Concerns are being raised over a new SNS trend currently spreading like wildfire among teens and youths.
In the midst of the ongoing feud between HYBE Labels and Min Hee Jin of ADOR, recent rumors alleged secretive connections between HYBE Labels and a South Korean pseudoscience religious group, known as ‘Dahnworld‘. The rumors quickly spread indiscriminately, with many online users claiming that HYBE was a company affiliated with a “cult” as if the rumors were confirmed facts.
Although ‘Dahnworld’ corporation has since released a statement denying any affiliation with HYBE and particularly BTS, the recent emergence of the pseudoscience organization in the spotlight has nonetheless birthed unpredicted consequences.
Currently, it has become an SNS trend for youths and teens to visit the numerous ‘Dahnworld’ meditation centers located across South Korea. Young SNS users are flocking to these nearby meditations centers with their phones and cameras, filming the interiors of the centers without permission, showing up during meditation sessions to sing or dance to songs like “Hype Boy” by NewJeans or “Magnetic” by ILLIT, and causing a disturbance.
Additionally, related SNS challenges centered around ILLIT’s “Magnetic” are also gaining momentum, as it has mockingly become known among teens and youths as the “cult song”. (On the other hand, “Hype Boy” by NewJeans is now being referred to as the “freedom song”.)
Netizens reacted with comments like, “This looks dangerous TT”, “People are approaching an organization that might be a extremist cult a little too lightly…”, “Causing a disturbance in person can be really dangerous and might lead to physical collisions. If those centers claim that they are businesses, those people can face charges for obstruction of business”, “I work at a tutoring school, and this is all that the kids are talking about these days…”, “Do not approach cults lightly!! They have coercive tactics of converting you!!”, “HYBE needs to take action somehow before something happens”, and more.
