violence against her, or stolen her belongings. I have never bullied anyone further than what I have described above.
When I met with B, I said that B’s sister had also cursed at me on the phone call. At first, B said that her sister had not, even though she had been standing right there, but later in the conversation she changed her statement that seemed to confirm what I said. Through an Instagram Live broadcast that night, B’s sister seemed to remember everything she had said and seemed to acknowledge that she had not just simply scolded me on the phone call.
4. About the scolding during gym class

According to B’s sister, B had laughed during gym class when a student named “Oh” had called a student named “Kim” by a different name, “Nam.” According to B’s sister, Oh had come to tell me about it, and I had scolded B in front of a lot of people in front of the bathroom.
Oh and I were just friendly classmates and Oh never told me anything like what was described above. I checked with Oh and at the time, there was only one gym teacher at the time in the whole school. In the first year of middle school, Oh and Kim were not in the same class and could not have been in the same gym class. It doesn’t make sense that someone would have called the name of a student from another class during school hours.
According to B, this happened in front of a lot of people, so I checked with all the classmates that I was still in contact with, but no one confirmed what B said.
My fellow students and I state that this did not ever happen and that it was not a situation that could ever have happened.
5. About the DMs and school violence committee meetings that were mentioned as evidence

It is true that my mother was called to the school once for a school violence committee meeting. But I was called to that school violence meeting for something that had nothing to do with me. I remember my mother coming out of the conference room in tears. She has never been brazen in her speech or her manners. The teacher later held private counsels with my classmates and it was revealed that I had not committed any wrongdoing.
You say that I had admitted to being called before a school violence committee?
Just as I said above, that school violence committee was for a case in which it was revealed that I had been falsely accused. I was framed for things that I didn’t do and my mother was called in by the school. So can it really be said that I admitted to facing a school violence committee?
At our face-to-face meeting, I spoke with B about the school violence committee. The committee was not held in public, so I explained the situation to her in detail. There was no reply, and after a long period of silence, she said that she didn’t know anything about my mother. She had posted about something she didn’t know the details of and even dragged my family into it.
Even after I clearly explained to B that I had not been found guilty as the perpetrator during the school violence committee, whose meetings were held in private, she took out almost everything that I had said and posted only that I had admitted to facing a school violence committee.
Even though there was a recording, even though she had said in an interview with a reporter that I had not admitted to anything during our face-to-face meeting, she went and spread the idea that I had admitted to facing a school violence committee several days later.
6. The reason that the first face-to-face meeting took place through representatives

After the B’s sister first uploaded her post, the agency sent a DM asking for a face-to-face meeting. But B’s sister said that B was uncomfortable and refused to meet. The agency respected her wishes and suggested that they meet through representatives instead. I wanted to speak to B in person as well, but the DM said that B was uncomfortable, so I respected her wishes. That’s why the first meeting took place through representatives. It wasn’t because I was avoiding a face-to-face confrontation.
In our first face-to-face meeting, B had even acknowledged that I was the first to request an in-person discussion.
No. 7 to the end will be addressing various other accusations made online.

7. The friend who danced with me at our graduation

I remember being friends with this person from our third year of school until our graduation day. After our graduation, we lost contact with each other. We didn’t hang out together in school, but I do remember hanging out once school had ended. I even knew about that person’s family circumstances, so I had thought that we were close.
It is not true that I called that person over to my house two days before graduation with the excuse of sharing a meal together in order to demand that they memorize choreography with me. We had rehearsed together at my house for about a month and a half before graduation. My father remembers that person as well, and even remembers that in the middle of our rehearsal, the person living in the apartment below us called to complain about the noise.
We exchanged songs for several months through e-mail and I still have the e-mails as proof.
8. About actress Seo Shin Ae’s Instagram post

As I wrote in my first statement, I have never spoken with actress Seo Shin Ae during our time at school. Before this issue began, I had no idea even which class she was in.
I have never committed acts like putting cigarettes in her desk or stealing her graduation letters.
I know nothing about Seo Shin Ae and this was the first time that I had heard such rumors about her and me. I have never bullied her or cursed at her behind her back.
Every time that I release a new statement, Seo Shin Ae has shared a post around the same time, so many people wrongly believe that I bullied her.
My agency has contacted her agency, but has gotten no response.
I am not guilty, so I strongly request Seo Shin Ae to release a clear statement about the issue.
9. About the padded coat

