(Pann-choa)[enter-talk] I'M LEE HYUNJOO'S YOUNGER BROTHER *TW SUICIDE*

[CannotBNamed]

Hello, this is Lee Hyunjoo nuna's little brother. 

I never thought that I would have to come here again to write this. 

But after seeing what nuna's company and April members' acquaintances have said and the despiteful texts that my parents received, I realized that they will not take any responsibility over this.

Because they failed to be specific about any of the reasons, my nuna is the only one who ended up looking like a weird person, so I am here to lay out all the concrete facts.

First of all, I will address the company's statement saying "at the time of APRIL’s formation, Hyunjoo wanted to be an actress, but after we persuaded her, she and her family agreed she would be part of the group".

However, my sister was already bullied before her debut during her trainee life. She has told the company many times that she will not make her debut with the team, but the company told her to take a few days off, think about it and eventually persuaded her to join. 

I thought that if we could go back to this process (t/n: of training), the bullying of the members will eventually get better. 
I still remember that the company sent her choreography videos and she didn't want to become a burden on the other members so she practiced alone in her room. 

This is why it's not that my sister said that she didn't want to become an actress, that she couldn't do it because of bullying. 

 

It was also said ‘Ever since her debut was confirmed, Hyunjoo hasn’t been able to faithfully participate in the team activities because she has been struggling with physical and mental problems.’ It was because the reality was so different from what she has originally pictured when she thought that by going back in the group, her bullying by the members would get better. 

 

Rather, it got way worse than before, and as she endured the frustrating situation on her own, she was conflicted with thoughts of not being able to go back with her own choice and having no shelter she could escape the pain even for a while. As she endured all this, her body abnormalities started to surface more and more. 

 

Then, during the schedules and practices, my sister often passed out on the way to work, and members and managers who knew that she was sick did not take her to the hospital in those instances, rather, they just left my nuna in her state.

 

Eventually, she suffered from shortness of breath and a lot of pain, so she worked hard to visit as many hospitals as she could to receive treatment.

 

Moreover, if she eats those medications, she would often fall asleep, so in order to fulfil her promotions, schedules and practices, she wouldn't take any of her medications to not interfere with them. 

 

With these hardships considered, if they still claim that my nuna wasn't sincere, how was my nuna who wasn't even able to live like a normal person supposed to do...?

I just want to convey how cool my nuna was to be able to endure all this and how sorry I felt towards her

 

The company also said "Everyone was going through rough times, and based on the circumstances at the time, it was clear that no one could be considered a perpetrator or victim." Which is utterly not right. 

 

Whether it's bullying or harassment, my nuna has told the company about all of it many times. I can share all of the things that was said phrase by phrase, but if they have at least a minimum sense of guilt, I bet that the April members are all aware of what happened back then.

 

So please admit it and apologize.

We can clearly distinguish who is the perpetrator and who is the victim here. 

 

In addition, it was said, ‘Hyunjoo ultimately expressed that she wanted to leave the group during the “Tinkerbell” promotions. We tried to dissuade her, but she was adamant.’ Here again, there are way too many things omitted. 

 

When nuna was in the hospital, the hospital told the company that it would only hurt her more if she decided to continue promoting with April members as it is, and the company asked my nuna to decide whether to stay with the team or leave altogether.

 

My nuna told them to let her take a break for a few months, but the company said it wasn't possible, so she ultimately decided to withdraw.

However, through the company's persuasion, she ended up promoting Tinker Bell with them once again.

 

At that time, the bullying was getting worse and worse and my nuna couldn't bear it anymore. She just wanted to run away from it.

She couldn't cope with the hardships of living with them in their dorms, so she slept on the floor of the company lounge, showered at the company, and promoted Tinker Bell like that. 

 

The schedule ended and nuna came back to my family's hometown and cried loudly and talked about the events that had happened all this time.

 

On that same day, someone left rotten kimbap in [the group's] car's seat, she had to clean it up and spray perfume in it because of the bad smell and the members who came in the car later with the manager all started complaining about the smell, got angry and swore at her. 

 

After experiencing all these overwhelming things, my nuna couldn't bear with it anymore so she tried to commit suicide.

Even so, the company came all the way to the hospital to look for my nuna and told her that "we have a schedule today, let's go".

My sister told them that she couldn't do any of this anymore and decided to leave the team at that moment.

