The Difference Between Korean Netizens And International Fans In K Pop Fandom

The word netizen is a mashup of the words “internet” and “citizen,” which describe people who use the internet for a specific purpose. So, let’s dig up more about Korean netizens and international fans react to K-pop on this Channel-Korea, below! Keep reading!

Korean Netizens are the Worst?

The more popular you are, the more you will be noticed and get criticized. This is certainly true in the world of K-pop. Idols can’t be separated from their supporters or fans around the world, or from their haters. Below, you will see several items that caused Korean netters to have strong reactions. Look at this photo posting, about Soyu taking a selfie in her car. This photo invited a lot of negative comments from international fans, but some of them were more positive. You can read below what netters had to say about the picture. The comments showed that Korean netters and international netters jall very quick to judge people negatively by only looking to one photos or event.

1. [+1,022, -101] Professional my butt, she’s just airheaded
2. [+948, -66] I can’t stand people who drive while looking at their phones
3. [+719, -38] She’s driving a Range Rover… f*ck, life is tough
4. [+49, -3] Look at where her phone is ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Please don’t look at your phones while driving
5. [+39, -1] How can you drive with your phone like that?
6. [+30, -3] Why is her phone on her lap when she’s driving? How can she pay attention to the road?
7. [+28, -8] Why is she getting hate when her car isn’t moving?
8. [+26, -0] It’s hopeless that she thought this was appropriate to upload on her Instagram when everything about the pictures can lead to misunderstandings. Taking selcas while driving, where her cellphone is placed… not one positive thing to come out of it.
9. [+19, -2] Please don’t take pictures while driving. Who’s responsible in a car accident?
10. [+8, -1] Weren’t these taken while she was at a stop light? Jungkook from BTS got tattoo shops involved in his dating rumor, causing netters to speculate and make judgments about illegality of tattoo shops in South Korea. Look at comments down below!
11. [+1,733, -183] You guys do know that tattoo shops are illegal in this country???
12. [+1,615, -169] Is your tattoo shop even legal?? Do you have a medical license?
13. [+1,452, -290] BTS fans love acting woke but they end up being trash like this
14. [+174, -9] What’s funny about this tattoo shop is that they only took screencaps that show themselves as victims by leaving out all the crap they said about Korean fans and instigating regionalism
15. [+149, -39] This is why you need to be careful who you’re friends with…
16. [+135, -29] Tattoos are illegal in this country
17. [+111, -9] I’m a Jungkook fan myself but the types of friends he makes shouldn’t be blamed for ruining his future, it’s his own self
18. [+109, -22] Jungkook, please wake up
19. [+98, -15] Seeing Jungkook’s arm made me want to swear. It’s disgusting.. I had no idea that my bias idol would end up a tattoo fiend.. ㅡㅡ
20. [+83, -7] It says right in the tattoo shop’s statement that they know that the hate comments weren’t left by the fans and yet the article makes it sound like it was ㅋㅋ
21. [+70, -15] This article was written by YG journalist Yoon Sang Geun. The same journalist who attended BTS’s new album press conference and asked a question about a album jacket picture plagiarism that had happened years ago and had nothing to do with the comeback ^^ ㅋ
22. [+53, -3] The fans who are acting like this are a problem but so is the member who should’ve known this would’ve happened if they weren’t extra careful with their actions. All of the responsibility for this lies with Jungkook. Has he ever even given a proper explanation since all of this has happened?
23. [+52, -4] This is why the adults are always telling you that you need to make sure you are friends with the right people….
24. [+563, -83] Isn’t it illegal to run a tattoo business?
25. [+496, -60] Did she not think that her business was going to get reported when it’s illegal in the first place?? What’s so wrong about that?
26. [+351, -19] Honestly, judging by the pictures that were leaked, it seems like it was one of their friends who leaked it ㅋㅋ They should be more careful of the people around them. Either way, they should be hunting down the person who leaked the stuff, not the haters ㅡㅡ
27. [+50, -4] Just shut down your business, it’s illegal anyway
28. [+50, -0] The haters are an issue but so is the person who screencapped your CCTV and leaked it, no? This scandal is only this big because you acted up ㅋㅋㅋ
29. [+41, -0] She should be more worried about the CCTV that was leaked, which means it was more likely that it was one of her own staff that did it. And please take down whatever you said putting down Korean fans as well.
30. [+39, -1] This whole thing became a scandal by pictures being leaked from your own CCTV so go sue that person instead ㅋㅋ
31. [+37, -5] Can you please stop giving Jungkook tattoos ㅠㅠ I can’t believe he got involved with someone as useless as a dung fly… it makes me throw up whenever I see your illegal tattoo shop
32. [+24, -0] Why is she demanding that Big Hit take responsibility for her tattoo shop taking a hit? It’s her own fault for not managing her own staff better to not leak things from their CCTV.
33. [+20, -2] Please go find the person who leaked it in the first place. No one would care about you if they hadn’t been leaked ㅋ There was another incident,  about Son Do Pyo acting in “Doremi Market.” So many people criticized his acting role by mocking his work. Look at these comments from netters down below, how they underestimate of him.
34. [+2,045, -26] Well if you ask him to be witty one more time, he’ll probably think it’s appropriate to slam a senior’s head down. He has no idea what the difference between being fun and being rude is, he needs to stay off of TV. It doesn’t matter whether he himself thinks he’s funny, it’s whether the viewers find him funny and if the viewers think he’s being rude, then he’s being rude.
35. [+1,809, -27] This is called wit nowadays? ㅋ I was wondering what was wrong with him when he was being c*cky and acting cutesy. He made me never want to see him again.
36. [+1,724, -25] Looks like anyone can be an idol nowadays
37. [+175, -1] I couldn’t watch him because of his facial expressions and the way he talked… he’s a rookie, he should be acting like one, and yet his attitude was just hard to watch.
38. [+160, -1] The fact that he was picked at all for the group proves it was rigged
39. [+157, -1] Someone around him needs to put him in place. He’s under controversy in every TV show he goes on…
40. [+145, -0] He’s a high schooler who acts more like a choding
41. [+140, -0] Wit? More like he lacks wit
42. [+128, -0] He’s not funny, he pays no mind to what’s going on, he’s c*cky… I just never understood how he was chosen at all. His height doesn’t even match the other members too.
43. [+123, -0] His character is rock bottom because he got to debut comfortably under a rigged system

International Fans Reacting to News

Korean netizens had different reactions to things than international fans did. For example, take the issue about Jessica leaving Girls Generation. These are comments from internationals fans (Source Soompi):

dy0w**** – SM is trying to make the public think Jessica is the bad person… Ming**** – Honestly GG members are at an age now where they need to be preparing for their future…Jessica is doing that. I’m wishing her great luck and prosperity.

Soompi article about Ex-Girls’ Generation Member Jessica Expresses Desire to Succeed in China

Erik****(Twitter)- congratulations to sica unnie…

From a Naver article, which is Korean netizens, mostly, since it was using the Korean language:

skjl****- There will be a lot of damage on Girls’ Generation. I am worried about Krystal who would be left behind in SM. 7kdy**** Both [Jessica and SM] are claiming different things.

When the article said that Jessica wants to be succeed in China, Naver netizens commented as seen below,

gkrd****- Just live in China rlfh****- She’s already Chinese

We can see two different perspectives, but this is not just because Korea is a more conservative country, but also has a different culture and history behind it. So, as people, we can’t say that Korean netters must be worse than international ones. They aren’t. It is happening because of different points of view, Korean netizens could be worse sometimes, with this news, but international fans could be more worse with other K-pop news.