Nancy Photo: Sina Weibo

 
After photos showing Nancy, a member of K-pop band Momoland, undressing were leaked by a staff member and illegally sold online, Chinese netizens took to social media to voice their strong condemnation of the illegal acts. 

According to reports, the photos appeared to have been taken by a staff member present in the room while the singer was changing clothes at the Asia Artist Awards in Vietnam on November 26, 2019. 

The band’s management agency MLD Entertainment on Monday issued a statement saying that it will take strict legal action against to the individual who first posted the photos and all those who spread the photos online. 

“Nancy cried after finding out about the situation,” the agency said, revealing the emotional state of the 20-year-old victim. 

The hashtag “photos of Nancy changing clothes sold” has earned 98 million views on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo, where many Chinese netizens strongly condemned the immoral behavior. 

“This is too horrible! The psychological damage caused by the event is irreversible. Her career is still on the rise. Why would they want to ruin a girl’s future like this? Show some respect,” one Chinese netizen commented on Sina Weibo. 

Some snapshots including one of a user named “Nancy Leaked” alongside the Twitter logo that appear to show the photos being sold for $10 have gone viral on Sina Weibo. The user’s account could not be found on Twitter as of press time.

Fang Binxing, an expert on network information security at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told the Global Times on Tuesday that if the snapshots are real, it is highly likely that the account was deleted by Twitter.

However, the criminals may still be able to post the illicit photos on some dark websites through certain special channels or software. 

Ma Dongjun, a law expert specializing in privacy rights, told the Global Times that the issue needs to be handled by the parties both in Vietnam and South Korea since the event happened in Vietnam.

Asia Artist Awards Organizing Committee on Monday also issued a statement to express their regret over the incident to Nancy, and claimed that they “will actively cooperate in violent  legal action by law enforcement authorities in Vietnam and South Korea against illegal photographers and first-time distributors.”

Some netizens made the connection with similar incidents involving Chung Yan-tung, a member of the Cantopop duo Twins.

Media reported that in 2006, paparazzi surreptitiously photographed Chung nude in a changing room during a concert in Malaysia, and the photos were published as a cover story in a Hong Kong tabloid magazine Easy Finder.

On November 1, 2006, Easy Finder lost its appeal against an obscenity ruling concerning the published article and pictures, and the founder of Easy Finder’s publisher Next Media, apologized to Chung and offered to return all the negatives.