{"id":63900,"date":"2025-08-12T11:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T11:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/63900\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T11:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T11:57:10","slug":"can-fans-ever-keep-their-distance-from-k-pop-stars-at-airports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/63900\/","title":{"rendered":"Can fans ever keep their distance from K-pop stars at airports?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fast-forwarded <\/p>\n

Fast-forwarded footage of the crowd following boy band AHOF at Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul on Aug. 8 [SHIN HA-NEE]<\/p>\n

\u00a0
\u201cIf you\u2019re not flying, please leave the line!\u201d bodyguards shouted, voices sharp over the early-morning ruckus playing out at Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul. It was 6:50 a.m. on Friday, and rookie boy band AHOF was attempting to make its way to the security checkpoint, flanked by guards pushing against a flood of fans.
\u00a0
Smartphones, held high like lightsticks, documented every step of the idols\u2019 journey, from a brief photo session to their slow advance toward the security gates. Fans and reporters trailed behind the group like a school of small fish while puzzled travelers, simply trying to catch their morning flights, were swept up in the chaos.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The scene lasted for about 10 minutes, but the crowd had been in the making for much longer.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"Fans <\/p>\n

Fans and reporters are seen gathered outside the security check gate while boy band AHOF enters the gate at the Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul on Aug. 8 [SHIN HA-NEE]<\/p>\n

\"Boy <\/p>\n

Boy band AHOF poses for photos at Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul on Aug. 8, ahead of its trip to Japan for promotional events. [NEWS1] <\/p>\n

\u00a0
By 6:20 a.m., not long after the sun cleared the horizon, there had already been at least two dozen people clustered near Gate 1 of the airport. Some were holding slogans for their favorite boy band, others gripping what appeared to be high-end cameras.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
When a dark van pulled up to the curb, many flocked outside the gate with their lenses raised, but it was a false alarm.
\u00a0
Meanwhile, through Gate 3, Twice\u2019s Sana appeared at around 6:30 a.m., wearing a white cap. The crowd there instantly chased her up to the third floor, rushing up the stairs, cameras clicking rapidly as she took the escalator. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"Fast-forwarded <\/p>\n

Fast-forwarded footage of the crowd following girl group Twice’s Sana at Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul on Aug. 8 [SHIN HA-NEE]<\/p>\n

\u00a0
And that was only the beginning.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
Even after AHOF\u2019s fans shouted \u201cGoodbye\u201d and \u201cHave a safe flight,\u201d the crowd barely thinned. Roughly two-thirds of the crowd stayed put, with some standing on ladders and stools for a better view.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
Over the speakers, the airport repeated announcements warning against the thick crowd and the use of ladders, yet no one budged. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0
Soon enough, the full roster of SM Entertainment\u2019s acts began to arrive one by one, set to depart for Japan to perform at the SMTown 2025 Live concert in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"NCT <\/p>\n

NCT member Jisung is seen on his way to Tokyo, Japan, for the SMTown 2025 Live concert at Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul on Aug. 8.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
\u2018This will never change\u2019
\u00a0
While travelers seemed largely awed and intrigued by the rare sight, the airport\u2019s daily workers appeared far from impressed.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis happens almost every day, perhaps except for a day or two in a month,\u201d said an airport worker who spoke on condition of anonymity, as he wasn\u2019t authorized to comment publicly.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI hear there are constant complaints, a lot of them, but there\u2019s no solution to this,\u201d he said with a helpless laugh. \u201cThis will never change.\u201d
\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"Fans <\/p>\n

Fans are seen gathered outside the Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul on Aug. 8 [SHIN HA-NEE]<\/p>\n

\u00a0
True to his words, such a spectacle is almost a daily ritual at both Gimpo and Incheon International Airports, where K-pop artists constantly come and go for their packed overseas schedules \u2014 and so are the ever-present controversies that follow.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
In a livestream on fan platform Weverse on July 28, V directly addressed the issue, saying, \u201cAirports aren\u2019t private spaces. Everyone uses them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0
Earlier that month, the BTS member\u2019s outing at the Incheon International Airport, en route to Paris, drew a massive crowd that trailed him with smartphones raised.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"BTS <\/p>\n

BTS member V arrives at Incheon International Airport to leave the country for overseas schedule on July 4. [NEWS1] <\/p>\n

