Hara's Past Pension Scandal

Granted, it's all CIA work done by netizens so you have to start reading with the anticipation that it's going to be extremely petty and stupid, but it is a huge part of what makes up Goo Hara's image and explains the response of K-netizens to her.

The idea of spending the night at a pension with your s/o is regarded in Korea as the same as spending the night in a motel, etc. Basically, you mention pension and Koreans will assume sex was involved. 

The scandal starts with when Goo Hara was 17 years old [a minor], she updated her mini-homepage with a picture of her kissing her then boyfriend. 

For their anniversary and her birthday, she uploaded a series of photos of what looks like a stay at a pension together. Netizens somehow found that there are 17 candles on her cake, meaning that their pension stay was sometime in winter. 

Once netizens took screencaps of her old mini-homepage and started spreading them around, Hara's agency denied that it was her in the pictures but netizens were able to find pictures of Hara wearing the same hat and jacket as the 'girl in the pension photos'.

Once those were found, Hara's friends started writing on community boards saying that Hara had actually gone to the pension with a group of friends, not just with her boyfriend. 

Netizens retorted that:

1. You can't see any 'friends' other than her boyfriend in any of her pension photos. 

2. Netizens asked the pension manager she stayed at whether there were any group reservations in the winter of 2007 under Hara's name or any of her friends, and the manager replied that there weren't. 

3. Netizens were further able to find that the specific pension Hara stayed at did not allow reservations for anyone other than couples. (And as bonus information, the shower is an open stall and can be seen directly from the bedroom)

4. Her friends then claimed that it was an MT group trip with her friends after the JYP auditions. Netizens retorted again that the JYP auditions were in the summer, and Hara's pictures were clearly taken in the winter as evidenced by the Merry Christmas decorations in the room.

5. Furthermore, Hara had short, straight bangs in her audition video, but longer, sideswept bangs in the pension photos, proving that the time doesn't match up.

6. Her agency eventually declined to comment further on the issue once netizens began finding all this 'so called evidence'.

Credit: NB