Scatter_88mil

^ Guess we'll leave it at that then :/ Not sure how much you use paint but it can't be possible for just your typical teen anti unless he/she had some decent experience with such software but alas, I suppose we'll just have to wait for more info to come out, hopefully.

Ah, cheers for the clear-up there But still, looking at that pic, I only see just one message below the picture and editing words in a picture isn't exactly what I'd call something easy either, since you'd have to make sure the font is in line with the other text as well.

I think what he's saying is that his opinion of T-ara of individuals has changed. Not them as say, a group functioning. I myself don't really think of some of the members as modest and sweet people as a whole (Hyomin in particular), unlike a lot of people here seem to think of them as. Not all idols are exactly nicey nicey people and fans should honestly face that reality. In fact, many fans can't accept it being thrown in front of their faces and that's one of the biggest weaknesses every Kpop fandom has - many are outright gullible and reactionary. Even then you can't easily 'alter' an online chat without being some genius hacker. It's simply not possible. It's like trying to change the online status post of someone else in Facebook. Assuming that it was a chat through via smartphone, then that makes it even more implausible. And if this anti was not part of Soyeon or those two people's inner circle, then why did he/she aim for her when it would have made a much bigger impact if say, Jiyeon or Hyomim's KakaoStory was dug into instead? The problem here is that while people can accept T-ara are humans themselves and subject to mistakes, they're not in the same position as your average Jane or Joe because they're idols - meant to act as perfect products of humans to the public. If you want someone to blame, CCM is your target because they marketed them as such in the first place. In fact, the entire INDUSTRY is to blame for crap like this. T-ara themselves though still very well should have known that they were going to sacrifice a lot of their privacy for an idol career (although I still do believe a long decent break from their slave schedules is an absolute must) and thus, should have been more careful, especially after that Twitter debackle last year.

Wait, how on earth was it actually 'edited'? Is that even possible? Online chats aren't something you can edit so easily unlike documents or status posts though...unless this anti is supposedly some genius wizard of a hacker, which still seems rather unplausible.

@Renar - I don't think it's really that great of a PR move actually...granted, it's not as outright contradicting and full of BS compared to the previous statements in the past that look like a child made them up but still... As the user junichi8369 pointed out in the other thread related to this earlier (cheers to you mate for the quick eye!), taken straight from the article... The topic of ’Stitch’ in question came about because the tiger drawing on the shirt of the brand resembled ‘Stitch’ the character, and since a graduate student unni Soyeon knows wears that brand of clothing every time they meet, that is why they were talking about it,” “The name of ‘Stitch’ being discussed is not even 1% related to a celebrity, and it seems Soyeon’s acquaintance just joked about ‘Stitch’ without any other intentions after seeing the brand’s clothing with a tiger drawn on it.” It was also added, “Also, the part about Soyeon’s acquaintances discussing ‘Stitch’s marriage is not about the graduate student unni who is a fan of the brand, but about another acquaintance they know who is about to get married.” Sounds pretty contradictory there :/ The fact that Koreans can't accept anything more than perfection in their society as a whole (idols are only just one part of all this) is what makes it really troublesome to stuff like this. I mean sure, I could understand people flaming people like Daesung and Nickhun because a life was actually lost (though in Nickhun's case, almost) or GD getting caught with marijuana, Rain and his lackluster service in military duty or T-ara for the Twitter incident and beyond but getting mad over trivial stuff like this is pretty far-fetched, definitely agreed. That probably and arguably is the very likely case, or alternatively, one of the two girls decided to leak it because she has some deep personal beef against Soyeon or something. Even if it was set in private mode, there is still a decent chance one of the people in either of their friends' list could have spotted it and leaked it themselves. Possibilities are endless. In a way yes, Kakao is like Mig33 and any other social network app/site you'll run across to. Btw, might want to edit your post there lol. There's four copies of the same sentence hahaha.

