BREAKING NEWS: Asuka Kirara relationship with K-pop idol Ju Hak Nyeon exposed

On June 18th, the management of popular K-pop male idol group “The BOYZ” announced that they had suspended one of their members, Ju HakNyeon. The only reason given was “issues with his personal life that have come to light”. It was during this time that rumours circulated that he was in a relationship with retired JAV actress Asuka Kirara. Ju HakNyeon responded 2 days later on June 20th by posting in his Instagram calling his termination unjust and saying he didn’t violate any terms of contract. While this looked like a typical idol termination due to violating a supposed “no dating” clause, Asuka Kirara’s JAV actress past and details about their meetups has led this story into some interesting places.

Photos of Asuka Kirara and Ju Haknyeon aqcuired by Weekly Shimbun

How did Asuka Kirara and Ju Hak Nyeon’s relationship even become public? Well, a few hours before Ju HakNyeon’s agency posted his termination, Japanese twitter had people posting having spotted him in a Roppongi bar. Others have also reported him having close skinship with a woman, with some recognising her as Asuka Kirara, throughout the night. Their closeness would later be confirmed on June 21, Japanese tabloid Weekly Shimbun released photos of them in embraced in a back hug and looking like a couple. Netizens also connected the dots when Asuka was asked about her love life when she was a guest panellist for the reality dating show “Love Hyena” and her answer seemed to pertain to the male idol. Asuka said about her love life that she gets a lot of proposals from DMs, and she mostly ignores them but she from time to time reads messages from verified accounts, and she can’t help her heart flutter a bit if it came from an account with millions of followers. She asked her friends who were knowledgeable about K-pop about a message request she got and they were amazed that such a person, presumably Ju Hak Nyeon, was reaching out to her. She said that the DM only had an English “Hi” and she didn’t reply, but people are now calling her out on this as well.

OFJE-252 Asuka Kirara complete works collection trailer

Asuka Kirara denied offering sexual services

If this was only a typical idol dating issue, I don’t think this drama would have blown up as big as this. Maybe due her JAV actress past or her public image having already spotted going on dates with other male idols, but there were people inferring that there was no relationship and instead Ju HakNyeon has paid Asuka for sexual services. Some diehard fans of Ju HakNyeon were also spouting that their idol was just a fall guy and the agency president was the one with the transactional relationship with the former JAV actress.

Asuka was quick to respond to the speculations and posted that she has never offered any form of sexual transactional relationship, which she reiterates is against Japanese law and she is no criminal. She also implied that the photos that appeared in the tabloids have come from a fan of HakNyeon. Ju HakNyeon craned up his response to the issue by raising a legal challenge against his agency. He states that this incident was orchestrated by the agency to get rid of his contract. He also contests his termination for being too arbitrary with no clear clause broken on his contract and he was asked to pay for damages due to this drama.

Yuna Ogura gets flak over comments on a K-pop idol in a Youtube show

I’m from the Philippines and when news came out that Maria Ozawa was in a relationship with a Filipino celebrity chef, the general reaction was awe, admiration or indifference. Then why does Asuka's relationship exposure got so much hostile and vitriolic reaction from K-pop fans, despite Korea being a huge market for JAV. Well aside from the typical fan culture around idols, Korea as a society is actually conservative and prudish. Koreans are protective of the K-pop industry as they consider it a market with great influence on impressionable youth. That is why any interaction between K-pop and JAV are harshly scrutinized and easily criticized. The reason I believe Yua Mikami’s Honey Popcorn was actively ignored by the industry. Yuna Ogura, probably the biggest Koreaphile JAV actress right now, got into hot water when she made comments on a YouTube show about how a K-pop idol was sexy and would do great in JAV. As such I don’t believe Ju Hak Nyeon would be as welcome as he was in K-pop if he ever wins his case against his agency. I also can’t help but feel bad for Asuka Kirara’s situation, still being haunted by her time as a JAV actress despite being retired for around 5 years now.