Disrespected and Bullied: The Tragedy of Lee Ji Hyun, Who Debuted at 15 in a Multinational Girl Group
Jewelry’s Lee Ji Hyun opens up about the severe bullying, discrimination, and isolation she endured after debuting at just 15 in the multinational girl group Circle.
Behind the dazzling lights and spotlight surrounding idol groups, there are often stories of loneliness and conflict that can be difficult for young performers to endure.
In particular, in the late 1990s, when even the term “K-pop” did not yet exist, the reality faced by multinational girl groups created with the ambitious goal of breaking down cultural barriers was an extraordinarily harsh test for teenage girls with little to no experience of the world.
Lee Ji Hyun, a former member of Jewelry and now a television personality, has moved the public with a candid confession about the severe bullying and discrimination she endured when she debuted at just 15, more than two decades ago.
In a video uploaded to the YouTube channel Saeropge Hasoseo on Sep 9th, Lee Ji Hyun appeared as a guest and looked back on the turbulent early years of her entertainment career, openly sharing her feelings and experiences.
Although she is widely known to the public as a member of Jewelry, the hugely popular girl group formed in 2001, her first official step into the entertainment industry actually came in 1998 with Circle, a multinational girl group consisting of Korean, Japanese, and Chinese members.
Lee Ji Hyun was only 15 years old and still in middle school at the time. The group ambitiously brought together members of different nationalities, but the era’s social environment and cultural differences were simply too significant for the young girls to easily understand and blend with one another.
Lee Ji Hyun recalled that the atmosphere at the time was completely different from today, when Korean culture and the Korean Wave are widely embraced throughout Asia.
Around 30 years ago, she explained, awareness of Korea itself was extremely low in Japan, while there was also a widespread atmosphere of openly belittling and disregarding Korea.
Moving to another country at such a young age and pursuing activities there, Lee Ji Hyun had to endure discriminatory looks and contemptuous remarks directed at her openly and directly. For her, working overseas became a source of immense fear and an ordeal that was extremely difficult to endure.
Even more damaging was the rejection she experienced from fellow members in everyday settings such as their dormitory and waiting rooms. The phenomenon of ijime, or group bullying, which was a serious social issue in Japan at the time, had effectively been brought into the group itself.
Lee Ji Hyun revealed, “The Japanese and Chinese members took turns leading the ijime. One day, one person would be the target, and the next day, someone else would be bullied. It became a bizarre vicious cycle.”
In an environment where the target of the group’s systematic exclusion and isolation changed every day, like walking on thin ice, there was virtually nothing a 15-year-old girl could do.
She suffered such severe emotional pain that she prayed every night, “I wish tomorrow would never come.” Despite crying out whenever she was hurting, there was no adult who reached out to help her. Eventually, overwhelmed by despair, she concluded that “the world is meaningless,” completely cutting herself off from others and closing her heart.
The nightmare finally came to an end in 2000 when the group officially disbanded. The following year, in 2001, Lee Ji Hyun experienced a decisive turning point in her life: she redebuted as a member of the girl group Jewelry.
It was the members of Jewelry who ultimately helped save Lee Ji Hyun, who had become extremely guarded and withdrawn because of the emotional wounds she had suffered in her previous group.
Lee Ji Hyun expressed her heartfelt gratitude, saying, “The older members had such wonderful personalities that they warmly embraced me and helped me, even though I was full of wounds. They approached me first and started conversations with me, even when I barely spoke, and they guided me.”
The scars left by the discrimination and bullying Lee Ji Hyun endured in a foreign country at the age of 15 have remained decades later. Yet her experience ultimately demonstrated that wounds inflicted by people can also be healed through the warmth of other people.
Recently, Lee Ji Hyun joined Park Jung Ah, Seo In Young, Cho Min Ah, and Ha Joo Yeon for a full-group Jewelry performance, receiving an enthusiastic response from fans. Her latest confession offers a poignant look at the pain hidden behind the glamour of first-generation idols, while also highlighting one woman’s mature journey of healing and recovery after overcoming those painful experiences.
Sources: Daum