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On Wednesday, January 4, 2023, "Forever with Wonyoung" trended on Twitter after the IVE singer sent some messages on the artist-fan messaging app UNIVERSE.
The messages seemed sudden to Wonyoung's fans, who then began worrying about her because of the nature of her texts. The 18-year-old idol has faced the brunt of many criticisms online, some of which got harsher with time.
In the text, the IVE singer shared that she gained strength by knowing that she has “unnies” (term of respect for older females) by her side. Although the cryptic nature of her text made fans concerned, they sent in words of encouragement to support the IVE singer on Twitter in hopes of cheering her up.
IVE’s Wonyoung once again trends on Twitter as fans shower her with unconditional support
For K-pop fans, cheering up their idols in times of any kind of worry is a big deal and they take it seriously. DIVEs, IVE’s fandom, recently took to Twitter to send in an abundance of support to the 18-year-old member, Wonyoung.
On January 4, the IVE singer sent multiple messages on UNIVERSE where she mentioned that she was grateful to the people who supported her and cheered for her. She added that she also cheers for them:
“It gives me strength to know that I have an unnie who cheers me on, I have an unnie, I bet you’re jealous”
She then added:
“Unnie, now you can say the same to people who give you a difficult time, Say it with me, I have Wonyoung, I bet you’re jealous”
After reading the messages, fans wondered if the idol had read any of the controversies or hate comments against her online. The most recent incident was when Wonyoung and Leeseo were targeted incessantly for allegedly lip-syncing their cover of IU’s strawberry moon at the 2022 MBC Gayo Dajejeon on December 31.
While it isn’t clear what led the IVE singer to send those messages, fans began pouring supportive messages with the hashtag #WeLoveYouWonyoung. One fan mentioned that it was “a bit unusual” for the singer to message her fans late at night and talk about encouragement.
Meanwhile, others commented on how despite being a "minor," she has to deal with sasaengs (anti-fans) and that it must be "exhauting to deal with negativity" most of the time.
IVE’s fans criticize KBS for publishing news of the lip-syncing incident in an insensitive tone
Wonyoung and Leeseo’s lip-syncing controversy spread like wildfire on the internet, both on South Korean forums and international sites. KBS News was one of the websites that reported the news. However, their choice of words was deemed insensitive and disrespectful by DIVEs.
On Thursday, January 5, KBS News posted a video with the thumbnail:
"'Are these guys singers' Trending girl group criticized”
The video instantly came under DIVEs’ radar. They criticized the network channel for publishing the incident in such a manner, even though Wonyoung has also been an MC at KBS’ music show Music Bank for a while.
Wonyung's fans believed that the network should have been mindful in talking about the issue. Their anger led them to demand that the IVE singer should leave her position as a host.
In other news, IVE will hold their first-ever concert titled The Prom Queens in February for two nights, February 11 and 12, 2023.
