K Stars increase security

Recently there have been a string of reports of obsessive so called
'anti-fans' trying to intimidate, assault or even sexually harrass celebrities
across Asia. Some prime examples are the guy who decided to kiss Jacky
Chan, some weirdo who grabbed Karen Mok's butt and the clown who decided to
forcefully kiss Ella Chen from the Taiwanese girl band S.H.E.

An interesting article was published the other day in the Korean Joong An newspaper talking about how these anti-fans have been affecting Korean stars. Here's what they had to say:

Overzealous attention from obsessive fans is something that celebrities
have to endure. But the recent attack on popular Korean boy band member U-know
with a glue-laden drink has startled Korea's entertainment world. What alarms
entertainers and their managers is that incidents aimed at actors have become
more common and life-threatening.

What was once written off as a simple prank from young "anti-fans" has
become a threat to the health and lives of performers. Most celebrity agencies
now view the situation as so alarming that they have reportedly told their stars
"not to eat or drink anything other than what their agents provide them."

A staffer from an entertainment agency, who talked on the condition he not
be identified, said he never delivered gifts of food or drink sent by fans
because he was afraid some of them could be poisoned. It has taken time for the
entertainment industry to move up to such draconian measures.

In 2000, the actress Yoon Eun-hye was attacked by a male anti-fan who shot
her in the eyes with a water gun filled with a mixture of soy sauce and vinegar.
Her agency claimed that the suspect must have wanted to blind her, but she
refused to report him to the police after she discovered her injuries were
minor. In the same year, another anti-fan sent a detergent-laden drink to the
home of one the boy-band stars. It was disguised as a gift. The singer did not
drink it, but one of his family member did, and was hospitalized after complaining of severe stomach pains.

Gan Mi-yeon, a member of the all-girl pop band Baby VOX, went to the police
for help in 1999 after she received an envelope full of razor blades. A rumor
had spread that she was dating Moon Hui-jun, a singer from the male dance group
H.O.T. Apparently, one of his younger fans sent her the envelope out of
jealousy. The singer Lee Jeong-hyeon received text messages threatening that she
would be "killed if you meet him." "He" was the singer Jo Sung-mo, who starred
with her in a television commercial as a dating couple. The case of a veteran
singer, Na Hun-a, was even more serious. He was slashed with a knife on his
cheek while he was singing on stage. He still has a scar left on his left cheek.

The actress Do Ji-won was kidnapped by a fanatic fan and confined
inside a car trunk for five hours. For some time now, the agencies say, the only
safe way to prevent such attacks is to keep their stars far out of reach of
their fans.

by Lee Min-a from Joong Ang Ilbo (http://joongangdaily.joins.com)