Since this was also an incident that did not happen, I’m not sure how to explain it. But I can explain why the accuser’s claims are difficult to believe.
It is not true that I bullied this person in our first year of school by slapping them on the cheek or coloring on their padded coat with marker.
This person wrote that when I bullied them, there was a friend who witnessed the incident and helped them. I checked with this friend directly and they said that they had no memory of this.
When netizens asked the person for proof that the coat had been defaced, the accuser said that they had sold the item secondhand. The accuser said that it had been sold recently, not at the time of the alleged bullying. That means that a coat that was over 10 years old had been sold. People requested that the seller get in contact with the buyer to get a photo of the defaced coat, which suggested that the marker had not been erased at the time of purchase. But the buyer responded that the marker had been erased when the coat was laundered. That implies that the marker from 10 years ago had been easily erased in the laundry. It is difficult to believe that someone would just leave the marker there that I had allegedly done over 10 years ago until now.
It was not mentioned anywhere in the advertisement of the secondhand coat that it had been damaged. Even in the one-on-one chat [between seller and buyer], no damage was mentioned. It is standard for any damage to be mentioned up front in the advertisement, and the damaged area would be shown in a photograph for the buyer. It makes no sense that the seller would contact the buyer again without a single photograph.
The information about the coat that was uploaded on the secondhand website showed that it was not a coat that had come out when I was in middle school. The accuser explained that they had uploaded the wrong information, thinking that it was the same product. But when people explained how to accurately check the coat’s product creation date and requested the information, the accuser did not respond.
When the accuser first shared their post about the coat, the accuser said that they were in the second class in the third year, and that I was in the first class in the third year. The accuser claimed that the first class was full of troublemakers and that the student dean was the homeroom teacher for the class. But I was in the second class in my third year of school and my homeroom teacher was the English teacher. Furthermore, the first class was not a class of troublemakers. The accuser has also changed their statement multiple times to say that they were not sure if they were in the second class or fifth class in middle school.
The accuser claimed that I had come to their class often because I had a friend in that class, but when I was in my third year of middle school, all my closest friends were in the same class as me, so I hardly ever went to visit other classes.
In my third year of middle school, the first and second classes were on the same floor, and the other classes were on the floor above. If the accuser was in the second class and I was in the first class, it would make no sense for the accuser to say that I had “come up” to their class. Everything they said was false.
10. Others

It is not true that I ever made people slap each other, stole their money and belongings, or sent messages ostracizing one student from the group.
I cannot give a long explanation for events that did not happen. I have never engaged in that kind of behavior during my time in school.
Instead of appealing to people’s emotions, I did my best to write down the rational, clear facts without distortion. The fact that it took me this long to make a statement does not mean that I was guilty. I needed the time to be clear on the details, because I knew that one word from me would have a big impact on other people.

At the time of my first statement, the flood of rumors and the post made by a certain actress had instantly fixed me in the public attention as a “bully.” In a situation where I had to get out a statement as fast as possible, the incoherence in that statement ended up creating a lot of misunderstandings, so I took a lot more care with the next statement. However, nothing I said in the first statement was false.

I knew that it would be a terrible thing to admit that a female idol had smoked as a student, but I acknowledged the truth because I wanted to be honest about everything. Out of curiosity, I smoked once or twice as a student, but I recognize how wrong this behavior was. I accept responsibility for this behavior and I am very sorry.

We will be collecting evidence and taking legal action against all those who made up false rumors and these people will be judged by the law. If it turns out that I did something wrong, then of course I will take the punishment given and leave the group. However, the truth about what I have not done will come to light.

Once again, I’d like to sincerely apologize for causing a ruckus with this matter. I will be sincere and honest about this matter until it ends. Thank you.

tldr?

She literally came forward to debunk rumor one by one , bullet pointed, she is one of the first who idol who stood up for herself. She debunk the rumors with logic.

You can read one of the point if its too long ;

9. About the padded coat

Since this was also an incident that did not happen, I’m not sure how to explain it. But I can explain why the accuser’s claims are difficult to believe.

It is not true that I bullied this person in our first year of school by slapping them on the cheek or coloring on their padded coat with marker.

This person wrote that when I bullied them, there was a friend who witnessed the incident and helped them. I checked with this friend directly and they said that they had no memory of this.

When netizens asked the person for proof that the coat had been defaced, the accuser said that they had sold the item secondhand. The accuser said that it had been sold recently, not at the time of the alleged bullying. That means that a coat that was over 10 years old had been sold.

