"Or Not" Sudden Marriage and Divorce Rumors Shake the Pop Culture Industry

Song Ga-in, Kim Ho-joong, Hyun Bin and Others Oppose False Information Spread
Unified Call for Regulation of YouTube-Originated Fake News

The popular culture industry is suffering from the spread of false information originating from YouTube.

On the 17th, a personal YouTube channel uploaded a video titled "Singers Kim Ho-jung and Song Ga-in's surprise marriage announcement... It's incredible." The video claimed that singers Song Ga-in and Kim Ho-jung would be getting married this December. Song Ga-in's side expressed strong opposition. On the 21st, her agency PocketDol Studio stated, "This is groundless," and warned that it was "fabricated false information being spread."

Singer Song Ga-in [Photo by Yonhap News]

The agency lamented, "Not only Song Ga-in but many celebrities are suffering serious damage due to fake news aimed solely at gaining views." They added, "There is no way to directly punish those responsible, so the damage is becoming severe. We hope legal regulations will be established as soon as possible."

Song Ga-in voiced her concern, saying, "The 'say whatever you want' style fake news posted on YouTube is causing serious harm to many people," and emphasized, "Legal regulations need to be put in place."

Actors Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin, who tied the knot last year, also breathed a sigh of relief amid false news spreading on YouTube. Recently, a channel posted a video titled "Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin divorce six months after marriage... shocking!!" The video claimed that Hyun Bin lost 15 billion won gambling and divorced Son Ye-jin. Regarding this, on the 20th, Hyun Bin's agency VAST Entertainment stated, "This is groundless."

Recently, false information targeting celebrities has been repeatedly posted on YouTube, causing many people to suffer. The industry's common opinion is that the problem lies in videos that package untrue content as if it were true, simply to attract clicks.

[Photo by Pixabay]

An entertainment industry insider said, "Videos by some YouTubers trying to profit from sensational keywords like marriage, divorce, and pregnancy are a serious problem," and lamented, "There are countless videos where false content is disguised as fact."

They continued, "Agencies respond by stating that the related content is not true, but such responses happen only once or twice. After some time, similar videos appear again." They added, "The important issue is that there are people who truly believe these videos are factual, which causes problems." The insider emphasized, "We hope related regulations will be established as soon as possible."