The 13-year-old actress Kim Hwan Hee became the subject of rash comments when she admitted being a fan of boy band BTS during her appearance on "Happy Together 3" on July 7.
The "The Wailing" young actress, who was joined by EXO members as well as child actors Jin Ji Hee and Seo Shin Ae for that episode, revealed she admires BTS more than EXO, which did not please some of EXO's followers.
"I really like EXO oppas but I'm a BTS fan," Koreaboo quoted Kim as saying. Kim added that her favorite BTS members are V and Jimin.
EXO member Suho retorted with a joke, saying that he has not seen "The Wailing" yet, which was released in South Korea a month ago.
Meanwhile, EXO lead vocals Chen jokingly replied that he would like to watch "The Wailing" with Kim, but added that he likes Seo more than her. Seo then answered that she likes EXO, but a fan of Akdong Musician, which made everyone laugh.
Despite the fun episode, the statement made by Kim appeared to be a bitter pill to swallow for some of the EXO fans. After the episode was aired, harsh words began to appear on the young actress' Wikipedia page, declaring that she "died on July 7, 2016."
Amid recent controversy, EXO's fan club EXO-Ls issued an apology to the young actresses and Seo for the hurtful and unpleasant comments from the fans.
The group apologized on behalf of Twitter fans who tweeted Kim with insults and attacks. EXO's fan club also apologized on behalf of the international fans who attacked Seo with hate and malicious comments, forcing the young actress to deactivate her Instagram account.
EXO-Ls added that they will not let the same incident from happening again.
"Further, it is our wish that this occurrence will not be brought up on forums again. We apologize once more to Ms. Seo Shin Ae and Ms. Kim Hwan Hee for being hurt by inconsiderate fans," EXO-Ls wrote, as quoted by Allkpop.