 

The company sent us a flower wreath with money and even a letter apologizing so there is no way that the company nor the members aren't aware of this.

 

However, all of these facts were omitted in their official statement and anyone can misunderstand that my nuna was the one who lacked sincerity so she became a burden to the team and acted like a troublemaker. 

 

And seeing that the company made a second statement about this, I just had so much to say.

 

First of all, there was another person who was secretly getting bullied before my nuna arrived. My nuna knew about the victim and she was the one wo took care of her. And the reality is that it's because of that that the bullying grew since then. 

 

And I can remember vividly what my nuna's tumbler looked like.

It was a red tumbler gifted by my deceased grandmother, and my nuna's name tag was on it.

 

[The company] claiming that there were around 40-50 tumblers in their dorm is simply ridiculous. 

 

And I don't know whether it was cheonggukjang or soybean paste that was put in her tumbler, but instead of apologizing, the members just told her "can we just buy you another one and get over with it?" and they told my sister to eat it and put it back at its place.

 

However, the tumbler was left in the refrigerator for a long time, so the employee of the company scolded her after seeing her name written on the tumbler, and eventually my nuna was the one who had to clean the refrigerator. 

 

Regarding the shoe case, it's true that the shoes were gifted to the members by the company.

 

There were a total of six pairs, one pair per member, and the member and nuna's shoes were of different designs.

Because the sizes were relatively the same, the members got to choose the shoes first and my nuna ended up with the leftovers. 

 

However, from a certain moment onwards, a certain member was seen always wearing my nuna's shoes. My nuna asked the member about it since it looked like her shoes and the member said that she bought it. 

 

So when my nuna asked if she could check the shoes since she labelled it with her name, she found out that it was actually her shoes. 

 

What I want to say is that it is not a simple happening that happened due to misunderstanding.

She hasn't even received a proper apology, and there were instances like that that happened so often that I can't write all of them down. 

 

The fact that the company stated they didn't know all the swears and the kind of life she left before the broadcast(?) just make them look like bystanders. 

 

As mentioned above, my nuna and my family have complained about her bullying and suffering to the company several times.

 

If they claimed they didn't know about this, then who was bullying my sister?

If there were no perpetrators, why did my nuna have to suffer alone all this time?

Please reflect on yourself and apologize.

 

And it's true that the manager who lived with her was just a spectator.

After taking an extreme decision, my mom went to the company and was told that the members were reflecting on it.

However, after holding her conversation with the company, on her way out, my mom saw themembers and the members didn't even greet her and just laughed at her. 

 

At that time, the company said that they would send the members to our house to apologize, but upon their apology, they never told my mom they would reflect and didn't apologize for harassing my nuna either. Even though they knew about my nuna's hardship, they didn't even apologize for it. They didn't greet my mom at the company so my mom said that she didn't want to accept the apology.

 

I'm so upset that all of this made my nuna look like a fool in the end.

 

Ever since she was young, my nuna loved singing, dancing and acting, she wanted to become a celebrity and appear on TV and worked so hard towards her goal. I was so proud to see her be able to realize her dreams.

 

But when I found out what my nuna went through, I became so mad, but I was so young back then that I couldn't think of any ways to help her. 

 

Even now, my nuna makes me so proud of her.

And all I feel is regret for not being able to help her. 

 

My nuna still feels sorry towards my parents for her suicide attempt even now, but she's been "playfully" (t/n: a bit hard to translate 우스갯소리) mentioning that her dream is to stay healthy, and is working hard towards living a long fulfilling life. 

My nuna is a respected hero, a teacher and a parent-figure to me. 

I hope you learn  the truth through this so that my nuna can finally realize her dreams comfortably and not be hurt anymore.

 

I will attach my sister's hospital data at the bottom of the post.

 

(t/n: OP finishes the post saying how he doesn't want Hyunjoo to hurt anymore and that all she ever wanted was an apology. He warns agains secondary assault from the members. He also pleads to not re-open the painful memories for Hyunjoo)

 

 

post response:

[4,840][-26]

original post: here

 

1. [+1,934, -3]

Kids, please send me to the best comments. Drug intoxication means [Korean equivalent] and F190 is the disorder/illness code used in the event of suicide with mental and behavioral disorders caused by acute intoxication of multiple drug use and other psychoactive substances;

 

2. [+1,614, -3]

In the end everyone was aware of it, but they're still treating this case so shamelessly, which will end up hurting Hyunjoo and her family again... Even the acquaintances witness accounts were all true... Please apologize already and don't show yourself on TV anymore... I thank the dongsaeng gathered the courage to post again and please find strength. I hope you receive your apology 

 

3. [+1,261, -6]

A day difference between this article was released and the above medical record

"April's side "Member Hyunjoo, temporary break due to health reason"

4. [+723, -2]

The dongsaeng is only a 04'erㅜ  He's so young yet he's being a reliable person to his nuna. Thank you for finding courage again~

 

5. [+709, -1]

Does the dongsaeng know that PD Note is investigating these right now? 

