On August 6, 2023, civilians were thrown into panic when a commotion occured on a subway on Line 9 in Seoul, South Korea. While the source of panic is still unclear, as a few started fleeing the scene, many followed suit. This resulted in a mass evacuation, leading to injuries as people fell while escaping. It was later confirmed to be a false alarm.
This comes at a time where the nation is at unrest, due to the spike in knife attack threats, especially in Seoul. After Korean news outlets investigated multiple witness anecdotes and talked with the authorities, it was determined that reports were made about a potential gas leak as well as a screaming in the carriage.
Things got complicated when witnesses claimed that the screaming was from BTS fans on the subway. Fans had been crowding the subway after the end of a concert held on the same day. At a similar time to the incident, BTS’s Suga had gone on live stream, causing a stir with the reveal of his tattoo. Witnesses did not specify that it was BTS fans in particular, but other netizens connected the dots due to time stamps.
신논현역 칼부림도 생화학 테러도 아니니까 더 이상 잘못된 정보로 공포분위기 조성하지 말아주세요
제 옆에 외국인 분들이 영상 보다가 소리 질렀는데 지하철 안이 복잡한 터라 사람들이 오해하고 도망친 거에요
경찰 진술도 다 했습니다.
물론 다들 조심하시고 이어폰 빼고 다니시길..
건강하세요— 제촌 (@tom7890_) August 6, 2023
It is not a knife attack at the Sinnonhyun station, so I hope that people will stop creating fear due to false information any longer.
The foreigner next to me was watching a video, and suddenly screamed, causing the situation in the subway carriage to complicate. People misunderstood and ran away.
I gave my witness statement to the police too.
Of course, I hope that everyone can be careful and travel with your earphones out. Stay healthy.
— tom7890_
Extreme BTS fans believe that the fans’ screaming on the subway as a cause of panic is false news. This is as SBS News earlier reported news of reports of a gas leak occurring at the station. These BTS fans have been using the following translated screenshot from SBS News to back up their claims that the witness (@tom7890_) was lying.
However, another report on the morning of August 7, 2023, also by SBS News, reported that there were indeed reports of both causes. According to SBS News, the police themselves confirmed that the commotion was partly due to BTS fans.
A representative at the fire department said, “We tested for any gases and we did not find any gas or harmful gases, or things like that. We helped all passengers evacuate from the station and on to level ground…”
The police explained that “This issue was a happening that occured due to the screams of foreigners who had been watching a BTS video in the subway.”
— SBS News
As extreme fans firmly believed that the witness @tom7890_ was “spreading misinformation,” they began to target the witness online.
In response to this, Koreans have accused these extreme fans of “cyberbullying” the witness, even when they were presented with the facts.
- They’re really some crazy b*tches.
- Even Satan would be so shocked that he’d run away.
- I knew that iRoaches were always sh*tting, but sigh…
- It’s a characteristic of theirs. Even when they‘re in the wrong, they just cyberbully. They’re so many of them they’re basically gangsters.
- The idols’ lyrics scream for you to “love yourself” but the fans are making a meme with the idols’ face saying “kill yourself.” I’m shocked.
- Why are they like this…
- There are people like this, and there are people like that. But look at how they’re just tracking down all of the people and cursing at them. It’s like they waited to curse at people… I hope foreigners just stop caring about matters in our country. They can’t get a grip on the situation, but are just cyberbullying people out of the blue.
- Crazy fandom.
This comes with a note that not all BTS fans are akin to these extreme ones.
