You\u2019re not watching a scene from the latest28 Years Later movie. This is real-world K-pop star Park Sung-hoon, running for his life.<\/p>\n
Haunting new footage shows the ENHYPEN idol being mobbed by a gang of groupies lurking in wait at Seoul\u2019s Incheon International Airport.<\/p>\n
The video has ignited intense online debate over South Korean celebrity security, the dark side of the K-pop boom and obsessive fan culture.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s far from the first time a K-Pop star has been terrorised by fanatical fangirls.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re called the sasaengs. <\/p>\n
\u201cPrivate fans\u201d. <\/p>\n
Because they stop at nothing to violate the privacy of their idols.<\/p>\n
And unlike the lonely popstar stalkers of the West, these ones operate like organised gangs.<\/p>\n
Hidden cameras. Poisoned drinks. Blood-brushed letters. Even prostitution in exchange for information.<\/p>\n
This is the dingy underworld of the real-life K-Pop Demon Hunters.<\/p>\n
\u2018Like the yakuza\u2019<\/p>\n
Professor Renata Iwicka, from Poland\u2019s Jagiellonian University, tells news.com.au the sasaeng run a rigid hierarchy.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir hierarchical structure is not unlike the yakuza,\u201d Iwicka says.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo join, you must provide intimate information about \u2013 or items belonging to \u2013 an idol. The more you share, the higher you\u2019ll rise through the ranks.\u201d<\/p>\n
So where did these extreme fangirls come from?<\/p>\n
The subculture traces back to the 1990s, when groups of mostly teenage girls came together to worship their K-pop idols.<\/p>\n
But this worship veered into violence. Break and enters. Even sexual services offered for idol information.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey started to lurk around idols\u2019 houses and gather on social media to trade information and personal items like towels or underwear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some K-pop stars were even met by urine and faeces left outside their homes \u2013 as though the territory had been marked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more competitive they became, the more extreme they became. They were all determined to be the best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iwicka says the sasaeng are driven by mob mentality.<\/p>\n
\u201cSasaeng\u2019s entire existence is built on group recognition. They cease to exist alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iwicka says the behaviour became \u201cmuch more violent\u201d when K-pop began to widen its global foothold in 2017.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This was compounded by the streaming services boom, which pushed K-Pop idols from regional fame onto the worldstage.<\/p>\n
In August, animated movie K-pop Demon Hunters<\/a> topped the Netflix movie charts.<\/p>\n This kind of recognition further emboldens the sasaeng.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve become less visible and more secretive.\u201d<\/p>\n Around this time, the groupies began gathering on encrypted platforms to trade private information including flight schedules.<\/p>\n Airports became a key hunting ground.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re easily accessed spaces where everyone can enter and wait around, with minimal security,\u201d says Iwicka.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are also many hiding places and escape routes to use after invading their idol\u2019s personal space by kissing and touching them.\u201d<\/p>\n In an indication of the sasaengs reach, some idols have even reported tampering with their on-flight meals<\/a>.<\/p>\n So how do young girls accomplish such extreme stalking?<\/p>\n The internet hasn\u2019t helped.<\/p>\n While Beatles fangirls were known for screaming \u2013 and wetting themselves with excitement \u2013 they had little means to chase their muse once they stepped offstage.<\/p>\n In the digital age, personal information goes to the highest bidder. And everything is for sale: addresses, phone numbers, even live idol locations.<\/p>\n Iwicka says encrypted social media has empowered the sasaengs to shroud such trading in the shadows.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just the idol\u2019s lives being laid on the line.<\/p>\n In pursuit of the stars, some sasaeng will speed up to 200 km\/h, threatening innocent people along with the idols.<\/p>\n It\u2019s becoming a liability.<\/p>\n \u2018Extreme, dangerous and delusional\u2019<\/p>\n But where is the line between a passionate fans and sasaeng?<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about ownership. Even passionate fans understand idols are entertainers. Sasaengs believe they own them.\u201d<\/p>\n Some critics blame K-pop managers for enabling the harassment.<\/p>\n In the 1990s, K-pop management began to emulate the intense Japanese artist management system.<\/p>\n This includes shackling recruits into long exclusive deals to carve a polished, picture-perfect image, with little control or financial reward.<\/p>\n As part of this system, some agencies manufacture an air of accessibility by tolerating obsessive fan behaviour. Many discourage idols from having a love life to enhance their availability.<\/p>\n Iwicka believes this legacy enables incidents like the latest airport ambush.