People requested that the seller get in contact with the buyer to get a photo of the defaced coat, which suggested that the marker had not been erased at the time of purchase. But the buyer responded that the marker had been erased when the coat was laundered. That implies that the marker from 10 years ago had been easily erased in the laundry.

It is difficult to believe that someone would just leave the marker there that I had allegedly done over 10 years ago until now.
It was not mentioned anywhere in the advertisement of the secondhand coat that it had been damaged. Even in the one-on-one chat [between seller and buyer], no damage was mentioned. It is standard for any damage to be mentioned up front in the advertisement, and the damaged area would be shown in a photograph for the buyer. It makes no sense that the seller would contact the buyer again without a single photograph.

The information about the coat that was uploaded on the secondhand website showed that it was not a coat that had come out when I was in middle school.

The accuser explained that they had uploaded the wrong information, thinking that it was the same product. But when people explained how to accurately check the coat’s product creation date and requested the information, the accuser did not respond.

When the accuser first shared their post about the coat, the accuser said that they were in the second class in the third year, and that I was in the first class in the third year. The accuser claimed that the first class was full of troublemakers and that the student dean was the homeroom teacher for the class.

But I was in the second class in my third year of school and my homeroom teacher was the English teacher. Furthermore, the first class was not a class of troublemakers. The accuser has also changed their statement multiple times to say that they were not sure if they were in the second class or fifth class in middle school.

The accuser claimed that I had come to their class often because I had a friend in that class, but when I was in my third year of middle school, all my closest friends were in the same class as me, so I hardly ever went to visit other classes.
In my third year of middle school, the first and second classes were on the same floor, and the other classes were on the floor above. If the accuser was in the second class and I was in the first class, it would make no sense for the accuser to say that I had “come up” to their class. Everything they said was false.

literally nobody even heard or cared about that incident. when one real incident of bullying is made public, a lot of fakes come up too, it's normal. it's easy to say someone is innocent by just disproving that one thing.

girlie was cancelled cause she was mean/a bully to someone, who happened to be a famous actress. that's the thing that started it all, and it's the only thing that matters.

Except it's not just that ONE incident, in fact, there were plenty of contradictions in all the claims that they have made.

She was accused of:
Assaulting and injuring students
Taking students to bathroom and assaulting them
Stealing uniforms
Giving someone "thrombocytopenia"
Shooting and aiming water guns at people's breast.
Forming text groups to outcast a student
Extorting money and riding motorcycle with a gang at school gates
Disfigure someone's face
Stealing a jacket (that wasn't released until 2019)
Rude to staff at cafeteria.

Even though there's literally zero record of any of this taking place??

There was a 34 year old pretending to be a class mate of Soojin,

one person pretended to be seven different classmate of Soojin accusing her

Accusation from whistleblower claiming Soojin gave her sister thrombocytopenia (which is biologically impossible).

Why do you all give these "victims" so much credit with their words, when they are full of exaggerations and flaws?

again, nobody cares about them. when a bullying story is made public, a lot of false accusations are also made. it's the whole seo shin ae situation that got her cancelled.

was she or was she not a mean little bully to seo shin ae? you know the answer like we do, even if you don't want to admit it. see how you don't even mention her at all.

You wanna talk about Seo shinae? lets talk about seo shin ae.

Her statement never added up. This is disregarding the IG conversation. A twitter account (that is still active) as of today, has tweet commenting on her behaviour since 2012 that she was not a well behaved student.

and during 2012-2013, she gave two different interview claiming she NEVER experience bullying, she only heard stories from her friends , IN HER OWN WORD.

Last but not least, her testimony doesnt add up to the whistleblower/victims either. They claim Soojin didn't bully Seo Shin Ae during the second year because Soojin had to prepare for her idol career, Seo shinae joined WaW school during her second year, but claimed she was bullied by Soojin for 2 years. Which is incoherent.

Why does Seo shinae words are more "credibile"? When Soojin made 2 statement clearly and explicitly said she never did anything to Seo shinae. What is this double standard?????

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For a TLDR . I will shorten one example;

One accuser accused her of bullying them + damaging their jacket.

However accuser uploaded evidence and it turned out to be 2019 winter collection meaning jacket doesnt exist back when Soojin was at School

people wanted more evidence, so accuser said they sold this 10 year old jacket recently, a 10 years old damaged jacket? (who would buy it?)

accuser also uploaded chat log with the buyer, there's no mention of this "damage". in addition to that they weren't able to provide photograph of it?? A jacket he SOLD online, but he wasn't able to provide any photos?

