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Fans believe Jimin as K-pop icon Lee Hyori let AOA's leader move in after Mina's bullying claim

AOA's leader Shin Jimin had retired from K-pop in 2020 after former member Kwon Mina accused her of bullying

Trigger warning: suicide attempt mention

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: The sudden reversal of Shin Jimin's reputation is one for the books. While she was the leader of popular girl group AOA, things turned sour in 2020 after she was accused of bullying by former member Kwon Mina. Idol turned actress Mina had claimed that the real reason she had left AOA was because she was targetted by Jimin while the other members were bystanders. She claimed that the bullying pushed her to self harm and suicide attempts. But with K-pop icon Lee Hyori siding with Jimin, the tide has finally turned.

Initially, the general public immediately dropped AOA following Mina's bullying claim. However, following Shin Jimin's apology and retirement, Mina continued to be on the spotlight for crudely talking about Jimin from bringing in her sex life to mocking her. K-pop fans slowly started finding loopholes in Mina's story while Korean paparazzi Dispatch leaked texts that hinted that the bullying just might be conflict among group members. Fans are now sure that was the case as Lee Hyori reached out to Jimin despite not knowing her,

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Lee Hyori reached out to AOA's Jimin

Shin Jimin is slowly being welcomed by the K-pop industry again as she joined the rap survival show 'The Second World' alongside Mamamoo, WJSN, Oh My Girl and Wonder Girl members. Many think that these idols would not have associated with Jimin if Mina's claims were true. And in the latest episode, the former AOA leader chose to give tribute to Lee Hyori as her way to thank her.

It was revealed on 'The Second World' that Lee Hyori had reached out to Jimin by Instagram DM despite having no relationship with her. Jimin then moved in with the first-gen K-pop star in her home in Jeju Island. She shared that she got strength from Lee Hyori and thanks to her decided to come back from retirement in 2022. To show her apprciation, Jimin will cover Hyori's song 'U-Go-Girl'.

'This is unexpected'

Knetz were moved as they left comments like, "Lee Hyori seriously saved someone's life," "Wouldn't she just try to contact her as someone who has experience in a girl group? If you have conflicts while promoting, it doesn't mean that someone has to be the assailant and someone has to be the victim," and "Seriously, we could've ended up killing someone. It's true that people lashed out on her. People literally ganged up on her thinking that the other party's words were the hard truth, it's hilarious to see the general sentiment suddenly change now."

One fan tweeted, "Lee hyori is an amazing person, to reach out & help when everyone was against her. that girl could have ended her life with all the harassment she got at the time. it’s such a relief a kind senior who knows how cruel the industry is was there for her. hope ppl support jimin cb." A fan speculated, "I feel like lee hyori most likely know some insider stuff prob from staff or some ppl within the industry that work with them etc. to know that it was not a case of bullying but conflicts within the group.. i mean after all the industry is relatively small..and like from some of the comments she herself know what is like working in a group with others and while often we see members in a group all getting along well sometimes its not the case and that happens just like in any workplace really."

Another was frustrated, "Mina really destroyed this group when they were getting a second wind. Hell probably because they were getting a second wind. Its crazy how long people rationalized her inconsistent stories as "you all are unsympathetic towards mental illness!" as if that makes her actions exist in a vacuum or her destroying random peoples careers okay. Whatever beef her and Jimin had did not need to involve anyone else, especially because she initially said it didnt." One fan added, "Legend. Sometimes you don't particularly have to have a connection to someone to just reach out to them. It could make all the difference in the world to have a stranger care." Another fan wrote, "Wohh this is unexpected."

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