SOPA students speak out against exploitation

By: Julianne Gabis

Miss A’s Suzy, Cheng Xiao, Park Jihoon, Eunha, even Exo’s kai. All of these idols have one thing in common. They attended the School of Performing Arts Seoul, making the school a supposedl a shot to enter the tough Korean wave entertainment industry. 

Over the past month, the school had been under fire as former students and graduates speak out against the corruption of management and the degradation of students.

This was sparked up by a controversial video uploaded by the graduating class on youtube that revealed a lot of shady activities the school has made them do.

Allegedly, many students were forced into performing for individuals in the principal’s private gatherings. They were also forced to do a lot of skinship with shady individuals, including soldiers.

Under the threat of a libel lawsuit from the principal, the students failed in revealing these injustices immediately. They were then prompted to make the video despite the knowledge of what may happen to them once the revelations reached the web.

The story started to pick up attention from the Korean mainstream media and petitions from civilians prompting the resignation of the principal were surfacing till the beginning of March.

The principal is now reportedly ousted but the police are still investigating the allegations.