Pictures of APRIL's Naeun with former A-JAX Member Yunyoung have gone viral on social media with the caption: "Are these two dating?" Their photos started getting circulated after Yunyoung took to his personal Instagram account to support the group, APRIL, against bullying claims made by the band's former member Hyunjoo.
Naeun's agency DSP Media issued a statement on March 2, stating that the dating rumors were baseless. "These [dating rumors] are just baseless online rumors and are completely false," stated DSP Media.
Who is Yoonyoung?
Yoonyoung had debuted as part of DSP Media's boy group A-JAX in 2012. However the group disbanded in 2019, with Yoonyoung currently serving in the military. Dating rumors started doing the rounds when Yoonyoung wrote a post on Instagram addressing the bullying issue. "I'm so upset about this so I'm going to reveal the facts only. Since only one-sided posts came up, I thought everyone should know the facts," he wrote.
Yoonyoung wrote: "I'm sorry Hyunjoo, but I feel bad for the APRIL members. While I was a part of DSP Media, I have seen APRIL being formed. The group members couldn't practice because she [referring to Hyunjoo] went off the radar, and they could not continue with their scheduled activities. Being sick and weak is fine but she should have opted to quit. But Hyunjoo wanted to be a part of the group while doing only easy things. You wanted to shine alone, but to the members, the group and their fans came first."
Yoonyoung started trending on social media, with netizens trying to dig up photos from his Instagram account. They stumbled on his photos with Naeun which led to speculation of them dating. However, it needs to be noted that after putting out a post in support of APRIL, Yoonyoung had also posted a photograph of him with Hyunjoo with the caption: "Just in case people say I'm saying this because I'm not close to Hyunjoo. I have gotten along closely with her too." But he later deleted the post.
Another former A-Jax member Seungjin also took to Instagram to speak on the bullying incident. "Being hurt and misunderstood is a natural part of human relationships. But it is sad that misunderstandings and distance between APRIL and Hyunjoo grew to this extent when things could have ended positively if they had shared their concerns with each other instead of blaming," Seungjin wrote while specifying that he didn't want to take sides.
Bullying Allegations Against Naeun
After Hyunjoo brought bullying allegations against APRIL members, an online forum claimed that they were bullied by APRIL's Naeun when they were elementary students. "In my sixth year of elementary school, Naeun cursed at me for no reason, and the so-called 'group of delinquents' that included Naeun always ostracized me. I think it's only right that I receive an apology. Physical violence isn't the only type of violence," the post read. The post also included a picture of Naeun's graduation photo from elementary school.
Responding to this, DSP Media issued a statement warning legal actions. "On the morning of March 2, through law firm ELPS, the company filed criminal complaints against the cases in which malicious manipulated posts and false information were spread regarding our artist," the statement read.
"Our artists are being deeply hurt by the distorted and malicious false posts. We will take strong action against all posts that contain malicious slander and false information about our artists as well as those spreading these posts. There will be no leniency or negotiation," said DSP Media.
