Weverse Shop releases statement of apology for alleged inappropriate body search conducted during fansign event

Earlier on July 8, a participant of a fansign event held by Japanese boy group &TEAM, affiliated with HYBE Labels Japan, took to an online community to talk about her uncomfortable experience she was subjected to during the event. 

According to the participant, instead of conducting a brief routine body search, it was reported that the staff member touched the participant's chest. Subsequently, they were also taken to a private area where they were asked to lift their clothing and have their underwear inspected. For which, the participant expressed their profound embarrassment and a sense of having their human rights violated.

As this post goes viral and trends real-time in South Korea, the organizer of this fansign, Weverse Shop, issued an apology on July 9. 

In the apology, Weverse Shop noted that on this particular fansign event held on July 8, there were many cases of participants hiding electronic equipment on their body, and thus they had to ramp up their body search. In addition to that, they also emphasized that the body search was conducted by a female security guard. 

However, they do note that regardless of the security reasons behind it, it has caused great inconvenience to fans and would like to sincerely apologize. 

The full statement reads:

"An apology for &TEAM's offline fansign.

Hello. This is Weverse Shop.

We would like to apologize to the fans who were affected by the security body search conducted by female security personnel at the &TEAM offline fansign event on July 8.
The fansign event is a one-on-one conversation between artists and fans, and the use of of electronic equipment that can record and film was strictly restricted to prevent the leakage of recordings. In this period of time, many fans have actively cooperated with this.

However, on the July 8, there were many cases of electronic equipment hidden on the body, and a security body search was conducted by a female security guard to confirm it. This has caused discomfort in fans who attended the event in a good mood.

We understand that no matter how security reasons may be, it cannot be a basis for inconvenience to fans. We sincerely apologize for what happened at the scene.

In the future, we will prepare improvements such as introducing a non-contact method for security purposes search to allow for participating in fansign events with artists in a more comfortable and enjoyable atmosphere.

Thank you."