[Pann] Bullying scandal of the '90s: S#arp

Pann: The Lee Ji Hye and Seo Ji Young scandal that makes the T-ara scandal look like child's play

This post is about the legendary S#arp bullying scandal that kids these days probably haven't heard about. Seo Ji Young comes from a hugely influential family in the entertainment industry and her father spent a lot of money on setting up a company in 1998 so that Seo Ji Young could debut in a co-ed group named S#arp.

The group did extremely well under the production of Roo'Ra's Lee Sang Min who was known for his exceptional song production skills. At the climax of their fame, the company recruited Lee Ji Hye as the main vocalist, which catapulted into a series of jealous torture by Seo Ji Young. (Lee Ji Hye auditioned for her spot to get in while Seo Ji Young just wanted to use the group as a quick play for fame with her friends).

Lee Ji Hye had to suffer countless abuse. Seo Ji Young was dating Ryu Shi Won at the time and even made him go to Lee Ji Hye and slap her while making various threats. Seo Ji Young even forced her mother to find Lee Ji Hye at a broadcast hall and rip her hair out.

For years, Lee Ji Hye suffered this abuse until Seo Ji Young demanded that she be kicked out of the group. The agency refused since the group was already so popular, leading Seo Ji Young to amp up the abuse until the situation got so out of hand that the company announced a press conference announcing their disbandment.

The biggest reason behind the disbandment was on a KBS radio show on October 8th, 2002, where Seo Ji Young swore at Lee Ji Hye calling her a useless b*tch. Pissed off, Lee Ji Hye shoved Seo Ji Young, leading Seo Ji Young's mother to find her the next day and physically assault her again at a broadcast hall (October 9th).

While the media was speculating what was going on, the company eventually decided on a disbandment. Seo Ji Young paid her manager to make up lies to make her look like the victim at the press conference. The manager, however, knew the truth behind everything that was going on and just told everyone the truth.

The videos taken at the press conference can put any banjun drama to shame...

After their disbandment, the two women reunite on 'Best Friend Note'. While Lee Ji Hye attempted to make amends, Seo Ji Young continued to make herself look like the victim.

Lee Ji Hye then started up a flourishing solo career which ended her up in the hospital from overworking herself. Seo Ji Young visited her with a bouquet of chrsyanthemums (in Korean culture, these flowers are only given to the dead/used for funerals), showing that her hatred for her is still not over.

Seo Ji Young is currently living a happy married life after a luxurious wedding while Lee Ji Hye no longer has any money for album productions and is wasting her talents on low grade variety shows.

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1. [+257, -4] Let's not forget that Seo Ji Young's mother is also a college professor; disgusting how she can still teach kids when she beats other kids;

2. [+242, -2] Seo Ji Young is definitely one of the biggest b*tches in history

3. [+239, -11] Already knew about it because this scandal was so huge, especially the chrysanthemums ㅋㅋㅋㅋ and it's not even comparable to the T-ara scandal because there's still some discrepancy as to who is fully at fault while in this case, Lee Ji Hye is clearly the victim.

4. [+156, -2] Wait a minute, Ryu Shi Won's just as big of a jerk for slapping Lee Ji Hye...

5. [+142, -1] I still remember their press conference video. Seo Ji Young was pretending to cry and look like a victim next to her manager until her manager stood up and revealed that Lee Ji Hye was indeed physically assaulted and that Seo Ji Young started it all. Seo Ji Young's face hardened and she just walked out of the room. Truly looked like a crazy b*tch.

6. [+131, -3] Ryu Shi Won's hopeless ㅋㅋㅋ So he's been known for hitting women in the past too, eh? Recycled his image after getting huge in Japan and now he's in court for beating women again... tsk tsk.

7. [+95, -1] Ryu Shi Won's hopeless too ㅋㅋㅋ The entertainment industry is so dirty ㅋㅋㅋ

8. [+83, -0] Worst things have happened, just that the internet wasn't as huge back then. So many group scandals went by unnoticed because nobody updated that stuff in real time back then.

9. [+663, -0] I remember if it wasn't for that manager revealing everything at the end, people would've believed all of the lies at the press conference... She acted like such a victim with all her lies, saying she was beat up seven times in the span of whatever.. and then her manager refuted her saying it'd be impossible for Lee Ji Hye to beat her that fast unless she was some boxer. Hilarious.

10. [+56, -1] At least the manager had the decency to tell the truth.

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