Aespa's Karina Addresses SM Entertainment's 'Discipline Rumors' on YouTube Show

Aespa's Karina has spoken out about the so-called 'discipline rumors' surrounding SM Entertainment.

On October 10, a video titled 'Karina Becomes Awkward in Front of Girls' Generation / Bapsayo2 EP.09 Aespa Karina Episode' was released on Girls' Generation Hyoyeon's YouTube channel 'Hyo's Level Up.' In the episode, Karina shared various stories with her senior, Hyoyeon.

Karina reminisced about her time as part of the unit group 'GOT the Beat' with BoA, Taeyeon, Hyoyeon, Seulgi, Wendy, and Winter during her second year of debut. She said, "I felt quite intimidated back then. There was a vibe that came from their experience. Winter and I had been active for less than two years combined, so it felt like we were constantly hitting a wall." She added, "I watched the practice room videos with the seniors a lot, both for personal collection and study purposes." Hyoyeon responded, "I usually delete practice videos, but I kept those because I liked the combination."

The two also addressed the so-called 'SM discipline photo,' which became a topic of discussion. The photo shows Taeyeon and Hyoyeon leaning on a sofa, Seulgi and Wendy sitting upright on the sofa, and Karina and Winter sitting on the floor. This led to jokes among netizens about whether the seniors were enforcing discipline.

Hyoyeon revealed, "I got a lot of questions from people asking if we were enforcing discipline because of that photo." Karina explained, "The seniors were my role models. I didn't want to sit on the sofa unnecessarily. In fact, even when I'm with my members, I rarely sit on the sofa." Hyoyeon added, "Each team has a different vibe. Girls' Generation always tries to sit on the sofa, even if it's small, by perching on the edge or sitting on each other's laps. Everyone is quite particular about it," she said with a laugh.

Meanwhile, Aespa, which includes Karina, released their sixth mini-album 'Rich Man' on October 5 and continues their activities.

By Min-Kyung Lee, Ten Asia Reporter 2min_ror@tenasia.co.kr