NCT's Renjun under fire for leaking a civilian's phone number

Renjun, a member of the K-pop boyband NCT, is suffering the consequences for leaking the number of a civilian online to a chat platform publicly, reports Allkpop.

This was a largely controversial move done by the star, since it resulted in the civilian receiving significant harassment from NCT fans. Apologies from Renjun's agency, SM Entertainment, and Renjun himself did little to soothe netizen outrage, according to Allkpop.

Image: yellow_3to3 / Instagram

Renjun is a K-pop star who is best known for being a member of the K-pop boyband NCT. Affinity Magazine reports that NCT is considered one of K-pop’s most experimental boybands, as their concept is that they are made to have “limitless members” and currently have 26 in the count.

Image: yellow_3to3 / Instagram

Renjun, also known as Huang Renjun, is a Chinese citizen with Korean ancestry. He was born on March 23, 2000, in China’s Jilin Province. He is effectively bilingual in both Korean and Mandarin.

Image: yellow_3to3 / Instagram

According to KBIzoom, Renjun entered the K-pop world at the young age of 14 and underwent training under SM Entertainment, leaving his hometown in China for a new life in South Korea alone.

Sohu reports that Renjun debuted in 2016 with NCT when the group released ‘Chewing Gum’. Since then, Renjun has made a reputation for himself as one of the group’s strongest dancers and vocalists.

However, work as a K-pop star was stressful for Renjun, as The Straits Times reports he is currently on hiatus since April 24 due to stress and anxiety, which has taken a toll on his physical and mental health.

Image: yellow_3to3 / Instagram

The same report from The Straits Times continued that the star had informed fans that he had been harassed already since then in April, where a ‘sasaeng’, or obsessive fan, had obtained his private number and flooded the star with abusive texts.

Image: yellow_3to3 / Instagram

Things escalated in June when Renjun was reported by Allkpop to have resorted to exposing one of the numbers who have been contacting him on the online chat platform Bubble to NCT fans, alleging that the exposed number in question came from a ‘sasaeng’ who had been harassing him.

Image: yellow_3to3 / Instagram

However, Koreaboo reports that the ‘sasaeng’ in question might not have been one at all, but an ordinary civilian who had called Renjun’s number due to mistaking it to be her friend’s, and had unfortunately had to change her number after being harassed by NCT fans instead since Renjun had exposed her number.

Image: yellow_3to3 / Instagram

Another Koreaboo article states that the civilian reported the event to the police and provided proof that she was not a'sasaeng'. Netizens expressed sympathy for her, saying it was awful that she had to prove her lack of involvement in being a 'sasaeng' despite already being a victim of harassment.

Image: yellow_3to3 / Instagram

This is the latest in a string of scandals involving NCT, as the group had gained massive international backlash following their announced collaboration with American coffee chain Starbucks, which was interpreted as a lack of support for Palestine in the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, according to Allkpop.