 

 

Source:https://pann-choa.blogspot.com/2021/03/enter-talk-im-lee-hyunjoos-younger.html

[Hizu]

DSP... I'm speechless.

 

[KentasGlittery EyeMakeup]

Her brother is a baby. He's so strong to fight for her like this, especially after other people tried to refute his claims with lies. He came in with irrefutable proofs.

[cheolbong supremacy]

7 minutes ago, KentasGlittery EyeMakeup said:

Her brother is a baby. He's so strong to fight for her like this, especially after other people tried to refute his claims with lies. He came in with irrefutable proofs.

I'm so glad that she at least has her family fighting for her. It seems like she was so alone all this time in DSP with no one on her side. 

[cheolbong supremacy]

My only solace in this is that knetz are very strongly on Hyunjoo's side and have not let other statements shaming her sway them. 

I hope she can come back from this, stronger as an artist, and happier as a person.

As for APRIL, they drove someone to suicide with relentless bullying. That is murder. I don't see them ever coming back from this and they (aside from the poor two members that were added in later) deserve it. 

Edited March 2, 2021 by cheolbong supremacy

[Ghosty]

i'm glad hyunjoo has someone fighting for her. 

[abra]

This should be the end of not just April but DSP too, that's much worse than I ever would have imagined

I hope Hyunjoo is feeling better these days

[Danee Danee]

Her brother is brave soul for being only 17yo. Hope Hyunjoo herself is ok now tbh since she is out of the group for several years and the story was told just now and through him. I just hope her health didnt get worse. 

I also wnder what DSP is going to say now. The medical report itself is enough to bury both April and Kard as well as Future Boys as group which is about to debut (if they dont postpone it by A LOT).

The another member who was bullied before Hyunjoo and Hyunjoo's predebut... It leaves even worse taste tbh. Especially with the death of Sojin not that long before April's debut... One would expect that at this time DSP would take special care about mental health of their artists and trainees a bit at least around that time. 

Also hope people will stop bringing T-ARA into this now since back then Hwayoung never ever claimed to actually be bullied. Neither her sister did. Everything was only in minds of netizens and she just used the situation for her gain. Here we have her closest actually claiming Hyunjoo was suffering and even bringing proofs of suicide attempt. Trying to cover this behind "we dont want another T-ARA" is wrong. 

In this case it seems like the members should really apologize and seriously reflect over their actions. Even if the bullying was only act of ignorance of their young age from their side as they were trying to imply. Unless the medical report was proven to be fake, it seems like they hurt her a lot. And hurting someone to this point shouldnt be just shrugged off. 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Danee Danee

[bustahjoong]

dude, yikes

[BlueVapor]

4 minutes ago, Danee Danee said:

Her brother is brave soul for being only 17yo. Hope Hyunjoo herself is ok now tbh since she is out of the group for several years and the story was told just now and through him. I just hope her health didnt get worse. 

I also wnder what DSP is going to say now. The medical report itself is enough to bury both April and Kard as well as Future Boys as group which is about to debut (if they dont postpone it by A LOT). 

Also hope people will stop bringing T-ARA into this now since back then Hwayoung never ever claimed to actually be bullied. Neither her sister did. Everything was only in minds of netizens and she just used the situation for her gain. Here we have her closest actually claiming Hyunjoo was suffering and even bringing proofs of suicide attempt. Trying to cover this behind "we dont want another T-ARA" is wrong. 

In this case it seems like the members should really apologize and seriously reflect over their actions. Even if the bullying was only act of ignorance of their young age from their side as they were trying to imply. Unless the medical report was proven to be fake, it seems like they hurt her a lot. 

Thank you! I'm getting tired of people comparing this situation to T-ara's case in 2012, they are not at all the same situation.

