The term maknae refers to the youngest group member and is another of the many “positions” found in K-Pop groups. Even as idols age, their maknae status is still brought up by amused fans.
BTS’s Jungkook is known as the “Golden Maknae.” | BIGHIT Music
Recently, fans discovered an online forum using the maknae identifier to post suggestive content of underage idols.
On an unrelated post about IVE‘s Leeseo, a fan requested that others report another subforum. Going off of the name alone, /Maknaes, one might not assume there is anything of concern.
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r/Maknaes opening screen | Reddit
However, once going into the subreddit, it is easy to see where there is concern. Of the entire forum, there are only posts of female girl group members and the most liked posts feature idols like IVE‘s Leeseo, LE SSERAFIM‘s Eunchae, NMIXX‘s Kyujin, and NewJeans‘ Haerin and Hyein, who are all underaged.
Many of the videos shared are slowed-down clips of them wearing tight or revealing clothing.
NMIXX’s Kyujin and LE SSERAFIM’s Eunchae | Eunchae’s Star Diary IVE’s Leeseo | Osen NewJeans’s Haerin and Hyein. | @newjeans_official/Instagram
Several accounts that share content on the subforum are also active on NSFW forums and even warn that their posts are made up of 18+ content.
A user who posts to r/Maknaes also shares NSFW content of other idols. | Reddit
K-Pop fans have expressed their discontent and disgust with the subreddit and are hopeful action will be taken soon despite the workarounds the forum has done to avoid getting content removed.
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