South Korea

BLACKPINK's management company YG Entertainment has taken a strong stand for K-pop star Jennie Kim. The agency has the police in South Korea to find out how her private photos ended up online and who accessed them without her permission.

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Ever since Jennie's photos with BTS band member V surfaced on Twitter and Telegram, people have been speculating that the two are in love, but are forced to keep it private. However, the two have not commented on their relationship status yet.

Meanwhile, the K-pop agency has shared a statement to address the photo leak. It says that Jennie had faced "personal attacks" and "sexual harassment" as a result of the leak and that it has asked the police to investigate "the original distributor" of the photos, and would take "all possible legal action without any leniency to prevent further damage in the future".

The statement further read, "Photos that were circulated online were illegally released, regardless of the intentions behind them and without the consent of the individual involved."

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YG also asked netizens to not share those photos more widely to respect the singer's privacy. Two accounts that had shared the pictures have been suspended.

Meanwhile, popular K-pop band BTS's management company Big Hit Music has filed a separate criminal complaint against defamatory posts containing "ill-intentioned rumours" and "false information". Although, the complaint did not specifically mention V and Jennie's pictures as the cause of its legal action.

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South Korean entertainment agencies have recently started taking stringent action against leaks and rumours. South Korea's defamation laws can be used against individuals who post defamatory or malicious remarks online. The country's law also gives individuals a legal right to their photos and images, which means anyone who posts leaked photos without permission is open to prosecution.