SEOUL, March 19 (Reuters) – Kpop fans crashed the telephone and email support lines of South Korea’s $900 billion pension fund, in anger over the departure of a member of popular boy band Enhypen, whose management firm the fund holds a stake in.
Kim Sung-joo, chairman and CEO of the National Pension Fund, revealed what had happened on Facebook on Wednesday, and urged Enhypen fans against further disrupting its services, saying that their actions had inconvenienced workers in Korea and abroad seeking pension advice.
The NPS was targeted because of an erroneous social media post saying NPS was the majority shareholder of HYBE , Enhypen’s management label, Kim said. The NPS does not get involved in the formation of Kpop groups or member issues, he said.
“We found out that some users on X posted the support centre numbers of the NPS online and mobilised others to protest the removal of an Enhypen member,” Kim said, adding that the fund was subsequently hit by overseas phone calls and more than 1,500 emails over a two-hour period.
NPS held a 7.54% stake in HYBE as of the end of September, making it the third-largest shareholder after HYBE founder Bang Si-hyuk and game developer Netmarble, according to a company filing.
Enhypen member Heeseung announced his sudden departure from the group to pursue his own solo career on Tuesday.
Young and tech-savvy Kpop fan groups regularly use social media to express protest or support for matters relating to the celebrities they follow but the NPS incident marks a rare instance where a government public service was disrupted.
Last year, fans of South Korean girl group NewJeans flooded fax machines belonging to South Korea’s culture ministry to urge an investigation into the group’s management agency.
(Reporting by Brenda Goh, Shim Kyu-seok and Joyce Lee; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
