CORTIS agency vows legal action after GPS tracker found on group’s vehicle

CORTIS / Courtesy of BigHit Music

BigHit Music is taking legal action over invasive and malicious behavior targeting K-pop boy group CORTIS, including alleged privacy violations by obsessive fans.

The agency said Monday in a notice posted on the fan platform Weverse that it regularly files criminal complaints based on round-the-clock monitoring and reports submitted by fans.

BigHit Music said it has continued to take firm action against malicious online posts, violations of the artists’ rights, the illegal distribution of flight information and other invasions of privacy or breaches of fan etiquette.

“We identified posts and comments across online platforms that infringed upon the artists’ rights,” the agency said. “The latest complaints cover content involving disparagement and insults, the dissemination of clearly false information about the artists and the performance of their albums and songs, as well as maliciously altered images that violate their dignity or cause sexual humiliation.”

The agency also said it had gathered evidence against several high-volume accounts accused of illegally selling information about the artists’ international flight bookings through social media and other online platforms.

“We filed a complaint in May, and an investigation is currently underway,” it said. “Both the sale and purchase of artists’ flight information constitute illegal acts that may violate the Personal Information Protection Act and Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.”

The agency said it had also taken action over several incidents involving unauthorized access to private spaces, including the parking area of CORTIS’ residence. Other incidents included attempts to approach the members while posing as an event staff member or other officials, following them to locations connected to undisclosed schedules and approaching them while they were resting in airport lounges or aboard aircraft.

It added that it had recently uncovered especially serious and illegal behavior during the group’s schedule in Paris, including the attachment of a small GPS tracking device to a vehicle carrying the artists. Other alleged acts involved hiring local drivers and renting cars to persistently follow the members’ movements, including travel connected to private and undisclosed schedules.

BigHit Music said it issued warnings over the incidents and added that it would consider all available legal measures if anyone violating fan etiquette verbally abused or physically assaulted security or operational staff, or spread false claims misrepresenting legitimate steps taken to protect the artists.

“We have strongly conveyed the seriousness of these cases to investigative authorities and are requesting thorough investigations and severe punishment under a zero-tolerance policy, without settlement or leniency,” the agency said.

“We will continue to place the members’ safety and privacy above all else and respond strictly to any further violations of fan etiquette.”

CORTIS, a five-member boy group that debuted last August, has built a growing fan base with songs including “GO!,” “REDRED” and “YOUNGCREATORCREW.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.