I thought it would be interesting to research what kpop fanclubs were and in the process I came across Sasaengs. Sasaengs are obsessive fans that do not respect the boundaries of their so-called “idol” and would go through any means necessary to get recognized. Their greatest motive is to be memorable to their idol instead of being lumped together with all the other fans. Sasaengs are known to invade the privacy of their idols and their families. This phenomenon began after the 1990’s as Kpop started to gain popularity. Due to the hallyu wave, kpop idols now have foreign Sasaengs around the world.
Some of the actions Sasaengs take to be closer to their idol include: house invasions, stalking, harassment of family members, and spreading rumors. Sometimes, they even physically assault their idol because they will get remembered by them. These obsessive fans are very thorough with their research and are able to get ahold of very sensitive information. Though sasaengs have formed a network where they collaborate at times, they usually act alone. There is a hierarchy present in this network where the sasaeng who obtains private information for the first time or who got the closest to their idol is at the top by earning the respect of the others. Aside from sharing information within their network, fans of working age sometimes enter industries that will increase their likelihood of acquiring private information on their idol or coming into contact with. Some of these jobs include working at an airline, phone companies, and banks. Sometimes, they are able to land a job with direct close contact such as a makeup artist, manager, among other staff members. Social media has facilitated their ability to acquire private information as sasaengs sell it to each other. Given that keeping close tabs on their favorite celebrities is very time consuming, it is not uncommon for these “fans” to drop out of school, sleep in internet cafes or resort to non-legal ways of making money. Seeing the extremes that sasaengs are willing to go through for a closeup with the idols, there are people who have taken advantage of it and started “sasaeng taxis”. These are taxis designed for sasaeng purposes as they will closely follow the celebrity without regard to traffic rules. These taxis typically charge $600 a day and approach sasaengs outside of venues.
Aside from the sasaengs overpassing boundaries to be noticed, Korean fan culture has built in a place a phenomenon called “on the way home”. This refers to “organized events” by a celebrity’s fan club gaining access to information on their whereabouts or the star’s management company releasing such information to allow fans to meet their idols. These events can sometimes be barricaded with fans waiting hours for the chance to see their star in passing. Another popular Korean fan culture phenomenon is when fans rent a cafe to meet other fans and celebrate the birthday of their favorite celebrity. They usually decorate the rooms with the star’s photos, share gifts they’ve made in honor of their idol with the other fans such as bracelets or stickers with their star’s face on it.
Comments
I also briefly talked about obsessive sasaeng fans on one of my cultural posts but this is a great post to dive deeper into their behaviors. It is crazy how these fans have their ways of reaching their favorite Kpop idols. I didn't know they had a system of sasaeng taxis and reaching them through related workers. I hope the Kpop fandom remains supportive but with clear boundaries!