The problem is that the agencies market their idols as 'perfect' beings incapable of doing serious flaws and T-ara is no Block B. It's a central issue in K-pop and it doesn't help that fans and the public as a whole also fall for this scheme too, despite occasional reports that Idol A did this to Idol B and that Idol Group 1 is suffering from internal problems while Idol Group 2 is fighting its own agency and so forth (probably due because that the names are never even revealed, therefore not getting enough of the public's interest). They're basically public and 'perfect' figures meant and built for young people to look up to, to put it basically. And Korea has a rather severe obsession with making itself look perfect in front of people's eyes >__>.

Yea, from this point on (or hell, maybe even earlier in the Twitter incident in July), honestly, I don't think T-ara's in any position to really trust anyone, including their friends that aren't idols (this is assuming the two others she's talking to aren't idols but that doesn't make much of a difference anyway). Obviously CCM has failed them terribly long ago and the only people they can really rely on is their families and each other. From my experience in Korea, friends tend to gossip pretty nasty staff about others to one another and at least in my mother's words, Koreans are particularly crazy about gossiping about negative stuff. Idols are nowhere an exception by all means and it wouldn't surprise me if any of Soyeon's or hell, any of the T-ara members' friends turned their backs on them since last year. It is normal though specific nicknames (often degrading, rude or insulting ones) are used by a circle of friends to refer to one person in the group when the latter is not present. Well, at least that's what it was like when I was in school in Korea >__> I thought it was mostly just a thing between teens and probably uni/college students but that doesn't seem to be the case now.

Still, a KakaoStory user can actually still choose to filter his/her own chats and pictures to private or public (user myself here and you can search it up if need be) - if Soyeon or either of those two others had kept their stuff set to private mode, then there's no way your regular netizen can ever dig into it unless he/she happens to be in the friends' list of either of these three - which if that were the case, it'd be someone within their circle that leaked it. If it is true Soyeon or any of those two didn't keep it in private, then by all means they've clearly done a mistake on their part in having it in public and Soyeon hasn't exactly learnt so deeply from the Twitter incident, or at least was a bit short-sighted. But even then, a typical netizen with zero relation to those three still need to know the specific ID of their accounts to ever dig up in conversations like this unless we're talking about someone who has cyber law enforcement background and experience, which again, is still pretty unlikely and the idea of a hacker smashing into those accounts is laughable. The hardcore number of antis among the general antis themselves is quite rare too but even they have their own lives to go on with outside of the computer or smartphone screen.

Assuming she learnt her lesson from that Twitter debacle, she'd have to be really stupid to let her own chats become public so easily I think. Soyeon doesn't really strike me as that dumb either so the most likely cause has to be a leak from someone around her circle, which could be any of the two people in the chat, someone in CCM or hell, maybe even T-ara itself (I know this may seem far-fetched but considering the group's work environment is extremely cutthroat and competitive thanks to KKS, it can't be really ruled out either).

^ Oh, my mistake then :/ But still, shouldn't the info be only available to friends and the user him/herself? If not, then crap, I'm gonna stop using it then >___> FB was bad enough. But yea, whoever leaked it is the serious problem. Because when it comes to scandals, chances are there's most likely some form of leak from the inside involved.

I'm pretty darn sure a lot of celebrities are friends with one another, or at least acquainted. I sure as hell don't recall tigers being mentioned in the conversation either. And where did CCM get this '1%' statistic from? Reading that, it's almost as if CCM's trying to imply that Soyeon has no friends that are celebrities...? XD If anything, what should be the bigger concern is exactly WHO leaked the conversation in the first place. WHO? Doesn't this get to anyone here? That's the biggest iffy issue to me about this.