V mentioned the Purple Line campaign, a fan-led effort to voluntarily keep a safe distance from artists, urging, \u201cIf fans could help bring back that kind of orderly culture, I\u2019d really appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0
SM\u2019s rookie girl group Hearts2Hearts was also embroiled in a controversy back in March, when a traveler, unable to pass through the terminal due to the crowd, shouted in frustration, \u201cWe need to depart as well!\u201d with profanity, fueling online debate over the disruption caused by celebrities\u2019 airport appearances. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A bodyguard for girl group Hearts2Hearts is shown restraining a fan at Incheon International Airport, left, and a female fan posted pictures of bruises on her arms claiming that they were from a bodyguard for the group. [SCREEN CAPTURES]<\/p>\n

\u00a0
Roughly three months later, the girl group once again found itself in hot water, this time due to allegedly excessive action by security staff as a female fan claimed that a bodyguard had assaulted her. SM Entertainment countered that she was an obsessive fan, or a so-called sasaeng, which the fan denied.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
Airport turns mini runway
\u00a0
Long before the practice of fans flocking to airports for a glimpse of their idols was a media ritual that began in the early 2010s, where reporters photographed stars in so-called \u201cairport fashion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"NCT <\/p>\n

NCT member Renjun is seen on his way to Tokyo, Japan, for the SMTown 2025 Live concert at the Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul on Aug. 8. [NEWS1]<\/p>\n

Celebrities would arrive in impeccable style, treating the airport as informal runways, ultimately leading to sellouts of whatever they wore, which made the practice a crucial advertising opportunity for many brands. Reporters took it up a notch over the past decade, often launching livestreams of the scene hours before artists\u2019 arrival.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
Now, the airport runway is nearly a formal part of the promotional calendar. The dynamic escalated further when fans began securing arrival details through illicit channels \u2014 some of which were found to be operated by airline insiders in a recently uncovered case in March \u2014 to get a glimpse of their favorite stars.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"Boy <\/p>\n

Boy band AHOF is seen at the Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul on Aug. 8, on its way to Japan for promotional events. [NEWS1]<\/p>\n

While there have been fan-led campaigns urging others to avoid airport content back in the mid-to-late 2010s, the movement has largely fizzled, resurfacing only occasionally among a minority of fans.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
The rapid growth of K-pop\u2019s global fan base, idols\u2019 expanding brand ambassadorships, the influx of photographers seeking to meet fans\u2019 constant demand for images and the technological leaps in smartphone cameras created a perfect storm at airports, according to Kim Jung-won, an ethnomusicologist specializing in K-pop culture at Yonsei University.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
\u201cThe issue of sasaeng gained more attention before and after the lawsuit between JYJ and SM Entertainment [that began in 2009],\u201d Kim noted. \u201cIt seemed that such awareness and self-regulation among fans began to take root in the early 2010s and were increasingly promoted through the mid-2010s,\u201d which led to the fan-led movements of condemning airport and other personal life-related content.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
But the awareness, Kim added, was soon overtaken by K-pop\u2019s rapid transformation through the early 2020s.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
\u00a0
No resolution in sight?
\u00a0
The result is a combustible mix of swarming fans, reporters and aggressive security, which leads to frequent clashes that spark new controversies now and then.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
Most recently, HYBE\u2019s boy band Enhypen faced allegations of excessive force at an airport in Tokyo, after a video appeared to show a male manager swinging a rolled-up paper toward someone in the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
With such incidents repeating and no clear resolution in sight, entertainment agencies have begun taking a harder line against unruly behavior at airports.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
On Friday, SM Entertainment issued a statement on Weverse, warning that it would pursue legal action against sasaeng activities.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
\u201cDuring arrivals and departures at airports both in and outside Korea, order is being disrupted due to large crowds,\u201d said the agency. \u201cExcessive physical contact, attempts at conversation, delivering gifts and letters, and excessive filming can lead to safety accidents, so we ask you to refrain from such actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0
The most viable path to de-escalate the persistent security concerns may lie in voluntary action from within the fandoms themselves, Kim noted.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
\u201cBTS fandom ARMY\u2019s Purple Line campaign seemed truly promising, but it has faded as of late,\u201d Kim said. \u201cI believe it is crucial to bring the issue into public discourse, shining a light on the perspectives of all parties involved in the issue.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
\u00a0 <\/p>\n

BY SHIN HA-NEE [[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fast-forwarded footage of the crowd following boy band AHOF at Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul on Aug.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-63900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}