Former AOA member Youkyung shares clarification after writing ambiguous post

[rockerista03.livejournal.com]

Former #AOA Member #Youkyung Shares Clarification After Writing Ambiguous Post https://t.co/YSXWe869uu pic.twitter.com/54t1wPr9M4

— Soompi (@soompi) July 6, 2020

AOA’s former member Youkyung has written to clarify the meaning behind her post on Friday.

On July 3, former AOA member Mina shared several posts on Instagram in which she said that Jimin had continuously bullied and tormented her during her years in the group. After posting an apology, Jimin has now left the group.

Following Mina’s initial posts, Youkyung took to her own Instagram to share a photo with writing on it that reads, “The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is give up on today.”

Youkyung wrote in the caption in Korean, “To be honest, everything looked exactly the same to me back then.” She continued in English, “I can’t forget the eyes of the bystanders.”

She then added lyrics from the song “Leave It All Behind” by Sleeping with Sirens, “I wanna kill the pain I feel inside. But I won’t quit for the people I love.
So I’ll say I’m fine until the day I fucking see the light.” She added in Korean, “Like the lyrics to the song I listened to yesterday, I need to get through everything again.”

There was much speculation about the content of her message and its possible relation to Mina’s story. Youkyung has since edited the post to remove the first section before the lyrics, and she added a clarification that the photo isn’t herself, noting that even her parents had been confused.

On July 6, Youkyung posted again on Instagram with the following clarification about her post:

Hello. This is Youkyung.

I think the ambiguous post that I uploaded on my feed has caused some confusion, so I’m writing again.

I apologize for uploading a post that was too ambiguous. A memory that I’d been determined to bury and that I’d been forgetting little by little suddenly came back to me, and so in the heat of the moment I got angry.

So I think that I had the childish feeling of wanting to timidly express to you all that I had also had a hard time.

It seems that in the past, I was having such a hard time even just on my own that I wasn’t even able to look around at my surroundings. So I think I was just looking at my struggling self. I couldn’t even have guessed that someone else was in the same situation. So I want to sincerely say that I’m sorry. And I want to share my support and say that you endured it well.

I’m okay now. Because I have voices who are always cheering me on. Up until now, I’ve lived life thinking that there was absolutely nothing that would protect me and that the only thing I had was my drums in my studio.

However, that wasn’t true. I’ve come to realize that there are so many precious people who love me. That’s all I need. It’s enough.

I would once again like to take this opportunity to apologize sincerely to everyone was hurt by my impulsive actions and post. I also want to show support by saying, “We’ve all done a good job at getting through a hard time, let’s get up the courage again and have strength.”

I ask you to please refrain from saying hurtful things that make myself and everyone unhappy. Also, I’m always sincerely thankful to everyone who supports me.

2020.07.06
Youkyung


Source: Naver (1, 2) via Soompi, @soompi, drrrr.youkyung (1, 2)

Comments

[sra-interesante.livejournal.com]

mmmhhh.. well, netizens serm to believe she's writing to Mina and when she writes 'we' she meant 'Mina & myself' but im glad she can clearify this


i hope they both can heal now,maybe knowing they have each other can help 💜

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

It's still a little vague but I hope people don't come at her for not sharing more about potentially triggering/harmful memories. She shouldn't have to relive these just to satisfy netizens' hunger for drama.

But this definitively hints at Mina not being the only victim of bullying in AOA, and the bullying being made so the victims would feel lonely/isolated.

There are several sentences that seem to address Mina, like "you endured it well" (a little awkward when translated but I guess it makes more sense in Korean?) and "we've all done a good job at getting through hard times". I hope they're able to reach out/show support to each other in private if they want to.

[senshicalico.livejournal.com]

it would be so easy to make her (youkung) feel that way too, as the one already separated from most of the group's concept. Obviously we don't know what happened unless she wants to share (and she has no obligation to) but when I thought of bullying in the group she was one of the first I thought of as an obvious potential target :\

Does AOA win the award for most toxic group among members in kpop yet? Nah, I'm probably blocking from memory some other awful one. (T-ARA seems too obvious, lol)

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

I thought about Choa and her almost immediatly, and hoped they wouldn't get too much unsollicited attention drawn on them.

Most toxic that we know off...
And that's not really comforting.

After School could be on the list, Kahi herself said terrible things about how she would behave to newer members before trying to pretend she actually was the bullied one...

But about T-Ara, it wasn't bullying in the end. Still sad how their company seriously mismanaged them.

[horichansenpai.livejournal.com]

Considering she was an FNC trainee for a shorter period and didn't spend a lot of time with the group as a member (especially when FNC threw her in the dungeon and let her go to waste stopped promoting her), the thought of her still going through such a traumatic experience is scary.

She looks more at ease in her YouTube videos at least. I hope she's doing fine and that fans remember to support her too.

[radowan.livejournal.com]

I rly hope that ppl don't press her to share more if she's not ready, because opening up is a process and if something's incredibly traumatic you might be able to only tolerate releasing it a bit by bit.

That said: fuck FNC and fuck Jimin.

[adaptive-menace.livejournal.com]

Jimin was one of my first biases in kpop, so this is definitely hard.

but much harder for anyone who suffered abuse/bullying.

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

I'm glad she's speaking out and hope she's doing well ❤️

also OT but she's SO cute in that pic with the pigtails

[myungung.livejournal.com]

I feel like her follow up post was trying to not add more pressure/focus on herself, but it seems likely that she probably suffered