While I'm understandable of netizens' vocal shouts in T-ara's previous scandals and agree with them to an extent (what, with gambling, bullying and having a boss that's about as smart as a bloody doorknob), this one is extremely unwarranted for. I'm no girl and would say that the nature of the gossip isn't exactly a really nice topic but for Christ's sake, it's pretty stupid that Soyeon's the only one getting flak. What about the other two? Are they somehow magically excluded in the minds of a few vocal crazies who are so efficient in brainwashing the sheep? Probably yes. Everyone gossips about crap behind others and idols are no exception - whoever disagrees otherwise is a delusional prick that needs a good whack in the head. What I'd be more concerned with about is HOW a KakaoTalk conversation got leaked to the public and WHO actually released it. KakaoTalk and KakaoStory is basically like a smartphone version of MSN chat in function - which means, only the user has access to his/her own chats, unless some whackjob got paid to hack it, which is pretty unlikely (and with CCM's irrational claims that the girls' Twitters got hacked, no one would believe it anyway). Judging from the strict privacy nature of KakaoStory (and being a user of it myself), the only people who could have leaked this to the press are the either of the two others Soyeon was chatting to or someone around their circle. I'll suspect Sua the most - since in the pic shown, her name is clearly shown at the top left, which would indicate that the chat is seen from her KkStory account.

Given the amount of activities T-ara has, I honestly don't think it's really possible to squeeze any acting gigs in, unless people are willing to accept at how Jiyeon had it last year. Filming for a drama even if it's not a main role and promoting idol group activities simultaneously is just asking for your own body to collapse out of exhaustion. By the way - netizens also could happen to fill a fairly big number of people waiting to see IRIS. It's not just posting negative things online but the risk of ratings. Going by how typical Korean mentality goes, the production staff for IRIS 2 probably will be highly intolerable to anything that will risk them that (or any bashing whether it be online or not), especially since expectations are going to be high due to the success of IRIS 1. I just don't see any logical reason for them to hire a T-ara member for a role, nor is it really feasible on T-ara's part due to their own schedules.

The whole idea of Soyeon even being put in IRIS 2 is pretty farce honestly. As I said in the previous article, the casting is already complete and the drama's only ONE month away from being broadcasted so filming is probably just about a week or two away. This probably also means they have the script for the first few episodes completed as well so adding Soyeon at this time or in the near future seems pretty unrealistic. May as well be pissing off the production staff, particularly the scriptwriter. But hey, didn't the IRIS 2 staff say they're only 'considering' her? Never did it say that they actually gave her an offer, because if they did then they're risking their own ratings and from what I remember, IRIS 1 was a huge hit in Korea - people aren't going to be happy to see the sequel with someone from the most hated idol group in Korea making an appearance.

She'll probably be put into a very minor role since filming for IRIS 2 is only a month away from being put into broadcasting and the casting for the mains and support characters has already been decided. But honestly, Korean dramas need to stop having so many idol actors and actresses and start using ones that CAN actually act, not for the sake of improving ratings. Glad the producers were smart enough to leave the main roles to people who actually can act.

I honestly doubt T-ara could ever actually go beyond this mark (in other words, won't be as successful as this). The damage taken from both CCM and the public (and negative attitude from the latter) is going to take months more to recover and bounce back from fully - and that's being optimistic with the assumption CCM won't mess things up again, which is extremely doubtful. If anything, the second half of 2011 all the way up to the first half of 2012 was their most successful year both commercially and in popularity before CCM screwed things up big time. Even looking at Busker Busker's sales and downloads alone shows that they're a huge phenomenon in Korea, not to mention this is immensely impressive for a brand new group. Not even Big Bang and Psy could hope to overthrow this band so easily and it goes to show that Busker Busker's successful with the general public, perhaps even more than those two. Add in that all their songs are of their own composed material, it gives them further praise from the K-public whom got bombed with all those numerous rookie idol groups spawning all over the place. To them, it's a fresh change. They're practically the new Buzz in a way - a rock band in Korea years back who had several songs from one album that achieved under MTV-Korea's Top 10 at one point and had a fanclub believed to be roughly the same size as SNSD's, if not bigger before they headed to do their military service. Anyways, enough of my rambling of Korean bands XD. I'm not sure if what you wrote is a typo or not but Busker Busker is not an idol group Additionally, given SNSD's dominance in the idol sector in Korea (not to mention they've been scandal-free since debut aside from the 2008 Dream Concert black ocean in which it was a clear-cut black & white scenario where the group had zero faults), it's hard to think T-ara will be on par with them anytime soon - especially when SM holds a massive advantage in influence, resources and superior management skills. Agencies play an equally important role in both an idol group's success and decline.

