FREE HUGS BUT NO KISSES

South Korean Police Summon Japanese Woman Who Kissed BTS Member

At a free hug event last year a fan shocked BTS star, Jin, by kissing him without consent.

A member of the renowned K-pop group, BTS, Jin filed a complaint to the South Korean police after a Japanese woman allegedly forcibly kissed him, CNN reported. Jin, 32, was at a free hug event last year when he was kissed without consent by the fan. Seoul’s Songpa police station requested the woman in her 50s to appear for questioning, police said on Friday, over the sexual harassment allegation. Although police refused to disclose the woman’s identity, citing privacy issues, the station did confirm that it has launched an investigation. This all happened the day after Jin, whose real name is Kim Seok-jin, completed his mandatory 18-month military service in June 2024. To celebrate his discharge and BTS’s 11-year anniversary, he offered free hugs to fans at an event that reportedly attracted 1,000 people in Seoul. It is here that a woman suddenly kissed Jin on his cheek making him visibly uncomfortable, according to video footage that later went viral. The woman wrote about the encounter in an online blog post: “My lips touched his neck. His skin was so soft,” according to Yonhap news agency.