++++ there more but I try to keep it short

Came Back to This Room

Don't be shy, show us some concrete evidence.

Soojin: I specifically call on this person to speak and clarify because I didn't bullied her

Seo Shin Ae: but you did

If you want evidence, ask Soojin since she's the one losing her lawsuits

Ngl but I still believe her scandal was an issue between friends and that that sister just wanted to stirr drama (and idk, but she was straight up a bully, wanting to k*ll a kid? Oh, come on).
Like the whole scandal was blown out of proportion...

don't click on see more 😓

Its also because she showed her character through her statements and it just wasnt pretty.

"Showing her character" for defending herself againist lies? and debunking rumours??

Did you even read the statement? You people are so petty and ignorant lmao

Taking up a stand for yourself is a good character trait. She isn't a proven bully, her trial was by public.

there is a big difference between standing for yourself and arguing with someone who didn't even have your name in their mouth.

the entire country knew who she was targeting and its not like the actress not naming her directly ruined soojin's reputation any less. She had to address the actress in order to address all claims against her. I bet 100% if she hadn't people like you here would've been saying that she didn't address her because she knew the actress was speaking the truth.

just like soojin didn't have seo shinaes name in her mouth when she was 12

But i feel like its not good for celebs to defend themselves like that. As it could give fuel for antis to twist her words ect. Her company should of defended her or made a statement on her behalf.

yes I definitely agree its not a good idea for idols to defend themselves now after seeing the reaction after soojin's statements. People love to misinterpret intentionally don't they

In what way she showed her character?

In not being humble and trying to see the other person's point of view and trying to understand. She just doubled down, threatened and demanded. She really showed that she has no empathy and was only concerned with her version of events and it didnt bother her that she might have hurt someone else.

"no empathy and was only concerned with her version of events and"

you speak like you were there first hand witnessing everything. Like you know the "truth" in reality , there are so much lies in this case.

BUt you just don't care, because you ironically have no empathy and opnly concern the version YOU want to believe.

IRONIC.

Directly calling out someone to speak up thinking they're gonna back you up only for them to just expose you is just...
For a lot of people, it's not the fact that idols may have bullied people as kids that bothers them, it's the lack of growth/continued bullying in the present. Whether the allegations were true or not, repeatedly making statements while suing the other party (usually a commoner) into silence automatically looks terrible. Aggressive and blunt tones don't really come off well either, because it looks like the accused feels victimized by having to deal with everything.
This is what sank April and it sank Soojin too. There's no reason her case should have blown up so much when so many other accused idols let theirs pass quietly and got to stay

I don't think she was the victim of a witch hunt, I think she really, really, should've stayed silent instead of instigating everything further. I don't really remember whether her accusations ever turned out to be false or not, but I do remember she basically ruined herself with every response she was giving.

She and Cube really showed one of the most disastrous PR handling. Her fans also not helping by attacking the actress and draining out whatever little sympathy points that gp had for her

it was a he said she said situation no evidence on either side

She set herself up lol. She could’ve remained in the group if she didn’t keep instigating the situation every single time.

Her and Cube was hard headed instead of just accepting you’re at fault. Soojin saying, she would leave if it were true was the final blow lol.

Had she remained quiet and took the hiatus like everyone said to do she would’ve been fine but no.

Was she a bully or not

Nobody knows tbh. The Court didn't find her guilty but they also determined that there was no hint of the accusers were lying.

So the verdict for both parties was like a lose lose thing?

Sorry it was the police who made a conclusion,

basically: neither of them were found guilty.

No , there are so many contradictions in accusers posts, but people dont care to read them. A person even used the same yearbook pretending to be 7 different people.

one accuser claim Soojin damaged their jacket, when they upload the jacket "evidence" , it turned out to be a winter2019 Jacket. Which mean it doesnt exist when Soojin was at school.

There are so many lies nobody cares to know. They all like to say She is a bully, but where are the actual evidence??

Show it to me? A link? Photos?

so instead of threatening legal action to all accusers, she put out a long ass statement? that's stupid. also, where there's smoke, there's fire, so.....

plus, why did she drop the lawsuit against that actress? or even sue her in the first place bc said actress did not address her by name

I'm sorry but literally once an idol said that they were gonna sue ppl still didn't side with them and said how they were horrible to try to sue a victim, so I can't blame her 😭

And then her dropping that lawsuit could just be lack of proof, so nothing would have come out.