The difference is that neither of those you mentioned above rejected CFs of similar nature whereas in T-ara's case, they rejected an alcohol CF yet took up a pachinko deal in which the nature of it is less than positive. Name one Hallyu Star who publicly said that they rejected bad CF No. 1 and took up bad CF No. 2 instead, then they can be compared with T-ara's case. Last I recall, I don't remember any famous stars in Hallyu publicly announce that they rejected an alcohol CF deal for moral reasons while taking up another CF deal of negative influence. People are peeved off because T-ara's public announcement on reasons why this alcohol CF was rejected is hypocritical. It's simple as that. Furthermore, CCM's statements are only going to make things even more harder for the group and this was proven at the scandal months ago, where they completely screwed things up big time. That's just detrimental to the group. Being invited to public events doesn't necessarily mean everything is going to go necessarily better and it's been pretty darn clear for years that netizens (whether it be fans or antis or just your average Joe or Jane) have a strong influence in the industry - but also serve as a counterweight against agencies in the broader picture (in such cases, there was talk about SM thinking about 'graduating' members of DBSK a while back, only to slash the idea because fans were so highly against it). The thing is, much of Korea's online community is still against them and that alone cannot be easily changed. CCM's statements isn't going do jack except bring further hate to the group, which is completely unnecessary. It needs to shut the hell up with its BS statements and let things go quietly if T-ara were to let what remains of their careers go smoothly. Netizens' crap can be ignored and recovered in the long run but if CCM's going to keep releasing nonsensical statements like this, then ditto. T-ara becomes the victim to both sides.

The problem is that that the group (probably in CCM's orders) said they rejected an alcohol CF because they want their image to cater to all ages - gambling machines do not cater to all ages either, which does make them (or CCM) hypocrites, even though the rejection of the alcohol CF deal was just a bogus PR lie. Most of the members don't even qualify for an alcohol CF deal anyway and it's not like any advertiser in Korea would want to take them in either with open arms too. Additionally, other idol groups and actors don't go around boasting stuff like this case either, or take up both types of deals and stay shut about morality. In T-ara's case, they rejected one of two things which are equally bad, rather than doing both or NOT doing both.

This gives me a bigger suspicion that the alcohol CF deal was likely just a lie for PR - a terrible PR tactic, to be precise now that the timing is considered. I agree with klee95 and iAmEd here. People need to goddamn see that while netizens can be a bunch of whacks, the damage they do can be ultimately recovered from through time and laying low. However, damage from the agency is just asking for trouble to brew up if it's not fixed ASAP and looking at CCM's record, fixing internal problems is next to impossible for it. These guys are burning T-ara down to the ground and it seems like their management tactics/strategies, excuses and all that are becoming far more pathetic for every dumb public announcement they make. I don't see ANY way T-ara can recover from CCM's sheer idiocy in the long run. Anyone wondered why DBSK split? Internal issues between the group and SM. Not exterior ones like antis or netizens. The way I see it, idol groups seem more frail to internal damage than external. "Hallyu actors and KARA have also done advertisements for pachinko machines." I don't know about actors but KARA is massively big in Japan. T-ara pales in comparison. CCM seriously needs to stop dragging other groups in articles such as this. It's stupid and childish. Hell, it even looks like CCM still has some sort of bitter hatred towards KARA simply over a lawsuit way back in 2010 that didn't even involve CCM itself in the first place. Again - stupid and childish. Full stop.

