Now you may have heard the news. The South Korean entertianment mogul, HYBE, known for BTS, and CEO of its subsidiary ADOR, Min Hee-jin, are locking horns over NewJeans, a rising girl group.
Min claims that HYBE copied her formula for creating NewJeans to launch another girl group, ILLIT. In an emotionally charged press conference with a plenty of invectives thrown at Chair of HYBE, Mr. Bang, on the 26th of April, Min said that HYBE expolited her talent, and never got paid adequately for her contribution to the company. Going on the full counter-offensive, HYBE contends that Min attempted to take over mamagement control of ADOR and conspire to pressure HYBE into selling its shares to foreign investors.
Opinions are divided, with no clear consensus favoring either party. At the heart of this scandalous dispute is allegedly Min’s 100 billion won (approximately 72 million US dollars) stock option: she requested an adjustment in the shareholder’s agreement to increase its value to roughly 195 million US dollars, but HYBE denied it. It’s likely that they will resolve this dispute in court in the end. However, amidst the barrage of accusations, it’s notable that both sides have been slandering each other to question their credibility by claiming dependence on unorthodox spiritual practices such as shamanism and involvement in religious sects. HYBE says that Min consulted a shaman for executive decisions. Min says that BTS are related to a pseudo-sicence religious group.
It’s nothing new that association with unorthodox spiritual practices, particularly shamanism, carries a stigma of unreliability, irrationality, illogicality, outdatedness, and incompetence in public scandals. Once labeled as such, particularly for women, the fall from grace could be just around the corner. The disrepute of shamanism goes back centuries. Lady Jang, a historical figure in the 17th century who rose from palace maid to queen, disgraced herself when it was discovered she attempted to eliminate her opponents through shamanistic sorcery. Korean horror films of the 1960s evoke terror by portraying a shamanistic world of dark magic, where typically female ghosts return to avenge their unjust deaths. Shamans in these scenarios often feign control over this mysterious world and claim to dispel ghosts’ powers. However, it’s Buddhist monks or lawmen who ultimately resolve the situation. Shamans are seen as causing problems rather than providing solutions.
There’s a striking contradiction in the perception of shamanism, which hits you like a slap in the face.
The power of shamanism, often manifested through a shaman’s black magic—such as the ability to communicate with spirits and banish vengeful ghosts to otherworldly realms—sometimes emerges as a righteous force that protects the soul of Korea. Too incredible to be true? In Exhuma (2024), which surpassed the 10 million attendee milestone, a benchmark for commercial success, the shamans perform a powerful ritual incantation to vanquish Japanese ghosts draining Korea’s soul and energy. Mr. Jang, the director, stated in a TV interview that the film is an homage to independence fighters; the characters, including the shamans, are named after Korean heroes. Hwa-lim, the female shaman’s name, is derived from a real-life independence heroine, Lee Hwa-lim. The director’s statement makes it clear that shamanism serves as a symbol of Korea’s soul in the film’s thematic intent.
So far, no accusations have been leveled against Mr. Jang to smear him as irrational or incompetent. During the interview, Jang mentioned consulting a shaman, a close friend, about the success of his film. The entire crew, including the show’s hosts, erupted into laughter. He also shared that he consulted the shaman about the auspiciousness of the film’s release date, prompting laughter and applause from the hosts and the crew alike.
It appears that Korea has a complex relationship with shamanism, characterized by both admiration and hate. While it’s revered as a traditional practice, it also faces contempt, derision, mockery, and ridicule. You can tolerate this contradiction, but problems arise when you realize you despise something that’s meant to be part of your heritage, or when you’re expected to embrace something wildly disliked. This leads to a cycle of self-contempt and narcissistic love, where self-conviction becomes unstable and transforms into self-loathing upon realizing that a core aspect of your identity is also a source of disdain. The cycle of love, disappointment, and self-hatred, along with the attachment to and detachment from oneself, repeats incessantly. Perhaps the situations described above are simply manifestations of this pitiful cycle repeating itself.
