After Karina (Yoo Ji Min) has been introduced as one of the upcoming girl group members of SM Entertainment's Aespa, her past controversy has resurfaced and trending. However, talks regarding an alleged classmate of hers are circulating online.
Recently, Karina's alleged classmate has posted a message regarding the rumored controversy of her insulting NCT, BTS, and other K-pop idols in the industry. The said middle school classmate titled the post with “I’m a classmate of SM’s Yoo Ji Min. Take a look at this,” along with a class graduation photo.
Yoo Ji Min’s classmate stated in his posts that he was weak in middle school and was bullied by boys in the pretext of homework. “I was whispered about and ridiculed during every meal, and Jimin was very nice to me. I felt relieved because I felt I would be harassed less.”
He continued that he got close to Yoo Ji Min after being desk partners and always had a good relationship with the SM trainee. “She was such an upright person that she would say something to me even when I used a mild curse word.”
Moreover, Koreaboo reported that one netizen by the name of Ms. A posted online to shed light on the controversy. The netizen stated that she got bullied many times in middle school, but Jimin was always good. The netizen added that whenever the K-pop idol would defend her, she would always wonder why, since they were not even close.
Ms. A continued that Yoo Ji Min would sit next to her and talked about IU and promised to go karaoke together. She added that no one greeted her on her birthday on Facebook, but the K-pop idol flooded her newsfeed with photos and wished her happy birthday.
The netizen said that she posted this because she wanted to return the kindness Yoo Ji Min showed her in middle school and stop the fake rumors from spreading online.
Meanwhile, SM Entertainment released a video clip of Yoo Ji Min as Karina, where she talked with ae-KARINA, the idol's avatar persona. In the video, the two talked about how they first met and how their friendship blooms into what it is today.
