Since mid-2023, SEVENTEEN has been on the road for their “Follow” world tour, visiting several cities worldwide. However, a supposed happy and thrilling post-concert fever was instantly followed by an aftermath after their recent stop in China, at the Olympic Sports Center Stadium in Macau.
At their concert held last January 21, DK (Lee Seok-min) was seen addressing himself ‘Dake,’ a Chinese term that means ‘shell.’ Many fans believe that it has a negative connotation as it is also the nickname of an artist in China who was involved in a scandal. This, in turn, led to a series of hate comments directed at DK and spurred inter-fan wars.
Although DK was completely unaware of that, the incident ignited a conflict between Carats. Cuties Gathering (DK’s fans) called out Jun and The8 (SEVENTEEN’s Chinese members) for having failed to inform the former about the word’s derogatory connotations beforehand.
As a result, several ‘akgaes’ (solo stans of certain members of a group), particularly from China, who weren’t fans of DK, started hate campaigns. It also seemed that they set up a 30-day hate schedule and other offensive tags to be thrown at the idol on Weibo and X.
what’s happening to dk and the circulating issues especially on weibo needs to be talked about more because it’s not only him involved and getting dts and hate!! his family is now getting dragged and they really made a 30 day challenge and opened giveaways to trend his tags and…
— r ◠‿◠ (@seokieshua) January 23, 2024
hello. if you don’t know what’s happening on weibo right now, let me tell you:
SPEAK UP. THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO GIVE DK THAT UNFAIR TREATMENT. pic.twitter.com/rbqkHsI4qd
— ♥︎ (@scribbeys) January 23, 2024
This is translated from Weibo btw pic.twitter.com/8vZZQzLhNs
— Kyeom(ia) (@realkyeomluvr) January 23, 2024
Many Cuties’ Gathering and CARATs were alarmed by this. Thus, to counteract the hatred spreading, fans have created a 30-day love schedule where they express how much they adore, respect, and support the idol.
https://twitter.com/protectcsc/status/1749749798415261920?s=20
PROTECT DK AT ALL COST!! 🙏 pic.twitter.com/dXUjcHlp1J
— xyrl (@xaturn14) January 23, 2024
https://twitter.com/coupcheolito/status/1749797852900102403?s=20
Day 1: 30 Days of Loving Dk
Let’s Protect DK at all cost 💎🩷🩵💎#SEVENTEEN #李硕珉#dkseventeen #seventeendk#30DaysWithDK pic.twitter.com/2m6EeQJvAW
— Alexane Alagao (@SexyLexy618) January 23, 2024
30 Days of Loving Dk
Cause I really love this man
A threadsLet’s Protect DK at all cost 💎🩷🩵#SEVENTEEN #李硕珉#dkseventeen #seventeendk#30DaysWithDK pic.twitter.com/xuslQyFZR6
— Pit 🐱⚔️ (@wonukyeomie_) January 23, 2024
“PROTECT DK AT ALL COST” also trended in some countries on Twitter.
YOU DESERVE ALL THE LOVE 🥺 LET'S PROTECT DK AT ALL COST!! pic.twitter.com/ypLGDCtmqw
— meg ˚୨୧⋆. (@hanniiverse) January 23, 2024
PROTECT DK AND THE8 AT ALL COST
PROTECT DK AND THE8 AT ALL COST
PROTECT DK AND THE8 AT ALL COST
PROTECT DK AND THE8 AT ALL COST
PROTECT DK AND THE8 AT ALL COST
PROTECT DK AND THE8 AT ALL COST
PROTECT DK AND THE8 AT ALL COST
PROTECT DK AND THE8 AT ALL COST pic.twitter.com/mOqpZuBOrU— ari 🍓 STREAM 'MAESTRO' (@minchiraa) January 23, 2024
please continue to post more positive comments about DK on weibo using his tags. thank you!
#李硕珉#
#Bally全球品牌代言人李硕珉#
#dkseventeen#
#seventeendk# pic.twitter.com/SFzuOjhjmr— DK PROTECT (@protectkyeom) January 24, 2024
DK’s message on weverse
“I’m not good enough but i’ll be Seokmin who does his best for CARATs”
he’s the sweetest 🙇🏻♀️
we’ll also do our best to protect you our ray of sunshine. thank you for being our DK. pic.twitter.com/WfjVrHlDlN
— DK PROTECT (@protectkyeom) January 24, 2024
while you’re here please shower our DK some love on the comments section of his recent weverse post. he deserves to receive more words of affirmation from us CARATs just the same way he does to all of us.
🔗: https://t.co/g8psJf08mE pic.twitter.com/dSDBCshHSi
— DK PROTECT (@protectkyeom) January 24, 2024
there’s no reason for people to throw hate on someone who's as precious as LEE SEOKMIN 😭💗 protect dk at all cost!!! pic.twitter.com/h7FMjIdAlA
— eunice 🍀 (@kopinyoup) January 24, 2024
Some have also written an email to PLEDIS Entertainment (SEVENTEEN’s agency) concerning the attacks on the idol.
Hello
here is an email to use when sending PLEDIS regarding the attacks towards SEVENTEEN DK.
we have provided ENG, KOR and CHN translations.
please email ([email protected]) and ([email protected])
thank you for your cooperation.
— DK PROTECT (@protectkyeom) January 24, 2024
and if u’re still a company stan, pls touch some grass. Dk deserves the best treatment and support he should get. mass email pledis carats!! see lrt #DKdeservesbetter
— juls🍒 (@meatscoups) July 22, 2021
https://twitter.com/PROTECT_SVT/status/1749946404028776740?s=20
Following the #ProtectDK movement and significant measures done by CARATs to halt the inter-fandom wars, there has been a noticeable decrease in hate campaigns and comments directed at DK on Weibo and X.
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