"Debt parents" were exposed, and South Korean stars did the same

Source: Global Times

Special correspondent of this newspaper, Kim Hye-jin

On the evening of the 26th, Zhou Zhennan, the captain of the R1SE of the boy band, spoke out for the first time after the storm of his parents' debt. He apologized to those affected on Weibo, saying he would share the responsibility with his parents. He also said that he did not understand business matters and felt guilty that he did not care enough about his family.

The 20-year-old Zhou Zhennan won the first place in the finals of the talent show "Creation Camp 2019", thus joining the group R1SE with the C position (central position). Last weekend, some netizens broke the news that Zhou Zhennan's parents were listed as dishonest executors, which made Zhou Zhennan's previous high consumption publicly in the program raise questions. On the 25th, Zhou Zhennan's father company issued a statement acknowledging that the company had a commercial dispute and was actively resolving it. On the same day, Zhou Zhennan's agency also issued a statement saying that it would reserve the right to further pursue legal responsibility for malicious smearing of Zhou Zhennan's artist image and deliberately spreading false remarks. Until the evening of the 26th, after Zhou Zhennan posted a response on Weibo, his group R1SE Global Support Association forwarded the Weibo and said that "accompany you to get through this difficult time."

In South Korea, celebrity parents have not paid their debts, which has triggered the "Debt Too" storm. In November 2018, South Korean rapper MicroDot, who appeared in front of the public as the "second generation of the rich", was exposed that his parents had not repaid nearly 400 million won (about 2.4 million yuan) from several people more than 20 years ago, and immigrated to New Zealand in 1998. After the news was reported, MicroDot immediately retorted that the news was "groundless" and claimed that "the other party should be held legally responsible for defamation." But then, one of the victims made public a complaint to the court detailing how his parents had not repaid their loans. The media has also confirmed that most of the debt is true. MicroDot, who was tough and denied "unpaid debts" on behalf of his parents, was slammed as "immoral". Under the pressure of public opinion, MicroDot apologized and admitted that he was "anxious to defend his family and failed to distinguish between right and wrong", and announced the suspension of all acting activities. In April, a South Korean court sentenced MicroDot's parents to 3 and 1 year in prison for fraud. In September this year, MicoDot made a comeback with a new album, but South Korean public opinion still seems to have not forgiven him.

The MicroDot parent debt incident triggered a chain reaction, setting off a "Debt Too" storm in the Korean showbiz circle - the parents of many Korean stars have been exposed to "unpaid debts", including actors Han Goo-eun, Kim Hye-so, Cho Ru-jeong, Kim Bao-sung, Han Su-hee, Cha Yilian, singer Rain, Hui Ren and former South Korean international Ahn Jung-hwan. But most of these stars have not been attacked by public opinion because they "apologized to the victims at the first time and truthfully confessed their unfortunate family history." For example, after his mother's "debts were not repaid" was exposed, Ahn Jung-hwan confessed to the media a little-known family history: he was raised by his grandmother from an early age, until he became an international footballer, and his mother, who had not appeared for many years, suddenly appeared and was in a huge debt, asking him to pay off his mother's debts.

There are also celebrities who draw a clear line with their parents. After the mother was exposed to the scandal of "unpaid debts", Jin Huixiu responded at the first time, "More than ten years ago, because the mother borrowed and invested everywhere in the name of her daughter, there was a gap between mother and daughter, and the two people have cut off contact in the past 8 years." The mother does everything by herself, and the daughter has no obligation to atone for her mother." Kim Hye-so's spontaneous and decisive statement and emphasis on "children are not obliged to pay for their parents' wrong behavior" have won the support of South Korean public opinion.

South Korea's "Chosun Ilbo" said that in the South Korean "Debt Too" storm, most of the situations are that the parents do not repay the debt, and the stars involved do not have the legal obligation to "repay the debt of the father and the son". Most of the south Korean celebrities show an attitude of "willing to take moral responsibility" and apologize to the victims at the first time, and even disclose the unspeakable family privacy to the public, this kind of honest face of the problem, not avoiding the cunning and responsible attitude, so that these stars won the public understanding, support and even sympathy.