Those were trolls and antis. No one's career will be destroyed if the allegations are proven false or cannot be proven either way. Soojin killed her own career.

Yet we have idols who are reminded everything of what they "did" just because it couldn't be proven false. It happens. Not saying she would be destroyed forever but I mean... she would be the one with lots of posts with "look at that bully" and so. Even Lia still gets comments like that.

theres smoke regarding every kpop group, doesn't mean its true

Why do you have so many downvotes ? People defend soojin a lot but why the downvotes

The way she set herself up is almost kind of hilarious. I'm not saying she's would for sure stay in the group if found guilty if she didn't say she'd leave, but the moment she said that she flushed down the toilet any chances of not being kicked out.

You are dumb holding onto her words of leaving the group. She was obviously sure of it that's why she said it, the case ended up saying none of them can prove that it happened or it didn't happen, which means even that accuser could be lying.

That's precisely the point, the only way of her not getting kicked out at that point was being proven 100% innocent.
Now let's think that there are three possible outcomes: 1. guilty 2. innocent 3. inconclusive – she put all her coins in one out of the three and severely hindered her chances of making it out of that scandal while keeping her spot in the group. Had she stayed low a merely inconclusive outcome would be enough for her to go back to her activities after a hiatus, if anything – 2 scenarios that would be good for her (inc./innocent) vs saying she will depart from the group if the one (1) scenario she's aiming for comes to be true?
She was dumb. She might have believed in her innocence but at that point unless she could prove it it was shooting her own damn feet. Even had they waited until they were done with the court stuff to kick her out or not, since they couldn't determine if she's innocent or if ssa made up anything, they still wouldn't be able to get her back on the group without going against what she had promised before 🤷‍♀️

The point, viollage idiot, is that the LIBEL LAW in Korea has all type of holes in it, that ACCUSERS know them very well to do enough damage without getting penalized. Now THINK, if you are accused of RAPING SOMEONE IN THE SCHOOL BATHROOM 10 YEARS AGO, for you to be cleared out the RAPIST accusation you gotta prove that you didn't insert any dick, hand or object in someone's asshole or vagina 10 years ago in the school bathroom. How are you going to prove that you didn't do it WITHOUT any solid proof LIKE footage or audio recording or text - in case you didn't know this is what is considered SOLID proof. If you dont have any of the listed before, you are doomed and youll have to carry the rapist nickname for the rest of your life. Bullying accusations are treated lightly and it's insanely common in Korea bc exactly this, anyone can accuse you of anything, ruin your life, job, family and career if YOU cant prove you didnt do what the other is accusing you. That's why all of these bullying cases are just he said she said cases that end up in nothing.
That's why companies can't even sue people like sojang or gossip sites.
Companies know this very well and it's exactly why CUBE didnt do shit and left SOOJIN to fight on her own. IDLE is their top group of course they wouldnt think twice to kick her out if she could potentially ruin their future, waiting for the "court stuff" was going to be useless, because even if she was put on hiatus people wouldn't leave them alone and you are lying if you dont know this.

She obviously, didn't have any guidance so she naively believed she would be protected by the artist law, unlike the actress, who had a lawyer behind her and used the holes and the sympathy pity votes people already had for her to start shit and come out unscratched.. So no matter what she said the moment she was TARGETED by that girl, Soojin already lost.

You're lying if you think that "staying low" and "inconclusive" would have saved her career because people were convinced she was a bully and harassing her before she even opened her mouth.

Her accusations turned out to not hold up in court, hence why the case didn't move forward. Whether they were true or false, no testimony from either party (that is, Soojin nor the accusers) was able to be proven and therefore the entire thing was dismissed.
The reason as to why it is now deemed a witch-hunt is because it happened at the height of the pandemic and, for some reason, the news cycle focused way too much on it but when it all ended, it's the one idol controversy where nothing really came of it.

Its funny how people here go on and on aout strong women but soojin taking a strong stand for herself is bad pr? Its never been proved which side was saying the truth so it can't be said she was lying or bluffing.

Umm, no. I can understand her fighting back against the first bullying claims (because they were not true IMO) but she was foolish to call out the actress and expect her to stay silent. It just fired back in her.

and what proof does anyone have that the actress is saying the truth and not 'half truth' or 'perceived truth' or outright lie? Nobody except trolls verified her claims