On August 8, SM Entertainment released a statement saying, "Yesterday, a post threatening the safety of Winter appeared on an online community. We immediately reported the author of the post to the police and requested prompt investigation."
The previous day, an anonymous post surfaced on an online community threatening to kill aespa's Winter with a weapon. The post has since been deleted. aespa, who were scheduled to depart for the U.S. via Incheon International Airport on the 8th, increased their security measures. Winter and the other members of aespa departed safely.
The agency added, "We strengthened our security forces and, with the cooperation of airport police, ensured aespa's safe departure today. The police, having received several reports recently, visited our company's office yesterday and today to check on the security and safety measures."
Recently, there has been a growing fear of random acts of violence among citizens due to consecutive incidents involving weapons near Seoul's Sillim and Seohyeon stations.
Online communities are seeing a surge in death threats. According to the National Investigation Headquarters of the Korean National Police Agency, by 6 p.m. on the 7th, they identified 194 death threat posts nationwide, arresting 65 authors of which 3 have been detained. Of those arrested, 52.3% (34 individuals) were teenagers under 20. Most of them claimed they wrote the death threats as a "joke."
Law enforcement agencies have signaled strict responses, including arrest investigations, for consecutive weapon-related incidents and death threat crimes. As death threats online become rampant, even targeting ordinary citizens, the entertainment industry finds itself in an increasingly tense situation.
