Former AOA Member Kwon Mina Shares Alleged Bullying Incidents By Jimin In Latest Instagram Update And Urges Jimin To Contact Her

She shares more alleged incidents that occured.

Content Warning

This article includes descriptions of bullying and suicide or self harm that may disturb some readers.

Former AOA member Kwon Mina has stepped up to further share more alleged bullying incidents. She named another former AOA member Shin Jimin as the perpetrator again. Previously, she had updated her Instagram in dismay due to the  online criticisms targeting her, claiming that Jimin was turning into the victim.

Mina shared that she had always been on the bullied end. Allegedly, Jimin criticized her both physically and mentally to bring her self-esteem down.

I was fine with the water-fetching and errand-running during the trainee days. But whenever we got scolded as a group, I was the only one who got hit with fists in the chest repeatedly while getting cursed at. And [Jimin] would always be the one standing at the front of the line. While we promoted ‘Confused,’ I lost a lot of weight and she said, ‘Why does your body look like that? You look like a r*tard.’ But in the end, she became skinnier than I ever was. From the start, the company assigned me the rapper position, so my lessons focused mainly on that. Later on, I came to be in charge of bass as well and mostly trained for those two. So it’s a given that I only took a few vocal classes. However, after debut, the composer said that my voice is more suitable for singing and so I practiced singing every dawn and recorded some things too. Of course, there were times the vocal directors liked it and time they didn’t. The vice-CEO at that time showed me a lot of support. Even when I recorded for JYH sunbae, I was praised. And whenever that happened, I felt really good. Yet every time I gained a little self-confidence, that unnie would endlessly criticize the way I sing, be it in the car or wherever. After being criticized like that over and over again, I started shaking whenever I had to record. It got so terrifying that I had to take many tranquilizers. Dance time was no exception as well. I was criticized continuously, until one day I noticed how she was in the wrong formation. When I told her about it,  she didn’t reply but she stared me down with that unique glare from her. I ended up thinking I got lucky that I wasn’t cursed out

— Kwon Mina

Mina also claimed that Jimin would often bring people unannounced to the dorms, giving Mina much inconvenience. In fact, at one point, the frequent visits forced Mina to start sleeping in the practice rooms.

Because we shared the dorms, I needed to get permission from [Jimin] and the other members if I ever wanted to invite people over, even if they stayed for a short while. But as unnie, she didn’t have anyone to get permission from, so she would bring people over as she wished, without telling us. Once I ran into team leader Song Yoonho, who is a male, in the middle of the night when I was walking over to the laundry room, naked. She also invited her close comedian unnie friend and they would hang out all night, playing games and being loud. Once, when I was sleeping in my room, they called my cellphone to ask me to come out to the living room. I told them no because I had taken sleeping pills and so I had to sleep. Another time I hung out with them, we played a game. I lost and so they made me go to the playground in the apartment complex and complete some mission as penalty. Since then, whenever that guest would come over, I packed my sleeping pills and left, telling them I have to go to the practice rooms. I slept on the desk at the practice rooms.

— Kwon Mina

Mina shared how Jimin allegedly forced her to think twice before expression emotion over her dad’s illness, causing Mina to not be able to fully accompany her dad in his final moments.

And I have trouble looking at myself in the mirror, whether it be at the salon or during dance practice. [Jimin] once said that my face was f*cked. So I’ve gotten used to always looking down. That’s why, sometimes it would be hard for me to tell when she’s around me at the salon. So I would not say hello. On such days, she would start criticizing me again in the car for not greeting, or not greeting her properly. She would start with that, then go on to curse out the members.

Sometimes, whether it be because of personal reasons or because of malicious comments — or because she got into a fight with someone or whatever, she would be mad or she would cry. She would then cancel her TV appearances. Two other members and I had to fill for her. For a music show schedule, she didn’t want to go but after being coddled, she was brought along to the schedule. When she used to be on that survival show, she would come home crying and saying it was tough. We all tried to make her feel better. Yet when she found out that I was crying over my dad’s imminent death, she dragged me to a closet, saying that I was ruining the mood. She asked why I was making people feel uncomfortable. It was as if she deserved to be supported and consoled and I wasn’t.