"Okay I will buy everything you say. Just give me a simple answer to my question. Why are you still a Queen's when you think they tell lies time and often?? If you have so much doubt about their claims and all that then shouldnt you be leaving this fandom considering the fact you have stated.. For me, that's different. i believe they are not wrong and that's the only reason I'm Still a Queen's. You have such a high extent of doubt on T-ara, yet you still say you are a Queen's didnt digest with me..Basically, from your point I wanna say that" You wanna support wrong things just because you have affection for those things"then I got nothing to say..." As I have said, there is nothing wrong to be skeptical & doubtful and even if they do lie time and time again (whether against their will or not), they still garner a lot of respect from me for putting up with a heck load of BS from that pathetic excuse of a CEO, the lunatic section of antis and weathering through one of the worst Kpop scandals in history. T-ara's schedules are known to be notoriously choking even for Kpop standards up to the point that they even go above SNSD's level or at least are on par with it, though the latter is given far better compensation for their work. That's why I ultimately became a fan. Because they've proven to be tough as boulders against all the pile of crap placed on their shoulders. If I were to leave the fandom, then it would be because I despise the group. Not because I doubt or mistrust them. There is a clear division between. But given the circumstances they're in within CCM, it's simply illogical to put full trust in what the members publicly say and I sure as hell am not the only one who thinks that way. "Like I stated we acted own our account. When the teaser of Mnet Confession was revealed then Hyomin full of tears was shown as a preview as far as i remember... That's when fans or general people made assumption.." Half the length of the show was just footage of what they did in their Malaysia concert. The other half was meant to be a serious discussion in which the interviewers were supposed to get info out of the members regarding that incident but no, it's pretty damn clear that the group is scared witless of ever saying anything because they're very well aware of what happens if they do anything to antagonize that filthy rat even the slightest. If not getting them to confess the truth except vague statements was the whole purpose of the show, then there would have been absolutely no point of even calling it 'T-ara: Confession' and it may as well have been called 'T-ara: The Bright Glitter-Glossy Side' or whatever name is best fitted for it. In fact, there would have been no reason for the interviewers to even ask the members about that incident either. "all people loves be together during happy times but only true and loyal people will stay during hard times and I bet, you too know that so confessing to fans for their support was must to T-ara during that time. T-ara must have known the gravity of thier scandal and still fans were with them so they were thankful and confessed. Nothing wrong with that... We both personally dont know T-ara but we are making our judgement from the news we have been through. And this is my thought about Confession they made" This is where I'd have to disagree with in regards to that show. As I have said, I don't see the reason to have an hour-length (or somewhere near that) broadcast about confessing to fans how thankful they are. You can do that on Youtube or even a press conference. Nowhere do I recall confessing to fans how thankful they are was the main topic conversed between them in the show. If anything, it wasn't. The way I see it, the show was broadcasted in a way that CCM seems to think fans will gobble up anything about T-ara shown in TV and time and time again, it's shown that CCM looks down and disregards whatever opinion the fandom has about anything regarding the group up to the point it thinks fans are nothing but a bank to draw money from. " If we or say I am supporting lies knowing that its wrong then I'm a hypocrite for going against Hater or K-netizens for not being Queen's wannabe. If I know T-ara is making lies and all then I have no right to ask hater to stfu for bashing or cyber bullying T-ara. In cases like these where we(I) think T-ara is doing wrong(by all means, yeah lying or deceiving people is wrong) then automatically hatres are right because they are bashing T-ara for making false claims.. Then who is wrong here?? We for supporting lies or they hating on lies?? You are showing double standard for accepting the name Queen's when you clearly stated their claims are lies...do you get me or are we still on different page???" There is a clear-cut line between criticizing and hating, mate. If I were a hater for their lies, I wouldn't even be in the fandom months ago - in fact, I'd be wasting my time in AKP if that were the case. I've clearly mentioned this before - being a fan doesn't mean you have to believe or support in everything what they say all the time and I frankly don't see anything wrong with that. No group is perfect and it's not like I claimed they're lying because they're evil witches of deceit or whatever whacked excuse there is - because that's what a blimmin' anti would say for the most part. If I have to make this even clearer, I don't support them when it comes down to obeying whatever crap CCM makes them do or say - which is certainly the most likely case when it comes to public announcements such as this. It's hardly any different to what they or CCM itself has said in the past. Can't a fan say that? Though by this point, it seems very clear to me that both of us have a very different definition of what a fan is. I dont' know how you became a fan but for me, as said way above, the main reason I became a fan is because they've proved how tough they are to put up with constant crap from their boss - and are even more overworked than soldiers to a degree (as one US military member in the forums stated a while back). Not because of their personalities, their music (sort of anyway) or whatever good qualities there are about them. We can argue about this forever but there's clearly no end to it as far as I see. We can either drop it off here with a full stop or continue on, whatever your choice.