[Nero_Kpop]

deleted

Edited March 3, 2021 by Nero_Kpop

[cheolbong supremacy]

13 minutes ago, Danee Danee said:

Her brother is brave soul for being only 17yo. Hope Hyunjoo herself is ok now tbh since she is out of the group for several years and the story was told just now and through him. I just hope her health didnt get worse. 

I also wnder what DSP is going to say now. The medical report itself is enough to bury both April and Kard as well as Future Boys as group which is about to debut (if they dont postpone it by A LOT).

The another member who was bullied before Hyunjoo and Hyunjoo's predebut... It leaves even worse taste tbh. Especially with the death of Sojin not that long before April's debut... One would expect that at this time DSP would take special care about mental health of their artists and trainees a bit at least around that time. 

Also hope people will stop bringing T-ARA into this now since back then Hwayoung never ever claimed to actually be bullied. Neither her sister did. Everything was only in minds of netizens and she just used the situation for her gain. Here we have her closest actually claiming Hyunjoo was suffering and even bringing proofs of suicide attempt. Trying to cover this behind "we dont want another T-ARA" is wrong. 

In this case it seems like the members should really apologize and seriously reflect over their actions. Even if the bullying was only act of ignorance of their young age from their side as they were trying to imply. Unless the medical report was proven to be fake, it seems like they hurt her a lot. And hurting someone to this point shouldnt be just shrugged off. 

Bless you. The "b-but T-ara!" get-out-of-jail card needs to stop being used. This is totally different.

[A h n]

I feel so bad for Hyunjoo, her brother and their family...

1 hour ago, CannotBNamed said:

After experiencing all these overwhelming things, my nuna couldn't bear with it anymore so she tried to commit suicide.

Even so, the company came all the way to the hospital to look for my nuna and told her that "we have a schedule today, let's go".

This has left me speechless. Fuck DSP and fuck April

[Crescent]

Very sincerely fuck DSP at this point they've already been involved in two situations like this that ended the worst way possible and looks like it's still happening within the label

[starsocks]

I can't believe an 04er has to stand up for her : (

[rananicolee]

DSP is trash. 

[GetRapper]

I didn't think of linking Baby KARA Sojin and Hyunjoo's situation with DSP, I feel for her and her family.

DSP is finished: April, KARD, the new boy group, all of them. I hope my girl Youngji, Rachel and Chaekyoung and last but not least Hyunjoo find happiness.

[planetaria]

1 hour ago, Nero_Kpop said:

I still fail to see the bullying, she was having a hard time keeping up and the relationship was probably hard, but not being kind and supportive doesn't make you a bad person unless there are threats, insults or harassment it's not bullying.

I'll agree that the company indecisiveness (lazyness) made things worse

in another statement, i believe it was either the brother’s or the friend’s, that mentioned that they would harass her verbally and make fun of her as well as intentionally leaving her out of everything. hell, you can go back to old april vlogs and see that it’s always the same members holding cameras away from hyunjoo or giving little to no reactions when she’s doing stuff. the fact that they messed up with her things (the stinky tumbler, the rotten food, the stolen shoes) AND made her deal with the consequences is very much bully behavior to me. they went out of their way to make her feel uncomfortable. 

[rowanokke]

Im an 04 as well and i could never gather enough strength to stand up against a huge company like this. I'm so proud of him for standing up for his sister and doing whats right. I really hope he doesn't get his family in serious legal trouble. 

I'm so confused on what to feel with about april. Idols really fake their entire personalities huh.. 

[Aphrodisiac]

3 hours ago, Nero_Kpop said:

I still fail to see the bullying, she was having a hard time keeping up and the relationship was probably hard, but not being kind and supportive doesn't make you a bad person unless there are threats, insults or harassment it's not bullying.

I'll agree that the company indecisiveness (lazyness) made things worse

My brain just died a little reading this comment

[A Hamster Named Loneliness]

5 hours ago, Danee Danee said:

Her brother is brave soul for being only 17yo. Hope Hyunjoo herself is ok now tbh since she is out of the group for several years and the story was told just now and through him. I just hope her health didnt get worse. 

I also wnder what DSP is going to say now. The medical report itself is enough to bury both April and Kard as well as Future Boys as group which is about to debut (if they dont postpone it by A LOT).

