After ending 10 years of obscurity and seizing the "Daesang," the fall of variety show queen Park Na-rae, who seemed poised for continued success, has no wings. It was a clear, complete failure of risk management that put the first button on wrong, and her image plummeted.
For Park Na-rae, 2025 became nothing short of a nightmare. From allegations of her former manager's abusive behavior to suspicions of illegal medical practices, Park Na-rae faced the biggest crisis since her debut and was effectively pushed to the brink of expulsion from the entertainment industry. But what disappointed the public more was not the incidents themselves but Park Na-rae's attitude and way of handling the crisis. From a crisis management perspective, Park Na-rae's response was so erroneous at every stage that it could be called a textbook example of failure.
▲ "money" and emotional appeals chosen instead of "sincerity," missing the golden hour
The core of all crisis management is "initial response," and when allegations of abusive behavior first arose from disclosures by former managers, Park Na-rae's side put forward an emotional response instead of immediate fact-checking and a sincere apology. The most fatal misstep was the incident in which Park Na-rae's mother unilaterally transferred 10 million won to the former managers. This was not a gesture to mend the situation but spread as a "bribery suspicion" that she was trying to buy their silence with money, provoking public outrage. That "first button," which attempted a financial solution without reflection on the essential problems of "labor exploitation" and "personal denigration," inflicted a fatal blow to morality. If at that time she had met the parties involved in person and bowed, public sentiment might have taken a different turn.
▲ The trap of the excuse "I didn't know"… the 'injection aunt' and proxy prescriptions
The response to the so-called "injection aunt" incident and the suspicion of proxy prescriptions, which broke out before the abusive behavior controversy had even settled, was also amateurish. Regarding the allegation that illegal medical procedures were performed at her home by a nonmedical person, Park Na-rae's side adopted an avoidance strategy emphasizing ignorance, saying "I didn't know it was illegal" and "I thought they had a medical license." But soon evidence emerged suggesting she forced the prescription of controlled substances in the name of a former manager and a threatening remark—"Once I gave the drugs, you can't get out (of being accomplices) either"—was made public, and the explanations instantly became lies. The excuse "I didn't know" was received by the public as brazenness, and trust fell to the bottom. A ploy to avoid legal responsibility instead returned as a target of moral criticism.
▲ The worst move: a 'fake reconciliation' show that led to deceiving the public
Even the "apology statement," which should have been the period to risk management, was poison. Park Na-rae posted on social media that she had resolved misunderstandings with the former managers and issued a statement saying "everything is my fault," but this was immediately revealed to be false. The victims protested, saying "we never agreed," and Park Na-rae's unilateral "appeal for reconciliation" appeared as a "media play" that deceived the public. A genuine apology is completed when the victim accepts it, but Park Na-rae rushed a "showy apology" to placate public opinion, and this ultimately led to removal from broadcasts, suspension of activities and the cancellation of programs in production.
▲ Virtually the last chance… even the video statement was a self-inflicted error
In the final statement video released on the 16th, the nuance was strongly "let's do it by the book," without apology or explanation. Standing before the camera in a solemn and grave atmosphere, Park Na-rae said, "There are aspects of the facts raised that need to be calmly verified, so we are proceeding with legal procedures. In that process, we will not make additional public remarks or explanations. We judge that this matter is not a personal emotional or relational issue but something that must be objectively verified through official procedures."
The 2-minute 24-second final statement video may have been an all-out move from Park Na-rae's standpoint, but the public viewed it as a self-inflicted error. In the end, what could have been stopped with a hoe became unstoppable even with a pike; in 2025, Park Na-rae's crisis management repeated the worst pattern of "no response—false explanation—shifting responsibility." On top of this, it emerged that her one-person agency (Anpark) was unlicensed, not even registered as a popular culture and arts planning business, attaching the label of "lack of compliance spirit."
What Park Na-rae needs now is not a flashy legal team or an emotional appeal but a bone-cutting reflection that relinquishes everything and takes full legal and moral responsibility, the only way to maybe turn the closed hearts of the public even a little. But regrettably, due to repeated failures in risk management, Park Na-rae has become too distant from the public.
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