Local Festival Under Heavy Fire For Allegedly Lying About Girls’ Generation Taeyeon And Throwing A Teen Star Under The Bus
A local festival in the Jangsu county in Jeonbuk State of South Korea has become the center of a major controversy involving Girls’ Generation‘s Taeyeon.
The issue began with the release of the promotional material for Jangsu Hanwoo and Apple Festival, a local government event, which named Taeyeon as one of the performers. Since this was a small-scale local event, Taeyeon’s name on the lineup drew significant attention online.
Though the posters prominently featured Taeyeon’s name and photo, some netizens took the extra measure of contacting Jangsu County’s social media profile for confirmation. According to many of the screenshots shared online by these netizens, Jangsu County confirmed that Taeyeon had indeed been cast for the festival.
However, Taeyeon’s agency, SM Entertainment, released a statement on July 14, KST, clarifying that she had not been contacted for any such event and was not going to perform at the festival. It was then revealed that the festival had actually booked Kim Taeyeon, a child prodigy known for her standout performances on Miss Trot 2.
Despite this truth coming to the surface, Jangsu County officials claimed that they had booked Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon, but the arrangement ultimately fell through. On the other hand, they completely denied booking Kim Taeyeon for the gig.
On July 15, KST, a source close to Kim Taeyeon spoke to OSEN, revealing that the 12-year-old singer was left heartbroken by this turn of events. Her agency, K Tigers Entertainment, claimed that they were formally contacted by Jangsu County and had confirmed Kim’s appearance at the festival. However, as the controversy broke out, the county issued a statement without even acknowledging the singer, effectively erasing her from the lineup. In response, her team withdrew her name from the event.
The insider source close to Kim Taeyeon mentioned how the lack of accountability can take a serious toll on the teen artist’s well-being.
We are very disappointed. Neither the agency nor Jangsu County has issued a single apology to this underage artist, despite the hurt caused. All we got from the agency on the first day of the controversy was a vague explanation saying there had been ‘a mix-up.’
— Insider close to Kim Taeyeon
The insider continued, questioning how Jangsu County even expected people to believe that their local festival had booked a top-tier artist like Taeyeon, which was financially and logistically impossible.
Beyond the controversy, what remains as the primary concern is the well-being of the teen artist Kim Taeyeon.
Adults might brush this off and say, ‘These things happen.’ But for a young artist going through such an emotionally delicate time, the scars can run deep. That’s what we’re most worried about. We plan to be extremely careful in managing and protecting the artist moving forward.
— Insider close to Kim Taeyeon
Meanwhile, Kim Taeyeon, born in 2012, began learning pansori and folk songs at just four years old and gained fame as a prodigy in traditional Korean music. She received national attention after finishing in fourth place on TV Chosun‘s beloved singing reality show, Miss Trot 2.
