Recently, CEO Kim Kwang Soo appeared on the show Let’s go and revealed the truth behind T-ara’s shocking bullying scandal. The CEO said he stands by the original members of T-ara. Kim Kwang Soo knew Hwayoung’s true nature but chose to remain silent out of concern for her future. Since T-ara did nothing wrong, she allowed the group to continue their activities as usual. However, this decision backfired, leading to T-ara being shunned by the public for a long time.
In 2021, netizens were surprised by the shocking “twist” in the scandal of AOA members accused of bullying Mina. Based on many posts denouncing Mina as “the other woman,” who overreacts on social media, crossing boundaries, netizens recently “switched sides” to defend AOA.
Overall, this scandal has many similarities to the T-ara scandal years ago. In the end, both victims were gradually exposed to their true behaviors, but the two groups of girls still have to suffer the injustice until the end.
Act as victims and destroy their former groups
On July 3, 2020, more than a year after her decision to leave the group, Mina suddenly made a post on Instagram and revealed that she had been bullied for 10 years when she was in AOA. As a result, he once attempted suicide due to depression but failed.
Based on Mina’s accusations, fans quickly “inspected” and called out Jimin for being the bully Mina was talking about. At the same time, ChoA, Seolhyun and the others were also accused of being bystanders, seeing their partner being bullied without speaking up.
Subsequently, Mina continuously shared long posts on her Instagram. He revealed that Jimin and other AOA members had come to his house and asked for forgiveness, so he accepted their apology and wished to end the dispute. Mina also said that the AOA leader was less than sincere in apologizing.
Mina’s words successfully infuriated and made the audience turn away from Jimin and the other AOA members. Netizens continued to call for Jimin to leave the group. The other members also faced a lot of criticism for being spectators.
As a result, just over a week later, Jimin officially withdrew from the AOA and faced a boycott from the public. The other members also had to suspend their activities for a long time.
This AOA scandal reminds many people of T-ara’s bullying scandal in 2012. Based on T-ara members’ implicit captions on social media, netizens immediately speculated and spread many pictures to prove that Hwayoung was a victim of bullying by T-ara members. . Without any clear evidence, netizens quickly placed the blame on the remaining 6 members and pitied the “victim” Hwayoung.
Many fans turned their backs on the members of T-ara, causing their promotion plans to end earlier than expected. All brands represented by T-ara canceled their contracts one by one. Some members who were in the middle of filming were removed from the projects they were taking part in. From the peak of their career with many big hits and high coverage, T-ara were suddenly labeled as a “bully” group and ended up having their career ruined.
Being “revealed” in their true personality: one person is called a “viper”, the other is a lover who carries the label of false victim
On 8 September Dispatch officially spoke out to expose the falsity of the “second T-ara scandal” with the conclusion“Mina is a victim of Jimin, but Mina can also be a detriment.”
Specifically, this news site released a 128-minute recording and reconciliation messages between Mina and the group members, especially Jimin. As a result, the former leader apologized to Mina sincerely many times, but it was Mina who persistently asked Jimin to remember the mistakes he had made. After all, this is an infinite “reconciliation” between someone who doesn’t remember what they did wrong and someone who doesn’t accept an apology.
Furthermore, the truth about Mina’s personality is gradually revealed. Two historical managers of the group have admitted that Mina is really scary and extremely sensitive. At the same time, a video published in 2017 denouncing Mina’s convex attitude was also “resurrected”.
The video was published by a Chilean YouTuber. He shared his thoughts on AOA members when he collaborated with them on the group’s MV “Heart Attack.” When it comes to Mina, he feels that she is very selfish, usually goes against the grain, always alienates everyone and doesn’t say hello to anyone. The “victim” of the bullying scandal is not inherently kind, but rather a mean, arrogant, and harsh person towards everyone.
Furthermore, the fact that Mina was accused of robbing someone else’s lover also caused a stir among netizens. She admitted that she is the third person in someone else’s love story, but did not forget to play the role of the victim who blames her boyfriend for being cheated on. The half-hearted attitude despite admitting that it was wrong, but it wasn’t his fault, and at the same time, the repetition of the old bullying incident with Jimin had made people doubt the AOA scandal that year.
Recently, he also constantly bored the audience by constantly mentioning the case of bullying by Jimin, although the story has long since passed and the former AOA leader has gradually become more secretive. Mina’s attitude of always being the victim made netizens hate her at the same time, saying that she was the source of the scandal that year, and Jimin was the one who suffered the most.
Similarly, Hwayoung from the role of the victim was gradually exposed as the real villain. She’s the lazy one who pretends to have an injured leg to avoid performing or curses other members for no reason, even her sister once sent a message threatening to “scratch” Ahreum just because he was a member who made Hwayoung uncomfortable.
In addition, there are countless other actions such as quitting before the show, taking advantage of the old group’s fame while preparing for a comeback, showing a harsh attitude towards T-ara on her SNS, or often pretending to be a victim in front to the camera… All of Hwayoung’s aforementioned sass made netizens indignantly call her a “viper snake.”
The public finally had a day to “admire” the true faces of Mina and Hwayoung. They were bullied, but ultimately turned out to be the source of everything. Both Mina and Hwayoung took merciful actions to win the public’s sympathy, causing their group to immediately receive heavy criticism and curses from the public.
AOA lost talented leader Jimin. Before that, the group was on the rise and had a stable performance with a series of hits such as Like A Cat, Heart Attack, Good Luck… However, precisely because of this unnecessary bullying scandal, the group missed many opportunities and gradually became sporadic. Lead singer Yuna also left in early 2021. AOA is in danger of disbanding.
T-ara has definitely lost the glory of the best Kpop group. Despite being vindicated and continuing to work hard, the group still failed to regain its reputation. Members Soyeon and Boram were also looking forward to the day when they could hold the trophy with the rest of the members again and decided to leave. T-ara is a painful and unfortunate scar in Kbiz.
In 2024, the four members of T-ara, Eunjung, Qri, Hyomin and Jiyeon, successfully held the “T-ARA 15 ANNIVERSARY FANMEETING” at the Broadway Theater in Macao. This event not only attracted fans’ attention as it marked the 15th anniversary of T-ara’s debut, but also brought special attention to the youngest member, Jiyeon, following the news of her divorce.
