The recently formed K-pop group Hearts2Hearts member is again on the radar of criticism after her debut in February 2025. Ian K-pop is slammed for her deep smile lines, which many consider very uncommon on a young idol. The OP has posted a bunch of images on a social media forum highlighting Ian K-pop smile wrinkles and slashed her for looking older than her age. The 2009-born rookie K-pop idol has been criticized for her past at the time of Hearts2Hearts’ debut on February 24, 2025, the second K-pop girl group after Aespa’s launched by SM Entertainment.
Ian K-pop has been part of SM Entertainment since January 2021 as a trainee and then debuted with the song “The Chase” as part of the K-pop girl group Hearts2Hearts. The K-pop group is a pack of eight members, including Carmen, Yuha, Stella, Juun, A-na, Ye-on, and Ian. However, the internet targeted Ian alone. First, for her past years at school before joining as a trainee, and now for her smile wrinkles as shared on the Korean social media forum, Nate Pann.
Table of Contents
Ian K-pop Criticism Over Deep Smile Lines
The 16-year-old Ian K-pop is facing backlash over her smile wrinkles, often linked to aging in the Korean industry. The original poster claimed that these deep smile lines made Hearts2Hearts idol Ian look older than her current age. However, fans came to her defense in turn, stirring an online debate. Fans slammed OP for derogatory remarks on Ian K-pop’s face and cherry-picking the photos to defame her online. Such behaviour is intolerant and considered a direct attack on the K-pop idol’s image in the industry.
One of the K-pop fans wrote, “I’m about to cry thinking about how an old fart like you is going on about a young kid’s smile lines while typing it all out in a post. Leaves me speechless… You, just hang in there, okay?” while some others joined the discussion commenting, “Wow, but I really can’t say anything because OP is probably the one getting a reality check while writing this LOL. Just how much it must’ve hit you that you’re writing this about a 09-er.” Such posts are really a deep attack on Ian K-pop’s image after the debut criticism.
K-pop Mean Girls Attitude: Aespa Giselle and Ningning Take New Entry During Recent Live
K-pop Idol Ian Faces Bullying Allegations
The controversy erupted days after the formation of K-pop girl group Hearts2Hearts by SM Entertainment. Ian K-pop became the centre of criticism when fans started to dig deep into the new member’s past and background. One of the primary commentators, who also claimed to be her former classmate, unveiled several facts about Ian K-pop. The anonymous person accused Ian K-pop of bullying and even sexual harassment of teachers. The commenter recalled an incident when Ian threw a rock in anger at the boy, breaking a fish tank and flooding the floor. Despite such actions, her mother’s aggressive behaviour once made another student’s mother kneel in apology.
Not only this, the accuser goes on to share that Ian K-pop made sexually derogatory comments about teachers and often remains uncooperative in group projects, making her unfriendly among the students. However, Ian dropped out of school to become a trainee, while her friends were caught in a serious bullying case and smoking in school.
it's always the center of the group who gets this rumor. And y'all still believe this shit? https://t.co/fgSGtakMhO pic.twitter.com/1zkUMw9vPR
— ☆ (@bratzigur) February 25, 2025
This is what the original post stated: “After you dropped out, your friends got caught smoking at school. And one of them even got in big trouble for bullying a younger student. Seeing that just made me think, ‘Like attracts like.’ If you hadn’t dropped out to become a trainee, that could’ve been you, too. If I said I wrote this calmly without any malice, I’d be lying. But you and the people who know you will agree—there’s no lie or exaggeration in this.”
K-pop Fans Criticised Aespa Karina for “Pick Me” Behaviour
However, some former classmates give her a different image on the internet, describing her appearance as cold at first, but friendly later. While another addressed the fish tank incident with more information, claiming it was not one-sided bullying. She often clashed with other classmates and even seniors because of her strong personality, but she was not a bully. Ian K-pop even helped some students to fit in and make friends.
this is so annoying yall did the same thing with karina when aespa debuted https://t.co/H2deUvXBsN pic.twitter.com/1yeKbq3v6I
— 🍽️ (@hanbimeal) February 24, 2025
SM Entertainment called for legal actions against the commentators to defame Hearts2Hearts idol and released in a statement that, “We have identified the circulation of false information, defamatory remarks, and malicious content targeting our artists Hearts2Hearts. In response, we have initiated legal procedures to address these violations.”
Aespa Karina Debut with Harsh Criticism
Aespa Karina, AKA Yoo Jimin, faced major criticism before the debut of SM Entertainment’s first K-pop girl group, Aespa. She was accused of not one, not two, but a bunch of allegations. One such example includes Karina shading major K-pop groups over private messages, which hurt the sentiments of BG stans equally. She called EXO Kai ugly and rejected him from dancing with her. She also insulted NCT and BTS members, complained about her agency not doing anything with her, and leaked her stage name and some insider information.
However, her best friends came forward to defend her and debunked all the private chat, claiming she was shooting a commercial at the time of the conversation, and therefore the chat is fabricated. As proof, they claimed that even her closest friends didn’t know her stage name at that time. You can refer to the below Reddit discussion for more information related to Aespa Karina criticism jab.
A detailed account of how Karina (aespa) became the most hated pre-debut trainee and rookie idol
by inkpopthoughts
Statement by a friend of Karina, “The evidence that she did not text those messages is that Jimin was participating in a shoot at the time. She would not have been able to text because of the timing. Within the text messages, they talk about her stage name, her label, and the time of her shoot to “prove” that it was Jimin who was talking. However, it was during a time when even us, her best friends, did not know her stage name.”
Other such allegations include Aespa Karina bullying her fellow SM Entertainment trainees. However, her friends jumped to quickly defend her and labeled that Yoo Jimin, AKA Aespa Karina, has close relationships with trainees at SM Entertainment. On top of all this, netizens targeted her for underage drinking, which is a favorite topic of K-pop fans to target idols. But this time, two of her friends came to Aespa Karina defense and said in a statement, “We can all agree under oath that Yoo Jimin has never drank underage. However, there have been rumors that she is tagged in photos on Facebook that show her drinking. After we poked around, it’s been revealed that there are no such photos.”
Karina is literally the sweetest girl ever????
by inkpopthoughts
All the criticism against Aespa Karina was later debunked, and Yoo Jimin’s best friends defend her at the crucial time, making Aespa debut a moment to remember, laden with harsh criticism and playful music.