NO TWO WORDS ABOUT THIS but now, T-ara is getting more money from abroad(showcase) while they couldnt have proper promotions in Korea for SL. Yet, they promoted SL in music shows for well over a month. I don't see how they suffered from those performances, unless you count negative reviews from netizens, Boram's shoking weight loss and that alleged black ocean they got but that one is debatable. Much of the money they earn from group activities doesn't even go to them anyway. Even if they earned a decent amount overseas, it's not a healthy long-term substitute over promotions in Korea - this is clearly seen by the fact that CCM plans on making SPEED and Co-Ed do a comeback early next year while also refusing Davichi to leave on their own, despite that chances are very, very few people are going to give a damn about the first two I mentioned since they went dead for months at the least. As far as I'm concerned, it looks pretty darn clear to me that CCM's gone desperate and realized that T-ara's income alone is not enough to sustain itself. The only girl groups capable of lasting overseas without making a comeback in Korea and still remain successful and relevant for months are SNSD, 2NE1 and Kara. "I never said that fans(Queen's) should buy everything what T-ara throws. what i'm trying to say is if we know or think that T-ara is wrong then we shouldnt follow them. I mean, like why should we follow something knowing that its wrong to do so... and trusting T-ara with all of our hearts isnt wrong but following them knowing that they are wrong is DELUSIONAL." First of all, who's 'we'? You're talking about tens of thousands of people here and secondly I don't see anything harmful about being at least skeptical about the group in public announcements and news - and frankly, what they say cannot be trusted much anyways because CCM's notorious for constant lies and making the group lie too, not to mention the typical 'oh, our group turned down this offer etc' crap has been played so many times that the legitimacy of it is highly questionable. Trusting everything what they say alone with all your heart itself is already one step towards being delusional. "Confession always doesnt refer to confessing about bad or unhappy things. T-ara never claimed that the confession was about scandal. No no. It was assumption own our own account. They did confessed and that confession was about how happy and glad they felt for being Queen's along their sides through out the scandal. Just because you wished them to speak about scandal and how it didnt go your way doesnt mean that it cant be a confession. It was confession about the happiness they felt from Queen's support and by no mean the confession episodes had caps like" about scandal or bullying" The show's purpose was supposed to be about what exactly occurred behind the scenes in regards to that incident, if I recall and the timing of the show itself can't be considered coincidental either. I even remember a lot of people here commenting that they hoped that the members would clear up whatever misunderstandings and mistakes occurred between them before the show was aired - and there's a bloody good reason why a lot of people were disappointed that nothing was truly confessed in detail. Everything about that incident was completely vague. Hell, I even gave a general translation of the summary of what they were talking about and if you want me to provide you that, don't hesitate to ask because I've got a copy of it available. I'm not making up stories here, mate. Confessing about how happy they are from fans' support can be done anytime, anywhere during their activities. I don't see a reason for a whole show dedicated to that since they've admitted they're pleased with fan support countless times before.

