TW: mental health, depression, sexual assault, suicide

(Edit, 8-28-24) I was struggling to decide what to do with the Moon Taeil news this morning. Posting as normal didn’t seem right. Neither did going silent. So I decided that it was the right time to publish this piece, if only to give some insight, the only way I can, into the K-pop industry and its history of sexual assault. I hope that I’m doing the right thing. So, please, if you have a minute, give this a read. For Hara. For the Burning Sun survivors. And for Taeil’s victim/s too.

The “Goo Hara” act just passed this morning as well, and Hara would be so, so proud.

While I only became a k-pop fan after KARA went on hiatus, I of course heard of them, and have heard a good handful of their title tracks. I know a bit about some of their members, having seen Youngji in the documentary K-pop Generation and having seen Nicole’s solo performances.

Hara was KARA’s main dancer, but she was also a soloist in her own right, an amateur oil painter, and the writer of a beauty book called “Nail Hara.” In 2019, Hara sued her former boyfriend, who had assaulted her. It was during this incredibly public trial that Hara took her own life, after years of both public and private abuse and a little over a month after her best friend, Sulli of F(x) also took her own life. Hara’s death began an outcry in South Korea over sexual assault and related crimes committed against women. But it wasn’t only after her death that Hara furthered the women’s rights movement.

During the 2019 Burning Sun sex scandal, which involved many high-profile k-pop stars, Hara went to the investigators despite the risk to herself, and helped them identify some of the key criminals, even getting one to confess. It was learning this story that truly touched me, and made me want to do this review. Because despite the unimaginable pain she was going through—despite taking her own life just a couple months later—Hara was determined that no other woman should have to go through what she did, and determined to find justice for them. That is an incredible level of bravery, and makes it even more heartbreaking that Hara passed so soon after, unable to see that her actions made a vital difference and helped save so many more women from being hurt.

So, coming up on the 5th anniversary of her death, I wanted to do something on my little corner of the internet to honor her and make sure she isn’t forgotten. Because she deserves more than just a couple paragraphs in a discography review. She deserves her own. She just didn’t have enough time to keep creating. In her memory, her brother also put some of her oil paintings up for auction, with the profits going to a non-profit organization made to help single parents.

I don’t know if any of them are still up, but check around. See if you can make a donation towards people suffering domestic violence or towards the single parent organization. If you can’t donate, spread the word! But do something. And if all you can do today is survive, then that’s alright! Just know that Hara and I are proud of you. 

Please remember that assault is not and never will be your fault. It doesn’t matter what you were wearing, what you were doing then, or what you’re doing now. If you need help, please visit RAINN (the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network) or call 800-656-HOPE.

Next time, we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming for a couple one-week reviews, and then onto another three-part deep dive. Tschüss, and take care of yourselves out there, folks.

(Click here for other special posts, TW reinforced) (KARA review out soon)