Sometimes, on days I had late-night schedules, I would be close by the hospital where my dad stayed. So I could have gone up to see him. But I thought if I see the way he’s slowly deteriorating each week, I would be reminded of it and cry when I had drama shoots and schedules with the other members. So instead of seeing him, I went home, turned off the lights, and held it all in. I never went to see him. It was mentioned somewhere that I was given two weeks to cope with my father’s death? That did not happen. I was busy with ‘Like A Cat’ promotions and the Modern Farmer shoot. People think I got to keep by my dad’s side when he passed away? Um, no. When my mom called saying that he looked like he’s going to leave us soon, I rushed over to the hospital. Within the 5 to 10 minutes I got there, I heard the flatline and the doctors announced his death. I saw that he had written in shaky words, ‘My daughter… Where am… I?’ I felt guilty that I had not been able to see my father frequently because of that damned ‘mindfulness for others’, and that I had to send him off without being able to tell him that I loved him.

— Kwon Mina

| @kvwowv/Instagram

Mina also shared that she developed several stress-induced health conditions, allegedly because of Jimin. She also claimed that she ended up connecting with another former member who allegedly left the group because of Jimin too.

Even so, I kept working. I thought it was okay for awhile. But then I started passing out frequently. I was even taken to the hospital after having a seizure. I was diagnosed with cervical dysplastic cancer and they said that stress was a huge cause for this. I said, ‘Oh okay.’ When I turned 26 years old, I got sick and tired of [Jimin] bullying me. I gritted my teeth, as I put myself on different medications to keep attending the schedules. But she would look at me and ask why in the world I felt so stressed. I would be so speechless that I smiled at her with my eyes blank out of focus. I thought, ‘Because of you.’

I got into contact with the member who left after having received treatment for two weeks because of [Jimin] and we talked about each others’ conditions. We had no idea what each other was going through. She told me she called quits early on because she could not endure it. When I heard her say that I had held it in for too long and that’s why it’s all bursting out now, I became so devastated. I felt so, so sorry. There were times when I hoped another member would fall victim in my place because things got so bad. It was so bad that the other members also acknowledged the seriousness. On the daily I would have to listen to things like, ‘Stop being a sl*tty fox.’ Whenever I would return from acting auditions, I would be told, ‘So you think you’re going to be something?’ I would be scolded for no reason.

— Kwon Mina

Mina also claimed that she listened to Jimin, despite it potentially causing the staff to view her unfavorably.

Whenever new managers would come, [Jimin] would always mock me when introducing me, saying that I’m a scary b*tch who pretends to be an idiot. When contract renewal season came, (we agreed) to discuss and push for this and that with the agency, but only I kept that promise. She only talked about her own solo promotion and like that, the discussion was over.

You know, I was really happy with my career and it was fun. So when she complained about the pay or the packed schedule, I thought to myself that we should rather be thankful that we have these schedules and that we got to earn much more than others do. I thought that she had never experienced poverty when she was younger and that she had too much to be unsatisfied with.

But looking back, I was the one who confronted the agency and spoke up about whatever she wanted to say. I mean, I was trying to gain her favor so I was using whatever means. It didn’t matter whether the company saw me favorably or not, because I was actually more scared of her.

— Kwon Mina

Mina also accused Jimin of being a bully prior to their adult days, then continuing this into adulthood.

Even during the trainee days, I was ridiculously wrongly accused of calling her a son of a b*tch… I don’t know if she had heard me wrong or if she simply wanted to pick on me for some reason. But she kicked up a fuss and eventually the oldest unnie stepped in and explained that I didn’t call her such a thing. But [Jimin] was out of control. I only hoped that she would tell me if she hated me and why she hated me if she did. I was on the brink of losing my mind and taking my own life, but everyone was busy thinking about the business side of things. I wasn’t even allowed to fight back about it. Everyone knew I was bullied. Yet she can keep it so simple. She says she doesn’t remember or she never did such things. Please, Jimin…

She used to take advantage of the agency sunbaes and other oppas to get money and cigarettes. I thought her delinquency would stop there, once she grew up. There is a line she shouldn’t have crossed. I honestly believed she would grow out of it and mature.

