After Big Hit Music and SM Entertainment, which have already announced actions to shield their artists from malicious attacks on the internet, now it’s KQ Entertainment‘s turn. The agency responsible for the K-Pop group ATEEZ announced last Thursday. October 27th, that it will take legal action against sasaengs, a term widely used in South Korea to define the “obsessed fans”, who most often go beyond limits and do not respect the privacy of artists.
Through a statement, released by the Soompi website, the agency stated that, due to a continuous invasion of privacy that its artists have suffered (in addition to the attacks), measures are already being taken.
The agency revealed that a tracking device was discovered in a vehicle used for ATEEZ activities and warns that strong legal action will be taken against the culprit who planted the device.
KQ Entertainment Announces Strong Legal Action Against Invasion Of #ATEEZ's Privacyhttps://t.co/qEbGnMRPAI pic.twitter.com/bmWSKTkteS
— Soompi (@soompi) October 28, 2021
“Hello. This is KQ Entertainment.
We would like to thank the fans who always value and support ATEEZ.
Previously we made several announcements about fan club etiquette and prohibited fans from visiting artists during their scheduled private activities and in private spaces, but incidents of invasion of privacy by illegal means continued to occur.
Furthermore, behaviors that cross the line, such as following artists into their private activities and into private areas simply for their own benefit, despite staff’s attempts to detain them, hampered the company’s business and caused artists psychological distress.
C
The company recently discovered that someone had attached a tracking device to the artist’s work vehicle and illegally collected information about its location.
We spoke with the local police station, which is now tracking the culprit and there will be no leniency or negotiation regarding punishment.
Going forward, with respect to all behavior that violates the privacy of our artists, we will apply legal measures in addition to the existing ‘blacklist’ system, and these people will be excluded from all fan participation events and activities without prior notice.
We are also receiving tips via email to end the violation of our artists’ private lives, so we ask fans for their cooperation.
We ask once again for the safety of ATEEZ and its fans and an orderly and proper fan culture, therefore we sincerely request your cooperation.
Thanks.“
