On April 2, TenAsia reported that aespa’s Karina and actor Lee Jae-wook had broken up after 5 weeks of public dating, due to emotional pain caused by various malicious comments and apologetic feelings for fans.

Later on the same day, Karina and Lee Jae-wook’s respective agencies, SM and C-JeS, both confirmed the news, with the former simply acknowledging the breakup and the latter explaining the reason to be Lee Jae-wook having to focus on work.

The statement of Lee Jae-wook’s agency has received mixed reactions, especially in comparison with SM’s tactful notice. This leads to some fans speculating that Lee Jae-wook’s side is trying to pin the blame on Karina.

As a result, fans of Karina have been targeting Lee Jae-wook on SNS platforms, leaving comments about how Lee Jae-wook remained silent throughout the couple’s dating period and letting Karina shoulder all the hatred, to the point of having to write an apology letter.

These fans also criticized Lee Jae-wook’s appearance, and popularity, and accused the actor of “one-sidedly benefiting” from the dating news.

Additionally, many fans mentioned how Lee Jae-wook’s agency threatened to take legal action against malicious comments targeting the actor himself, not taking Karina into consideration.

However, many also find the criticism from Karina fans to be unreasonable, especially as C-JeS has no responsibility to sue malicious acts against Karina. These people also insisted that trying to blame either of the two artists was pointless.

It can be seen that the dating news has put pressure on both Lee Jae-wook and Karina and led to criticism even though they did nothing but date. In fact, instead of overly criticizing idols’ dating partners and trying to find a “villain” in the breakup, fans need to learn to respect their idols’ privacy and personal decisions more.