LE SSERAFIM’s Kim Garam faces emergence of new evidence in bullying scandal, Source Music responds – Asian Junkie
Following a laundry list of allegations against LE SSERAFIM member Kim Garam, HYBE responded that they’re taking legal action and it was actually her that was the victim. Now though evidence has emerged for Kim Garam’s school violence record, putting her under fire again as netizens say it’s clear evidence of wrongdoing.
Yesterday a netizen shared a document from the Autonomous Committee Of Countermeasures Against School Violence, which states that a Kim Garam from first grade was a perpetrator along with somebody else.
In reply, another netizen confirmed that Kim Garam was in classroom number three in the first grade, with a picture of their school trip.
This led to increased scrutiny again, and HYBE has responded, saying nothing has changed from their previous statement. They are going to handle things legally.
On May 16th, Source Music stated “Nothing has changed from our earlier statement. We have started to take legal action and the details will be revealed through the legal process.” regarding the piece of ‘new evidence’ circulating online on the day before (T/N: referring to the Autonomous Committee for Countermeasures against School Violence Result Notice).
The label reiterated, “The recent accusation revolves around instances during the beginning of her middle school days when she was just getting to know her classmates, and such instances were edited with malicious intent to slander her. Unlike the rumors, the said member was a victim of various malicious rumors and cyberbullying during her middle school days according to a third party.”
As I said before, I’m not sure there’s necessarily a need to rush to judgement here, and I don’t really have a problem with people withholding judgment as I’m not sure there’s clear evidence of anything yet outside of being a cringe teen edgelord. However, it’s also hard to see this as anything but supporting the bullying part of things as the company didn’t even outright deny something happening.
Should be interesting to see what turns up in court, if anything.
This account is also worth a read, as they have been fact checking arguments and evidence, organizing it nicely.
Again, because I have to be clear before stans get all upset, this does not mean that you have to jump to any conclusion. That said, HYBE has seemingly chosen to go the direction of general denial and then silence until legal decisions are made instead of trying to control the narrative, so a lot of what’s out there now is just the accusers and their evidence.
Update
Kim Garam’s school has responded saying they are unable to comment.