"You dont have to be ULTIMATE SYMBOL of FASHION to be followed by ppl. There are few ppls or say Queen's who would love to follow their styles...." I never said or implied they have to be an ultimate symbol of fashion but reading the article, it sounds like T-ara's claiming they have a significant impact in Korea's youth fashion sector which isn't exactly the truth. As you say - 'only a few people or Queen's that love to follow their styles' - the article doesn't say this specifically or whom exactly in Korea's youth they're referring to either. "Just because T-ara were badly received by general people, it doesnt not mean that they shouldnt try anything to clean their image. Just a scandal and idols shouldnt be humble or honest because ppl will not take them seriously is xxxx... so basically only majority are ppls are koreans right??? Then what about the K-queen's who are in minority!!! Arent they Koreans and wont they THINK THAT T-ARA IS GIVING CONCERN FOR PUBLIC HEALTH AFTER THE HITS THEY TOOK FROM PUBLIC B4/NOW. They actually think T-ara are not faking and that's the only reason they bear the name Queen's." The point is, the article (or its original Korean form) was in Korea, hence, purpoted to a Korean audience in the first place. This isn't America or anywhere else and compared to other groups in Kpop, T-ara's influence overseas is pretty miniscule at best. Regardless of where they promote, Korea is the source of their main income and it's an absolute must that they need to fix the issues they have there first if they're going to think about becoming as popular as they were prior to the scandal occurring. Furthermore, fans' opinions cannot be taken as a legitimate source of T-ara's actual intentions of this all the time, if that's what you're trying to claim. Being a Queen's doesn't mean one has to believe everything they say and do in front of the camera - after all, idols are manufactured products. "anyone who doesnt believe in T-ara but claim that they are Queen's are basically delusional peoples. why bother to be a fan and be part to that fandom when you dont believe in them.." As said above, being a fan doesn't mean I have to believe in them on everything. Given that they're under excessively tight control by CCM, it's not exactly wrongful or delusional to not believe what they say all the time because there's a decent chance what they say is just scripted and therefore, cannot be taken seriously. For example, in that show not so long ago called 'T-ara: Confession'. There was no confession at all and if anything, the entire subject talked between the members in that show changed completely into something else. Given the scandal's effects and T-ara's general image, I don't think it should come off as a surprise that they'd receive large amounts of attention from the public. Putting it simply, their scandal can be seen as the biggest of all this year and a particularly special one at that - no one is going to forget it easily. As far as I see it, what he seems to be doing is stooping down to desperate levels to stay afloat or even trying to delay the inevitable of going bankrupt as T-ara is CCM's flagship. The fact that Davichi wasn't able to leave peacefully goes to show that the losses on CCM would be tremendous in the long term, not to mention that he's actually planning SPEED and Co-Ed's comeback next year even though they've pretty much gone dead for God knows how long and that no one's going to give much of a damn about them anyway. At this point, it's getting clearer that CCM obviously isn't going to be able to survive relying only on T-ara's income. Davichi doesn't even benefit much of being in CCM anymore either, seeing how that they weren't particularly active in the music industry as of late unless being in weekend music shows like 'Immortal Singer' and the 'I Am a Singer' are counted while their popularity has also seem to have gone stagnant.

