Garam's side of the story was confirmed by the School Violence Committee report.... so goal posts were moved.
Claims/conspiracy theories are from the usual suspects: Reddit, Twitter, Youtube, Naver, Nate Pann, translation blogs, etc. đź«
Please check out the original Fact Checking Document for all the BS-debunking before the disclosure of Garam's school violence report.
Kim Garam (KGR) and her friends verbally abused and screamed expletives at the alleged victim, pseudonym Yoo Eunseo (YES), for three hours.
In the School Violence Committee Report (SVCR), Garam is specifically pointed out as one of the students who did not curse at anyone in the "three hours" confrontation at the apartment complex. Half of the children present were documented to not use expletives at all and were “talking.” Moreover, the confrontation is noted to conclude with the children reconciling their differences and staying friends.Â
Please bear in mind that this documentation of events contains multiple perspectives and were recollections of literal 12-year-olds.
Moreover, it should be noted that the school violence committee only pertains to the profanity-filled [text] messages KGR sent YES, including when KGR demanded an apology on behalf of her friend, the subject/victim of the underwear photography. KGR's SVCR summary only accounts for her swearing in the "elementary school" confrontations, both of which began on social media, and her SVCR is also categorized under cyber violence. The confrontation documented at the beginning of the report at the apartment complex, which served as the basis for this myth, is to provide context as to where the conflict began. The school did not consider this particular event a contentious one.Â
2. KGR and her friends kidnapped YES on multiple occasions.
KGR/friends confronted YES at public, social spots (apartment complex while on their school retreat, a middle school soccer match, elementary school) and at no point was YES not free to leave on her own. In two out of the three confrontations documented in the SVCR, YES met up with KGR/friends by her own volition.
3. It was iljin infighting / gang infighting.
There is simply no credible documentation that verifies this allegation. Not every conflict is bullying, neither is school violence; and certainly not confronting someone who violated the privacy and autonomy of others.
4. KGR framed YES and forced her to apologize for the illegal photo incident and the SVCR was falsified.
Yoo Eunseo admitted she uploaded the underwear photo onto Female Student 1’s Facebook account prior to Garam and her friends even confronting YES and demanding an apology ("Part 2").Â
The underwear photo incident and YES’s subsequent forced transfer happened in May 2018. If there were any revelations of injustice, including a false apology forced from YES, surely it would have been noted by the SVCR that opened against KGR in June 2018 and YES’s forced transfer would have been canceled.Â
YES and her legal counsel also threatened to release the full SVCR back in May 2022 if HYBE did not apologize to her for maintaining that KGR is a victim of bullying. Why was the SVCR valid then when it was used to threaten KGR but invalid now that, once revealed, it supports all of KGR/HYBE’s claims?
YES is documented in the SVCR to have continued gossiping, lying and involving older students to threaten her former friends after the fact ("Part 3"). It could just be that it's extremely humiliating for YES, a 12-year-old at the time, to admit she wronged her friend in such a perverse manner so she lied about the incident, hoping her new school life won’t be met with more difficulties.
To believe YES fell victim to a scheme or coercion, one would have to believe a 12-year-old KGR and her 12-year-old friends pulled the wool over the vice principal, school policeman, counselor and other adults on the judging panel that gave them a no. 5 disposition for swearing and sending threatening text messages.
5. It was a male student who uploaded the underwear picture. Kim Garam was aware of this fact but cursed YES anyway.
Yoo Eunseo took a selfie with a girl in her underwear in the background. If another student ended up with it, it still means her intention was to spread the picture. Getting cursed at is getting off easy because this is an illegal act as well as abusive and traumatic for the victim.Â
6. YES transferred schools because of KGR and her friends' bullying.
Bullying is one-sided and systematic. KGR and her friends' verbal attacks were reactions to YES instigating violence first. It is also literally stated the SVCR that YES transferred due to the underwear photo incident.Â
7. If all this evidence was real, HYBE would not have terminated her contract.Â
No one knows why HYBE didn't follow through with their promise to take legal action to protect their artist against "malicious slander" (HYBE's words). However, in the contract termination announcement, HYBE also never retracted any prior statements they made in defense of Garam nor did they apologize to the accuser.Â
It's also a crime in Korea to forge the SVCR or publicize the minutes of a SVCR unless you're an involved person or the guardian of one. Garam would be facing a lawsuit if these documents were fabricated.
