Kim Ga-ram is a former member of the popular K-pop girl group LE SSERAFIM. She left the group after accusations of bullying and violence during her school days. She has adamantly denied ever having to transfer schools, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, or bullying anyone either verbally or physically. However, the School Violence Committee did not agree and Kim Ga-ram ended up receiving Degree 5 disciplinary action. Kim Garam left LE SSERAFIM just two weeks after her debut with the group.
What Happened to Kim Ga-ram – Explained
LE SSERAFIM released their teaser trailer which received a lot of views on YouTube instantly. However, a few hours later, Kim Ga-ram started to trend on social media. Picture of Kim Ga-ram started to be shared, one of which showed her next to a chalkboard which had a drawing of a penis. Days later, she was trending again on Twitter and Nate, where anonymous claims started to surface. Below is a list of some of the accusations against her at the time.
- She abused her classmates by using bad language
- She was forced to transfer schools due to her bullying.
- Allegations of hitting someone in the head with a flower pot which sent them to the hospital
- Underage smoking
- Making inappropriate comments about V from BTS
- Being part of a middle school gang
- Talking bad about IVE when she did not make the group
- Making her teachers kneel in front of her
- Throwing shopping bags at people
- Coming to school in a police car
Waves and waves of allegations started to come out every single day. Soon some of Kim Ga-ram’s former classmates started to come out with allegations against her.
HYBE Responds
This was when HYBE released a statement saying that they would take legal action against those spreading false rumors about Kim Ga-ram. They stated that they did their own investigation using a third party and their findings showed that it was Kim Ga-ram who was the victim of bullying during middle school. Kim Garam claimed that a classmate named Eunseo took compromising pictures of Ga-ram’s friend and Kim Garam confronted Eunseo about it.
Eunseo who had hired a law firm reached out to HYBE and emailed the Kpop entertainment company the School Violence Committee report which found that Kim Ga-ram used violence to bully students. The law firm hired by Eunseo wanted HBYE to retract its statement that Kim Ga-ram was a victim and to give a formal apology. However, HYBE responded by saying they are standing by their original statement that Ga-ram was the victim of bullying.
No Comment from Gyeongin Middle School
News outlets wanted to get a statement from Gyeongin Middle School where this all took place to see who was telling the truth. However, the school’s position on this matter was to not make any comments about it. The law firm representing Eunseo stated that Eunseo was bullied online by Kim Ga-ram fans so much that she wanted to commit suicide.
The school violence report claims that both Ga-ram and Eunseo received punishment and neither were victims in the situation.
HYBE later announced that Kim Ga-ram would be taking time off due to her mental health. This was at the same time when an official from the Ministry of Education stated that the School Violence Committee document had named Kim Ga-ram as the perpetrator and not the victim.
“It seems to be true that there was school violence, as Kim Garam was named as an assailant student.”
Kim Ga-ram released by HYBE
Kim Garam’s contract was terminated and LE SSERAFIM continued on as a 5 member group. It was later confirmed that Eunseo was punished with a No. 6 measure from a School Violence Committee as well. This is most likely due to her involvement in the photograph incident of Ga-ram’s friend Yudimi.
Kim Ga-ram moving on
To this day, Kim Ga-ram’s stance is that she never bullied anyone and was only standing up for her friend who had a picture taken of her in her underwear without her permission. Yudimi stated that Ga-ram and Eunseo actually reconciled through a mutual friend after the events of the School Violence Committee, before Garam’s debut in Le Sserafim. It was only after her debut and the early allegations against her that she brought the situation back up again.
After leaving LE SSERAFIM after the bullying allegations, she went back to SOPA (School of Performing Arts) and graduated from SOPA with an acting major in May 2023. Therefore, many of her fans are speculating that she will focus on her acting career moving forward.
