A Japanese media outlet that reported on BTS member RM smoking in a non-smoking area is being criticized for excessive invasion of privacy. Not only RM but other BTS members' private lives have been tracked and reported, causing an uproar.
The Japanese weekly Shūkan Bunshun on the 22nd reported the members' schedules after their Tokyo Dome concert in a paparazzi-style report. It tracked the movements of members spending private time after the concert.
BTS performed 'BTS WORLD TOUR 'ARIRANG'' at Tokyo Dome in Japan on the 17th and 18th. This was the first Japan concert in about seven years since July 2019, and because it was the full group performing together for the first time in a long while, both shows sold out, proving the explosive interest in BTS. Major Japanese media also reported the group's return on their front pages.
Meanwhile, Shūkan Bunshun tracked BTS members' private lives after the concert. It ran a feature report with paparazzi photos about the private time BTS members spent in Tokyo after finishing the show. Shūkan Bunshun published photos saying Jin secretly visited a high-end hot spring inn in Izu, and that V visited a Pokémon theme park. It also reported that J-Hope and Jimin returned to their country immediately.
Regarding RM, it said he went straight to an izakaya in Shibuya and raised suspicions that he discarded a cigarette butt after smoking on the street. Shūkan Bunshun ran a feature titled "BTS complete close-up report" on these BTS members' private lives.
The problem is that Shūkan Bunshun's reporting constitutes an excessive invasion of privacy. Shūkan Bunshun dug into BTS members' private time and reported it without permission. It published photos taken without the subjects' consent and ran a feature on their private lives without showing respect, and in the process has been criticized for attempting intentional smears with sensational headlines and issues.
BTS released their fifth studio album 'Arirang (ARIRANG)' last month and made a full-group comeback for the first time in three years and nine months, and are conducting a world tour of 85 shows across 34 cities worldwide. BTS's comeback title track 'Swim (SWIM)' entered No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard main song chart, the Hot 100, and has remained in the top 10 for four consecutive weeks.
[Photo] Provided by BigHit Music.
[OSEN]