JYJ held a press conference at a hotel in Santiago, Chile on March 8 (local time) and explained the meaning of their concert tour in South America.

The group members apologized for the controversy regarding making abusive statements to their fanatical fans and expressed their feelings.

The JYJ members (Kim Jae Joong, Park Yoo Chun, and Kim Junsu) revealed their feelings for the first time about the controversy arising from their making abusive statements to fanatic fans who always follow the group members and violate their privacy in 2009. They said, "It was like living in a prison without bars because we knew that somebody was always watching us to share every moment of our lives."


JYJ held a press conference at a hotel in Santiago on March 8 before they hold their concert in Chile. The group members apologized for the current controversy and expressed their feelings by saying that they had been suffering at the hands of their fanatical fans. Park Yoo Chun said, "Since our debut in 2004, we have been loved by many people, which I appreciate greatly, but at the same time, I have been suffering because of those fanatical fans who always violate our privacy for the past eight years. I have tried to avoid and run away from them, but I could not break away from them and suffered mental torment."


Kim Junsu revealed that he first thought that he had to tolerate those fanatical fans because they were also some of their fans who truly loved their favorite stars, but their behavior was out of bounds. He explained in detail, saying, "They used our identification card to access our phone call history and they secretly attached GPS devices to our cars to find our location and followed us wherever we went.


Sometimes they broke into our apartment, stole our belongings, and came to my room when I was sleeping and tried to kiss me on my lips. In addition, they caused car accidents on purpose to see our faces. Those behaviors tortured us every day and tightened the grip around our throats. We have been surrounded by many people and exposed to cameras and voice recorders wherever we go, and our privacy has been violated every day. We have suffered greatly and we want to ask our fans to keep our privacy at least to let us live like an ordinary person."

In addition, Kim Jae Joong said, "We apologize for what we did wrong in the past. I am sorry for many fans who worried and felt hurt because of us. We will try to feel more responsibility as public figures, even in a situation where we feel mentally exhausted, for our fans who always show their love and concern for us. And we will try to present the best performance on the stage."

JYJ will hold a concert at Teatro Caupolicant in Santiago, Chile on March 9 and at Explanada Sur del Estadio Monumenta in Peru on March 11. JYJ will be the first Korean singing group to hold a concert in South America.


Source: KBS World