Misconduct on K-pop Groups

On February 5, 2023, videos of a female airport security personnel committing alleged 'unprofessional' actions on K-pop group ENHYPEN members surfaced on Twitter and TikTok, sparking outrage among fans.

ENHYPEN is an increasingly popular K-pop group consisting of 7 multi-national members. They concluded their MANIFESTO world tour in Manila, Philippines, after performing at 3 sold-out concerts at the Mall of Asia Arena. At the Manila International Airport, as the group was on their way to leave the Philippines, a female security personnel allegedly exhibited unprofessional behavior on the group's members--in particular, 17-year-old member Ni-ki. She performed a pat down on almost all the members and requested them to lower their face masks.

While it may seem trivial, there are multiple reasons that do not excuse this unprofessional behavior. First, Manila's Office of Transportation is currently investigating the situation and has stated that male security personnel are supposed to do pat downs on male persons, while female security personnel perform pat downs on women. They have also assured fans that NAIA (Manila International Airport) definitely had enough male personnel to perform pat downs. This caused outraged fans to believe that the woman violated this policy in order to get up-close and personal with ENHYPEN. Secondly, the pat downs were definitely not necessary. A pat down is usually performed when security personnel have reasonable suspicion that a person is concealing a weapon or if a metal detector system alarms. The walk-through detectors shown in the image below did not alarm. Furthermore, there could not have been any reasonable suspicon because the woman also asked the members to lower their face masks. There is no weapon that a person can hide behind a mask that wouldn't have been exposed by detectors. The woman did not have reasonable suspicion but interest in the members, as she can be seen smiling and "giggling" in the viral videos posted after touching the members and seeing their faces. Fans are also outraged by the fact that she performed a pat down on ENHYPEN's youngest member, 17-year-old Ni-ki. In the videos, Jake of ENHYPEN can be seen confused as to why they were required to lower their face masks. The members did not feel comfortable with the situation.

The final reason why this situation is not trivial is because there have been too many occurrences of disrespect, misconduct, and uncomfortable actions made on K-pop groups not just in the Philippines, but worldwide. The situation at NAIA is just one of many. Talented artists deserve to have their personal space maintained, their rights secured, and despite being heavily idolized by fans, deserve to be treated like a human being. For example, some fans try to illegally obtain a K-pop group's flight information to get in the same flight as them or to stalk them, which inhibits feelings of uncertainty and unease in these artists. It is important that fans can only give the most respect to their favorite artists by simply not being disrespectful.