By Kang Hyun-kyung Singer-actor Kwon Min-a, 27, a former member of the eight-member girl band AOA, returned to the limelight this week. Unveiling several dazzling portraits on Instagram, the singer – best known as Mina – let her fans know that she’s still on the entertainment scene. She disappeared from the public eye last year after her announcement that she had been bullied by her then bandmate, Jimin. In the new photos, she’s provocative and flawlessly gorgeous – but the images don’t reflect her true self. She admitted, in a new post, that she was still reeling from the consequences of her traumatic past. View this post on Instagram A post shared by 권민아 (@kvwowv) “I’ve seen psychiatrists since I was 20 or 21. It was five or six years ago when I realised I couldn’t stand that person [who traumatised her] any more. I changed my psychiatrist in March 2018 … now, medication no longer works,” she wrote. Last year, Kwon and Jimin became the centre of a scandal after Kwon revealed she had been bullied for almost a decade by one of her bandmates. In two separate statements that Kwon posted online, she detailed her traumatic experiences, caused by tensions with the bandmate. Hyolyn of Sistar agrees settlement over former classmate’s ‘nightmare’ Kwon claimed she couldn’t see her dying father, who was fighting pancreatic cancer, and couldn’t even cry because her bandmate forced her not to reveal her emotions, as her actions could otherwise affect the other members’ performance. She claimed she was forced to take a tranquilliser. Jimin later apologised, but Kwon did not accept it. Kwon quit the popular girl band and ended her contract with her agency, FNC Entertainment. Her recent social media post hinted at the lingering fallout of bullying on victims, who find it difficult to lead normal lives with their traumatic experiences fresh in their minds. It also served as a reminder that it’s not just ordinary people but also stars who fall prey to bullying. Allegations of bullying have also recently been levelled against Stray Kids member Hyunjin , Kim So-hye, a former member of IOI, Loona member Chuu, and Soojin, a member of K-pop girl band (G)I-DLE . Soloist Hyuna was also accused by an anonymous past classmate of bullying her during junior school, allegations the singer flatly denied. Hyunjin, of Stray Kids, emerged as another bully. One internet user wrote that the singer sexually harassed him when they were in school. JYP Entertainment warned of legal action against people who spread false information with malicious intent. While several stars are facing allegations for past deeds, for some it’s not just something that happened pre-debut – it’s allegedly still happening. Last year, Irene, a member of SM’s girl band, Red Velvet , came under fire after an unnamed staff member accused the star of abusing her. “I’ve worked in this industry for 15 years and met various types of people … before working with her in person, I’d heard a lot about her, and I thought I had been fully prepared to deal with her … but I was wrong. I became speechless at the electric needles fired by her … I had 20 minutes of hell-like moments,” she wrote. Why Irene of Red Velvet’s bullying incident is not just about K-pop The member of staff didn’t specify which star she was referring to, but used the hashtag of Red Velvet’s song, Psycho , and another song performed by Irene and Seulgi, leading people familiar with the girl band and each member’s character to conclude that it had been Irene. Irene and her agency, SM, offered apologies to the unknown stylist. Accepting the apologies, the staff member deleted her post. “As for the bullying scandals that rock K-pop, I’m so sorry to see such things in the news,” said Paul Sneed, professor at Seoul National University’s Department of Hispanic Language and Literature. “The Korean entertainment industry is a quite unique climate in many ways. I have never heard of any such thing in other cultures. I think the vulnerability of the artists in Korea in such a hierarchical system perhaps fosters such a dynamic.” Sneed said that the problems of pronounced hierarchies make individual artists vulnerable. “With pressures and insecurities, as well as trauma, figures emerge that engage in bullying. It’s horrible and needs to be changed,” he said. Read the full story at the Korea Times