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s still a lack of security for idols at events or airports,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n ENHYPEN\u2019s management companies, Belift lab and Hybe Corporation, did not respond to news.com.au\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n \u2018Illusion of intimacy\u2019<\/p>\n But Iwicka says Idol\u2019s themselves must take some ownership for feeding into fan obsession.<\/p>\n \u201cPart of the blame must also land on idols.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMany talk about their fans like lovers or siblings, refusing to condemn their behaviour. This creates an illusion of intimacy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes this parasocial relationship evolves into something extreme, dangerous and delusional.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2010, a sasaeng sent a letter to their idols 2PM. The problem? It was inked in menstrual blood.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s not only females. In 2011, a member of the girl group Girl\u2019s Generation was nearly kidnapped onstage by a male sasaeng who posed as a staff member.<\/p>\n And in perhaps the most chilling incident, TVXQ member Yunho was hospitalised after drinking a beverage spiked with superglue by a sasaeng in 2006. <\/p>\n Iwicka says some sasaeng behaviour is culturally bound.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the West, we generally perceive artists as human. They may be more talented or prettier than us, but they\u2019re still in our realm.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn Korea, there\u2019s a wider chasm between fans and idols. Their status is unattainable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn the West, we generally perceive artists as human. They may be more talented or prettier than us, but they\u2019re still in our realm.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn Korea, there\u2019s a wider chasm between fans and idols. Their status is unattainable.\u201d<\/p>\n In Korea, stalking was traditionally considered a minor offence punished with a small fine.<\/p>\n \u201cThe laws need to change in Korea to crack down on sasaeng behaviour as a deterrent.\u201d<\/p>\n The stalking can have tragic consequences.<\/p>\n Last year, actor Song Jae-rim was found dead in his apartment at the age of 39. It was later revealed he\u2019d allegedly been severely harassed by a sasaeng fan<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018Really scary\u2019<\/p>\n One ENGENE \u2013 the official name for ENHYPEN fans \u2013 condemned the airport incident on the condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really scary to even watch these videos of aggressive, obsessed fans,\u201d the fan told news.com.au.<\/p>\n \u201cENHYPEN need more security and bodyguards to protect them.\u201d<\/p>\n The fan also distanced the ENGENE community from sasaeng.<\/p>\n \u201cEven in public, passionate fandom respects boundaries, safety, and consent.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen people crowd, follow, film and invade personal space in places like airports, it becomes intrusive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not a fan event.\u201d<\/p>\n But another fan but sasaengs alone can\u2019t take the blame.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just about fans controlling their behaviour. Agencies must plan and enforce stronger protection, and airports need to take crowd control more seriously.<\/p>\n \u201cBlaming only sasaengs ignores the system that allows these situations to keep happening\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Only escape\u2019<\/p>\n Professor Roald Maliangkay, from the Australian National University, says sasaeng will go to extreme lengths to get their hands on their idols.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen some sasaeng getting jobs at the airport, telephone companies or CCTV providers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s quite a commitment to get close to someone.\u201d<\/p>\n Reports have even surfaced about sasaeng prostituting themselves to fund their daily hunting. Planting GPS trackers and hidden cameras. Spiking star\u2019s drinks.<\/p>\n But Maliangkay says obsessive fan behaviour is not new in Korea.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Korean geisha of the colonial period (Gisaeng) were also known for behaving like obsessive fans.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSocial media doesn\u2019t help because it\u2019s anonymous, offers imagined relationships and even supports bad behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople who are really isolated may find dopamine in this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey have no friends or family to tell them to stop it. Many are under intense pressure cramming for all kinds of exams and their only escape is having someone to idolise.\u201d<\/p>\n But Maliangkay says it\u2019s crucial to remember how key these fans are to their idols\u2019 glory.<\/p>\n They\u2019re the engine who wins them elite ranks on charts (ENHYPEN last week debuted at number two on the US Billboards 200). Who makes them trend on TikTok. And who helps them win awards.<\/p>\n \u201cSasaeng are really obsessed, but they don\u2019t always want to misbehave. They\u2019re just incredibly passionate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat doesn\u2019t justify their behaviour. But we need to keep in mind that this whole industry relies on fans being completely obsessed with these beautiful people.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever ironic that is.\u201d<\/p>\n Nelson Groom is a freelance writer. Learn more on his Instagram<\/a>. <\/p>\n Got a story? Get in touch: nelsonsamuelgroom@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n