When I was swollen due to being ill, rather than (worrying for) my health, she looked at me like she was fascinated. She was so busy criticizing my looks and asked what’s wrong with my face. She said I looked ridiculous.

— Kwon Mina

Mina also shared that she was upset during their last confrontation but was unable to act out.

| @kvwowv/Instagram

When she came to my house to apologize, she had no intention of apologizing. She immediately began looking for a knife. Unfortunately, by that point, I had all the sharp objects confiscated from me. Plus, she brought her posse of people with her. So they would have stopped any brawl, obviously. Would they have let me make a single scratch on her? She started screaming that she should be the one to die to end this all… So why didn’t she give that a go when she got home? I mean I try every single day.

It went on for ten years. This isn’t even the beginning of everything that I went through. I should’ve recorded everything, since my memory isn’t good. But even so, I can’t seem to forget.

With a sincere apology, I was going to forgive those ten years of disgusting experiences. But she kept saying she doesn’t remember and that everything is fictional because it didn’t happen. When we were talking, I swore on both our dads whom I trust to have been watching over us. Even now, I am not lying. In fact, I’m upset I can’t remember more. Anyway, when she said she didn’t remember and that she didn’t do anything, I honestly wanted to curse the f*ck out of her and beat her up the way she once did to me. But since she had her people there with her, I didn’t want to give them any ‘evidence.’ A victim of 10 years could instantly become a perpetrator, right? So all I could do was stand there and cry. She said sorry without knowing what she did wrong and left with the most disgusted look on her face.

— Kwon Mina

Mina revealed her childhood and teen years which were full of struggle.

I started stressing about money when I was in 6th grade. I finally began earning my own keep at 14, hence I have met many types of as*holes and experienced many different things. After I dropped out of school and started working part-time, I got taken advantage of and had wild rumors go around about me. I got dirty looks and had all kinds of misunderstandings cropped up, so I wasn’t viewed positively.

Until I ran off to become a trainee in hopes of making a lot of money, I worked furiously without sleeping, saving up to about ₩2.00 million KRW (about $1,790 USD) by the time I turned 16. There will always be people who power trip. Although I’m technically a high school graduate, I’m no different from being an elementary school graduate because I took the GED to pass middle school and went to an open secondary school (a type of high school for people who are not able to follow normal school curriculum). So I make a lot of vocabulary mistakes and I speak with regional dialect mixed in. A lot of times, my words come out weird.

[Jimin] thought that I was acting like that on purpose, to be thought of as cute. Anyway, despite all the bullsh*t I’ve been through, I’m most impacted by the ten years of her bullying… That continuous torture has made me the most furious. It’s not like I ever confronted her or anything. Just what did I do? I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for having been rushed to the ER because of her. I’m taking the max amount of meds a person can take, but it barely works for me.

— Kwon Mina

Lastly, Mina shared the pain Jimin allegedly caused her and asks for Jimin to reach out to her for a conversation.

She never apologized to me. Her family never even came to visit, never mind apologize. They are probably resenting me without knowing that their own daughter has nearly killed a person. The perpetrators always live on, while the victims try to die by suicide through a variety of ways. They develop mental illnesses and eventually get physically ill too. They die in vain. There are too many victims like that. I, too, have slit my wrist more than 20 times and have tried to overdose on sleeping pills and carbon monoxide. I even tried to hang myself because of her. I’ve tried every way I know. I don’t know if I’m just destined to live long or if it’s because someone saves me every time but whenever I open my eyes, I’m in the hospital.

Whenever I hear anything about her, I get mad and cry. But I will not be silent like other victims. I don’t know if with time, I’ll end up doing what I love to do… Or if I’ll still be locked in my memories, forever being tortured because of one person called Shin Jimin. Maybe I’ll end up disappearing before any of that. But Jimin, please. I want us to talk privately for once. You have my number. If you tortured me for 10 years, if you’re human, don’t ignore this. Tell me if I’m making all this up, or if I hurt you in any way. I have absolutely nothing to hide though. I’m just amazed that I’ve yet to die from all the anger that you’ve made me feel.

— Kwon Mina

Previously, Mina had accused Jimin of being her bully throughout her time in AOA.

Former AOA's Mina vs. Jimin's Bullying Allegations