"According to recent news, idol groups have the second most amount of influence on today's youth and T-ara wanted to make sure they kept their image as an appropriate girl group." Well their image as an 'appropriate girl group' has taken a hit and it hasn't exactly recovered sufficiently enough in Korea. No surprise there. "T-ara said, "We want youth to mimic our dances, fashion styles and enjoy us for that instead of cater to encouraging the youth drinking culture. Because of this, we thought it would be inappropriate to advertise publicly for an alcohol brand." T-ara also said, "In the future, we hope there will be less advertisement appearing to youth encouraging them to drink." I'm curious as to what fashion style they're exactly referring to since T-ara are not exactly big pioneers of fashion within Kpop or Korea's youth as a whole, at least compared to those like Big Bang. I doubt it's the stuff they wear for the concepts they do. Furthermore, underage drinking isn't uncommon in Korea so it doesn't make much of a difference whether if there's more or less advertisements encouraging teens to drink. The drinking culture in Korea is heavily seeded into society anyway and has been for God knows how long - and it's not uncommon for parents to even let their kids drink at special occasions either. Most, if not all alcohol CFs in Korea to my knowledge are also often done by actresses or older singers for the most part - and are more pickier with who can pull them off - SISTAR, Uee and Hyuna are also considered 'sexy icons' in Kpop (ditto about Hara) so they get a pass even as idols. Hell, you don't even see other big groups like SNSD, WG or 2NE1 doing alcohol CFs for image reasons but they don't go around saying it in public like this. Much like T-ara, a big portion of their fandoms consist significantly of teenagers so it's obvious entire groups aren't going to go around advertising something that's meant for adults in a legal sense. Even then, the only members in T-ara who would qualify for an alcohol CF or come close to it are Hyomin, Eunjung and Jiyeon. From an advertiser's view, it would be quite illogical to have say, Boram in an alcohol CF. Putting it simply, few if any are going to bother taking this news seriously. This is at best for PR purposes and grasping at straws at worst. How many people actually think T-ara would give much of a concern for public health after the hit they took months from the public before?

Loophole: So WHO actually offered CCM about this 10 billion won offer, eh? WHO? Even if this isn't a publicity stunt (seeing the money amount, it's goes to show CCM's up with its typical antics and overexaggerated crap again - not even other agencies go on bragging about stuff like this), it all goes to show that the ones who made the offer don't realize or care that they're potentially putting an even larger pile of work on T-ara's shoulders. This tour can wait long after the one in Japan's finished. Not during or before it. That's just overkill. Sidenote - anyone with even a hint of geography would know that China and Taiwan are not SEA countries, nor are they even considered part of SEA itself. Fail of geography there. Mate, how are you sure this money is going to go to T-ara, or even a majority or fair share of it? Chances are CCM will probably take the bulk of this money and leave the scraps for the members (which will also have to be divided in between 8 members, assuming this tour takes place after Dani's in), considering T-ara doesn't decide where to promote or how much money is distributed between the two. If you're going to favor increasing their workload while putting more risk to their mental and physical health after all the hell they've gone through in the past months, then I suggest you take a strong reconsideration. Promoting overseas as a long-term substitute for promotions in Korea isn't going to cut everything as with the majority of Kpop idol groups, Korea's always the most important source of income, followed by Japan. T-ara ain't SNSD. The validity of CCM's claims aren't even reliable and known to be full of outright lies and contradictions too. Well, with CCM known to be the most notorious and incompetent (not to mention unreliable) agency in Kpop, you can't expect people in the Kpop community to give them an easy nod. From the Nam Gyuri incident in mid 2009, KKS's unwarranted opinion of KARA's lawsuit against DSP, T-ara being overworked with visits to the hospital, new member additions over unjustified and illogical reasons and now the scandal back in July, 5dolls' bullying scandal etc, I don't think it's difficult to wonder why people heavily dislike CCM and won't hesitate to drop crap on it.

I swear, the organizers need to stop being cheap asses and hire some real damn security for events like this. Really. If I was the organizer, I wouldn't have hesitated to even hire ex-military or law enforcement personnel in such situations or even request the police to maintain calmness and stability. Fans, whether it be international or Korean, need to accept and recognize that there's a clear boundary between them and the celebrities they love when it comes to interaction whether if someone gets hurt or not. It's as if the word 'self-restraint' flies out of their heads and take advantage of the lack of security detail there. Meeting the celebrity you admire is good and all but goddamnit, show some respect and decency for God's sake.