The another member who was bullied before Hyunjoo and Hyunjoo's predebut... It leaves even worse taste tbh. Especially with the death of Sojin not that long before April's debut... One would expect that at this time DSP would take special care about mental health of their artists and trainees a bit at least around that time. 

Also hope people will stop bringing T-ARA into this now since back then Hwayoung never ever claimed to actually be bullied. Neither her sister did. Everything was only in minds of netizens and she just used the situation for her gain. Here we have her closest actually claiming Hyunjoo was suffering and even bringing proofs of suicide attempt. Trying to cover this behind "we dont want another T-ARA" is wrong. 

In this case it seems like the members should really apologize and seriously reflect over their actions. Even if the bullying was only act of ignorance of their young age from their side as they were trying to imply. Unless the medical report was proven to be fake, it seems like they hurt her a lot. And hurting someone to this point shouldnt be just shrugged off. 

I don't see how KARD will get buried considering they still have BM, Jiwoo, and J.Seph. Like they literally have nothing to do with the situation--why not just kick Somin out if she was involved and have her replaced? BM currently is promoting merchandise for his anti-bullying campaign, too, and he's really passionate about it (plus he was the one who came up with Gunshot, which is about toxic relationships and how words can hurt). 

 

I'm also wondering who was the victim before Hyunjoo, because the brother mentioned that there was someone else secretly getting bullied before Hyunjoo came along and then she became the victim while trying to defend the other trainee. 

Edited March 3, 2021 by A Hamster Named Loneliness

[A Hamster Named Loneliness]

3 hours ago, GetRapper said:

I didn't think of linking Baby KARA Sojin and Hyunjoo's situation with DSP, I feel for her and her family.

DSP is finished: April, KARD, the new boy group, all of them. I hope my girl Youngji, Rachel and Chaekyoung and last but not least Hyunjoo find happiness.

Why are BM, Jiwoo, and J.Seph also getting dragged into this? They weren't involved. BM came to Korea in 2011 but he has mentioned that because of his bad Korean skills he didn't hang out with the other Korean trainees very much (it's typical of Korean-American trainees to prefer to hang out with each other because they feel their English is stronger than their Korean). They shouldn't be getting hated on just because one of their members was a bully. BM is also running an anti-bullying campaign and has been promoting his anti-bullying merchandise (previously he had his Big Tiddy Committee campaign to raise breast cancer awareness) any way he can (though if Somin has bought his merchandise, especially as a fellow member, that would make her a big hypocrite). 

Edited March 3, 2021 by A Hamster Named Loneliness

[sakurahanabira]

3 hours ago, GetRapper said:

I didn't think of linking Baby KARA Sojin and Hyunjoo's situation with DSP, I feel for her and her family.

DSP is finished: April, KARD, the new boy group, all of them. I hope my girl Youngji, Rachel and Chaekyoung and last but not least Hyunjoo find happiness.

The rest of KARD have nothing to do with what's going on though? If you listen to the Get Real podcast BM's shown that he has a big and caring heart. Unless you mean that what's going on is going to affect all DSP groups outside of April regardless of whether they were involved or not. 

[GetRapper]

4 minutes ago, A Hamster Named Loneliness said:

Why are BM, Jiwoo, and J.Seph also getting dragged into this? They weren't involved. BM came to Korea in 2011 but he has mentioned that because of his bad Korean skills he didn't hang out with the other Korean trainees very much (it's typical of Korean-American trainees to prefer to hang out with each other because they feel their English is stronger than their Korean). They shouldn't be getting hated on just because one of their members was a bully. 

I agree and they shouldn't be dragged, but I can't see the group recovering from this without being released from their contract or disbanding. It's a shame too, because I liked BM and Somin's interactions a lot.

[A Hamster Named Loneliness]

20 minutes ago, GetRapper said:

I agree and they shouldn't be dragged, but I can't see the group recovering from this without being released from their contract or disbanding. It's a shame too, because I liked BM and Somin's interactions a lot.

I mean, they could always replace Somin with someone else, can't they? I'm also wondering just to what extent Somin bullied her--all the friend said was that "former April member Somin hated Hyunjoo and started bullying her" and that "Chaewon told Somin false things about Hyunjoo to get on her side" and then everything else happened while Hyunjoo was an April member (remember that Somin left the group right at debut). Her friend gave examples of how the other members bullied her but with Somin it was just "Somin hated Hyunjoo and started bullying her". 

Edited March 3, 2021 by A Hamster Named Loneliness