On March 26, after nearly a month of silence, child actress Seo Shin Ae has finally spoken up regarding her time attending Wawoo Middle School with (G)I-DLE's Soojin.
"Hello, I am actress Seo Shin Ae.
About 10 years ago, I was a young, courage-less person. However, because I felt that if I let my fears and my hesitation dictate me I would be very disappointed in myself and regret my actions in the future, and so I have decided to muster up my courage now.
I worked in the entertainment industry from an early age, but in school I was an ordinary student just like everyone else. In middle school, I moved to a new school during the first semester of my second year, where I did my best to get along with my classmates.
The individual who spoke of me always mocked and cursed at me for 2 years with her 'group' on the way to school, during breaks in the hallways, in the cafeteria, everyday, everywhere, saying, 'She's not even pretty so how is she a celebrity?', 'Her fame is already a thing of the past', 'No wonder she's an outcast', 'I don't know why the teachers always treat her so specially', repeatedly harassing me verbally. Sure, it could just have been ignorant youth and jealousy, and they could have uttered those words without any second thought. But those words are still deeply ingrained in my heart as scars until today. The scars that accumulated back then have become a large bruise, and I eventually grew to fear people. Those fears then grew into trauma, changing me into an introvert and hindering my advancement into high school.
As a result of those experiences, I learned that mental and emotional abuse can have a lasting effect on a person, just as much as physical abuse can.
The individual says that they do not remember, and they never spoke with me, and this is true. It was entirely one-sided verbal harassment. The individual continues to deny that they ever said those words full of scorn behind my back, which I find unfortunate.
I don't know what sort of 'evidence' or 'witness testimonies' they claim to have, but I question whether that individual's selective memory is truth enough capable of covering everything up.
If you are currently struggling with school violence, please have courage and ask for help from those around you. I was not able to at the time, and I believed that I would heal with time, but I soon learned that it was not so.
I am apologetic for the fact that I caused many people concern and worry through this incident. From now on, I want to greet you with activities as an actress, not through such personal issues. I hope that you will all be happy in the coming month of April, and I hope that you will continue to endure these tough times of the COVID19 pandemic.
ghiblix on March 26th, 2021 at 04:05 UTC »
seo shinae makes a good point that soojin probably doesn't remember, because it was one-sided bullying and they never had a formal relationship of any kind. we can all remember hurtful things that have been said to or about us that were just tossed out by others without much thought.
sinvis on March 26th, 2021 at 03:32 UTC »
Soompi article and translation for those who don't want to click
sunshinias on March 26th, 2021 at 03:31 UTC »
Here's the Soompi article about it.