AOA flagship member Seolhyun in naked picture shock
Seolhyun sheds tears during AOA's showcase of the group's fourth mini-album “Good Luck” at YES24 Live Hall in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, in May 2016. / Korea Times file
By Ko Dong-hwan
K-pop girl band AOA's flagship member Seolhyun has literally been laid bare in a malicious cyber attack that involved what it claimed was a photo of her naked.
But the photo was a forgery of such poor quality that people online quickly noticed it was a fake ― and asked to see the original picture.
The photo began circulating online last weekend. An anonymous person posted the picture on a social media site based overseas, where digitally altered images of celebrities frequently grab visitors' attention.
The person who posted the picture said he/she got it from the mobile phone of Seolhyun's former boyfriend Zico, a South Korean hip-hop musician, who had recently lost the phone.
The stars started dating in August 2016. They admitted their relationship after local paparazzi photographed Seolhyun attempting to meet Zico many times.
Despite their passionate romantic espionage, they split in less than two months.
Seolhyun's agency FNC Entertainment said Monday it would file a suit to bring the unknown leaker to justice for defaming her.
“As for the fake image of Seolhyun that was spread via social media and mobile messengers, we will file a suit today after gleaning as much of the relevant data as possible and check possible distribution routes,” FNC said Monday. “We will punish the photo's maker and distributor. We are making it clear here and now that we will show no mercy to those responsible for her defamation.”