SM Entertainment has finally published a statement that fans have longed to hear and its addressing the concerning sasaeng behavior against their artists.
SM artists suffer from outrageous cases of sasaeng [obsessive so-called fans who stalk their idols and invade their privacy] behavior.
On July 16, SM announced via an official statement that such actions will no longer be tolerated and while they have been taking strict action against defamation and malicious comments, they will no longer overlook the excessive invasion of their artists’ privacy from sasaengs and will be taking stric legal action.
“The sasaeng invasion of privacy of our artists will no longer be tolerated, but will be dealt with sternly.
The reckless stalking by sasaengs is causing serious mental and physical harm to our artists, family members, neighbors, and others, actions such as following artists via sasaengs taxi, commuting to and from military service, finding out where to live, sending parcels where the sender cannot be identified, this is not an expression of affectionate fan sentiment, but an illegal act that violates the privacy of artists and others and is a clear criminal act. According to the recently enacted Act on the Punishment, etc. of Stalking Crimes, criminal punishment can also be imposed.
In order to protect our artists, we will abandon the tolerant attitude we have maintained about sasaengs and take firm and strong legal action without leniency or agreement. We already have a lot of relevant evidence such as CCTV, black box footage, photos/video footage, communication records, mail, e-mail, etc., and will continue to secure relevant evidence, and we will take all civil and criminal legal measures based on this.”
They wrapped up their statement by asking the sasaengs to stop what they’re doing.
Fans are glad that SM has changed their stance on this issue, EXO, NCT and more of their artists have been complaining about sasaengs for a very long time.
Source: (A)
