On August 1, 2022, NewJeans (a rookie K-pop group) debuted with a particularly problematic song "Cookie". (Please only listen to this song once to understand the lyrics, do not stream it more than is necessary, this sends the wrong message to ADOR and its parent company HYBE) This song is riddled with sexual undertones and a plethora of innuendos. While this isn't inherently wrong, there was a specific problem with this song: Only one of their members was of legal age when they debuted. (Western standards only, Minji is still considered a minor under Korean Law). Their youngest member was-and is still-fourteen.

Sexual exploitation isn't a new thing in the K-pop industry, and to see it occur yet again, this time to a group with a fourteen-year-old is sickening.

Min Hee-jin (their director) has been known on multiple occasions to debut minors into the kpop industry and give minors sexually charged songs. (Ex: Taemin, Yeri). In fact, for kpop idol Taemin, she specifically requested that he didn't work out, so his chest doesn't look broad (aka more adult-like) whilst *still* giving him a sexual song.

Also, the song "Cookie" was written by 2 English natives, one of them being Swedish. It was then translated into Korean by a fluent bilingual Korean-English speaker. And even in Korean, the lyrics are very *very* suggestive (This reddit post from a native Korean speaker proves this).

The fact is that Hybe/Ador is heavily trying to promote NewJeans to a western audience, an audience that clearly knows what Hee-jin was doing by giving minors, especially a fourteen-year-old, a song clearly meant as a euphemism for adult topics. This isn't surprising, considering she based the NewJeans mood board debut on highly questionable (and frankly, disgusting) lolita-esque content. She called Brooke Shields her muse and inspiration for NewJeans, an actress who as a minor was made to kiss a then 39-year-old man, posed naked, wore revealing outfits, starred in multiple sexual movies (including the infamous Blue Lagoon), modelled for ads of a sexual nature, and was taken advantage of throughout her youth. This was also coupled with her posters of real naked women strewn across her office, of questionable age.

Please do not consider this an attack on NewJeans. However, the willful ignorance when it comes to serious issues such as this is disturbing and unacceptable. Child exploitation is a huge and ongoing issue within kpop which genuinely needs more attention. The number of kpop actors who- when they matured- spoke up about the abuse they went through sexually and mentally due to debuting as a minor is surreal.

Other similar occurrences are a girl group known as Girl Crush (Known for their explicit concepts, and heavily revealing outfits, has plans to debut a new idol as soon as she turns 18. Creepier still is the fact that she will train under these idols while still being a minor. Multiple fans and netizens have labelled this as grooming. Wonyoung (from girl group IVE) also sang a questionable song whilst being a minor as well. 

NewJeans is not the first group to suffer at the hands of greedy adults who care more about money than the safety of their young idols from sexual exploitation (and frankly, some staff even partake in this, looking at you Hee-jin). This doesn't mean it's okay in the slightest. Please do NOT actively stream Cookie, as high stream numbers give a message to Ador that they can do this again, and members like Hyein should NEVER have to do this again. By addressing the controversy in Newjeans, you can address the bigger issue of sexual exploitation in Korea's biggest international industry.

The sexualization of real-world minors has no place within K-pop in any generation. It's time for it to go, and we can help speed up the process. Because if we don't, NewJeans and future K-pop groups with debuting minors will be continually sexualized, and children will continue to be harmed. We cannot allow this to happen.