Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
AOA‘s Choa has posted a second update to Instagram in response to the rumors swirling that her leaving the group has to do with her alleged relationship, as Sports Seoul ran pictures of her on a trip to Japan with Lee Seok Jin recently. In the post, she refutes rumors of her pregnancy and abortion, and denies that she’s leaving the group due to getting married.
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“I knew there’d be a lot of gossip with growing interest, but I’m not pregnant, I didn’t have an abortion, and I’m not leaving the group because I’m getting married. There are lots of people promoting while they’re in a relationship, and if I wanted to date, I’d reveal it and continue promoting, but I’m not sure why departure from the group is being connected to my dating rumor.
I don’t have that many friends, so the person in the photo became a source of help for me, that’s true. If we develop into something more, then dating isn’t a crime, so I’ll honestly reveal it and be in a happy relationship. It was a really tough decision to make after much contemplation, so I’d appreciate it if other matters aren’t dragged into this.
Over the last few days, they kept saying they’ll upload the photos, so I felt mentally pressured quite a lot, but now I feel lighter and more refreshed. I’d like to explain the photos that came up with the article, and provide a photo myself. The article made it seem like I had been on a couple’s vacation with the man, but it was the first vacation I ever went on with my siblings: my older and younger sister.
My seventh grade younger sister likes drawing and animations, so to help her with her future goals, I chose Japan as our vacation spot. I’m the only one who can speak a little Japanese, and it was our first time visiting Japan so I was in charge of everything, but I’d only been to Japan for schedules and so it was really difficult for me to make reservations in Japanese and finding out different tourist spots, so I asked a friend whom I’d known for the past three years. The friend helped us as a guide on the days our itineraries coincided, and on the way back, we were late and had lots of luggage so he helped us carry it to the same car, but the photo was taken of just us.
When the first dating rumors came out, the reporter called to ask about the story behind the photos. I told the exact same story as my explanation, but an article headlined ‘They were close before the dating rumors’ came out, insinuating that just the two of us went on the trip. It’s hard for me to understand why it was written like that.
Also, I’ve been discussing and contemplating about my departure from the group with the label for a long time. They told me to rest and think long and hard about it, so I tried taking a break as well. But in the end, my CEO agreed, and I shared it on my SNS. I shared the contents of my post with my label before uploading, and I respected their wishes of leaving out certain parts that they did not want to be released.
I wrote out everything that I felt about leaving the group through yesterday’s SNS post, and I hope that my members will not be harmed by the controversy that arose again. I apologize for the inconvenience from all of the bad news that happened so early in the morning.”
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In response to Choa’s latest update, FNC Entertainment said that they’ll respect her wishes but ultimately things are still being discussed.
“The label will respect ChoA’s wishes to the best of our ability, and will come to a final decision after further discussion [with ChoA]. For the present, we have matters to discuss regarding her desire to leave the group, her schedules from here on, and more, so we will release an official statement after we’ve come to a settlement. We ask that you please refrain from any more rumors and misunderstandings regarding this situation.”
So it seems like a formality at this point.
Either way, I find Choa’s explanation believable, not that it really needs to be like she did something serious. But it really seems like to a lot of people that either idols are in a relationship or their mental health is terrible, and they have to pick one or they’re lying about it. However, reality would seem to dictate that most idols are dating privately anyway and that a lot of them are suffering privately due to the pressure of being a public figure, so the two really likely aren’t connected, and the underlying inference when people make them choose one or the other that one can’t have mental health problems and also be in a relationship is pretty fucked up.
Quite frankly, I don’t think she owes anybody more explanations. Get married or not, be in a relationship or not, but hopefully she just gets better and eventually comes back.
