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Sasaeng fans sneaking into BTS’ hotel rooms? What are sasaengs and why are they dangerous?
There have been innumerable instances of idols being traumatized and attacked by sasaeng fans. Who exactly are these sasaengs?
All fans of K-Pop idols dream of being noticed by their favourite artists. However some fans take it a little too far. The Korean word ‘sasaenghwal’ means personal life. Deriving from this word, “sasaeng fans” means fans who interfere with celebrities’ personal lives. The age range of sasaeng fans is not limited to teenage girls or boys and can actually extend to fully grown adults with day jobs and families. Right off the bat, there is a sense of extremity, danger and violation of privacy associated with sasaeng fans.
The main purpose or motive by which sasaeng fans function is that they want to remain a memory in their idols’ lives, someone that they won’t be able to forget. For the most part, these sasaeng fans are quite successful in this attempt as the trauma and fear they inflict on these idols is truly unforgettable. Some of the worst incidences of sasaeng behaviour include poisoning idols, slapping them, pulling their hair, trying to abduct them and so on and so forth. Some of them have even broken into idol dorms to steal their underwear or even left their used underwear on their doorstep in their bags or closets. They derive a sadistic pleasure from watching the idols face discomfort from their actions. Some sasaeng fans go as far as to hire private taxis for thousands of dollars a day to follow their idols around. They even get jobs in Internet portal sites or telephone stores in order to get the private contact information of their idols and track their activities.
One specifically scary incident of sasaeng fans stalking idols was when one of them found Jaejoong of JYJ in a Korean sauna where he was taking a nap and proceeded to take pictures of them sleeping before kissing him in his sleep. This particular sasaeng fan even went on to brag about the same on Internet forums. During a performance by SNSD at the 2011 Angel Price Music Festival at Lotte World, a sasaeng fan walked up to the stage in between their performance of Run Devil Run and grabbed Taeyeon, almost dragging her offstage. Thankfully, the matter was noticed and the man was stopped in time. In 2006, U-Know of TVXQ was given orange juice by a staff member. He took the drink gladly but after drinking it, he started coughing up blood and passed out. Later it was discovered that the staff member was actually a sasaeng anti-fan who had put industrial strength superglue in the orange juice. The poisoning was so severe that U-Know was hospitalised for quite a few days. However, the trauma still affects him to this day. There have also been several instances of the BTS members being chased down in airports, restrooms and even during their vacation! J-Hope’s sister also received malicious comments from sasaeng fans for being close to the BTS members. There were even reports of some of these fans sneaking into BTS’ hotel rooms!
Overall, it is clear to see that sasaeng fans are obsessive and dangerous to no end and even though there are no strict laws specifically prohibiting this behaviour which inadvertently allows sasaeng fans to exist freely, that doesn’t make this any less illegal. Idols and celebrities are humans too and they deserve to live their lives and carry their careers forward safely and securely.
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