Red Velvet Irene’s Treatment for aespa Draws Mixed Reactions: ‘Don’t Try Restoring Your Image Using Your Juniors’

In an online community, Red Velvet Irene once again faces criticism from K-netizens for her actions towards aespa.

On June 26, the members of aespa took to Instagram to express their appreciation to their senior and fellow SM artist Red Velvet Irene for bringing them watermelons.

Karina, Giselle, Winter, and NingNing all shared photos of the snacks that their senior idol had sent to them, serving as further proof of Irene’s affection for her younger colleagues.

After viewing the quartet’s Instagram stories, an original poster (OP) posted to the online forum Nate Pann to share a heartwarming exchange between the two groups, stating:

“Irene must have bought snacks for aespa because they were practicing for their concert today. It’s nice. But is Irene buying watermelon because it’s their symbolic fruit?”

The post has currently received approximately 130k views and has sparked mixed reactions among internet users.

Initially, ReVeluvs flooded the comment section with positive feedback, praising Irene for her unwavering love and support towards her fellow junior idols.

A few of the remarks stated:

“Irene seems to take good care of her juniors, including NCT and former SM trainee Ko Eun, and they are still friendly and buy her a lot of delicious food. It seems like she buys a lot of food for her groupmates too, which is nice to see.”

“I don’t think they even thought about the symbolic fruit, haha. Didn’t she just give it to them because it’s summer and it’s easy to chew and eat?”

“I heard that pre-cut watermelons are expensive… Sister, please buy me, too…”

“As expected, a pretty girl has a beautiful heart, too.”

Despite the initial positive intentions of the post, it was eventually bombarded with harmful and hostile remarks, resurfacing the “gapjil”scandal involving a magazine editor from 2020. At that time, she acknowledged and expressed remorse for her past behavior of verbally mistreating a staff member during a photoshoot.

Despite having recently undergone treatment with aespa, Irene faced accusations of using her juniors to improve her public image.

“Be nice to the staff, too.”

“Try it one hundred days and see if your image will recover. That stigma will follow you for the rest of your life. People don’t change and can’t be changed. end.”

“Don’t try to restore your image by taking advantage of good juniors.”

“Buy some for the staff, too. Haha”

At the same time, Red Velvet, the group that Irene is a part of, marked its 10th year since their debut along with their fellow members Seungri, Wendy, Joy, and Yeri.

The quintet celebrated the occasion by releasing their 9th mini-album, titled “Cosmic,”on June 24. The album featured six tracks, including the eponymous lead single, “Sunflower,”as well as “Last Drop,””Love Arcade,””Bubble,”and “Night Drive.”