Police investigate knife attack threats against NewJeans

NewJeans members (from left) Hanni, Minji, Danielle, Hyein, and Haerin in a concept photo for “Supernatural.” Image: NewJeans’ official website

A recent online post threatening knife attacks against popular K-pop girl group NewJeans is being investigated by police, ADOR, the group’s agency, confirmed Wednesday, June 26.

“We are preparing to enhance security measures (for NewJeans) in cooperation with the Japanese concert planning company. Police are investigating the matter domestically, and we are actively cooperating with them,” ADOR said.

The threat was made on a local online community site Monday. “I bought this to use at the NewJeans concert,” the post said. “I plan to give each member a hit when they get out of the van.” The post included a photo of a Japanese knife.

The image apparently had been captured from an online knife shop. The post has since been deleted.

NewJeans is scheduled to hold “Bunnies Camp 2024 Tokyo Dome,” a fan meeting, on June 26 and 27 at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. Ador has reassured fans, saying, “We will do everything we can to ensure the artists can perform safely.”

This is not the first time that such a threat has been made against a K-pop group. Last month, a similar threat was made against Wonyoung of the K-pop girl group IVE.

Starship Entertainment, IVE’s agency, said on May 9, “A post threatening the safety of our artist, Jang Won-young, was made on an online community. The post specified the date and time of the alleged crime. We have reported this to the National Police Agency, which has begun investigating the author of the post.”