An Anonymous Post Threatening To “Stab And Kill” Aespa’s Winter Causes Concern Amidst Recent Knife Attacks In Korea

Recently, a post threatening aespa‘s Winter surfaced in an online community and caused concern amidst the recent knife attacks in Korea.

Aespa’s Winter | @imwinter/Instagram

With the frequent knife attacks and threats of attacks recently, people in Korea are on the lookout wherever they go. During the weekend of August 4 to 6, there were over 16 threats posted in online communities, claiming that they will attack people with knives.

The online warnings and threats occurred so frequently that the popular online community DC Inside was under fire for being too anonymous and allowing criminals to post these warnings—whether they followed through with the attack or not.

Police arrived at a high school in Daejeon after a man attacked a teacher with a knife on August 4, 2023. | Yonhap

Another threat surfaced on DC Inside on August 7 in the “Female Celebrities” board. It was a post threatening to murder Winter of aespa and had the title, “I will stab and kill aespa’s Winter, who is departing on the 8th.”

Aespa members Karina, Winter, Giselle, and Ningning had plans to depart for the United States on August 8 to attend the popular music festival 2023 Outside Lands.

Aespa will perform on Friday, August 11, at “Outside Lands” | Outside Lands

The original post was deleted, but it did not stop netizens from quickly spreading it to other online communities. Some netizens reported the post directly to the police.

A screenshot of a netizen’s message to the police reporting a terror warning | Instiz

Aespa eventually departed for the United States through Incheon Airport on August 8, and there were around ten police officers deployed at the airport due to the threat.

Winter at Incheon Airport on August 8 | Dispatch Aespa members at Incheon Airport with security near them | Dispatch | Dispatch

Security guided Winter and the aespa members to the boarding gate, and they were able to depart safely.

230808 인천공항 출국 영상 #윈터

미국까지 안전비행????#WINTER #ウィンター #冬子 #에스파 #aespa #エスパ pic.twitter.com/XfoqPIppVh

— DC 윈터 갤러리 (@WINTER_DCgall) August 8, 2023

230808 Incheon Airport departure video #Winter
Have a safe flight to America????

— @WINTER_DCgall

Upon hearing about this, netizens reacted with fury at the person who posted this terrible threat. Some shared that the identity of the poster should be revealed, and others claimed that they were an infamous person on DC Inside, known for harassing female idol group members with threats.

• “Are they crazy?”
• “The world is going crazy”
• “Ah f*ck, are they insane? We gotta catch and kill this crazy freak”
• “Are they insane? Why are they being like this…”
• “Ugh, if it’s a minor again… reveal their identity, please”
• “Why are people like this these days?”
• “Can they trace and catch this person? What a crazy person”
• “Catch and arrest the person who posted this”
• “People are getting caught for doing this, so why are more of them popping out… Do they not watch and learn?”
• “I heard he’s a girl-group creep on DC Inside; not only Winter, but he regularly threatens fourth-generation idols with sexual harassment and murder. Let’s catch them this time and throw them in jail”
• “Wow… Now this is possible, but later, this is going to be a waste of public power… They need to be caught and beaten up”
• “The punishment needs to be strong so these idiots don’t do this again”
• “This is a sensitive time for us, but they’re still making terror threats. They must be caught. Police, please do your best”
• “If this person could write this, they must have written a hell of a lot of hate comments… crazy f*cker”
• “DC Inside needs to be shut down at this point”
• “He’s a very famous female idol group freak. Agencies, what are you doing?”
• “F*ck. Protect our Minjeong. F*ck f*ck”
• “How could they say they’re going to kill someone so easily? The world is so scary these daysㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ”
• “Reveal their identity.”

Some fans expressed their demand for SM Entertainment to do something about this issue.

• “What a waste of resources. They need to nab the person and fine them strongly for restitution.”
• “How scary must it be named in a death threat… Crazy b@stards.”
• “Are they crazy? F*ck.”
• “SM needs to sue.”
• “What in the world?”
• “I want to kill them all. If SM does nothing, I will kill SM too.”
• “Please get your s#it together and live your lives, you forgotten b@stards.”
• “Min Jeong…ㅠㅠ.”

It is not confirmed whether Winter knew about the warning or not, but it is a relief to everyone that she departed to the United States safely.