Korean Music + fans = ?

On April 17, singer, Taeyeon from SNSD, or Girl's Generation was attacked by a man during a performance in the Angel Price Music Festival.

This may speak to lax security (I'm not really sure how he managed to get all the way up on stage...), but I wanted to bring up a different point- the fans. After something like this happens, kpop fans get very emotional and start clogging up blogging sites and other social networks. Each Korean music group, if they are big enough, have a fan base. Those fans have special names. For example, SNSD's offical fan club name is 소원, SoWon, which means "wish". It is stylized as S♡NE. Fans are called SONE, meaning "so one" as in, SNSD and the fans are one. Popular boy group Super Junior's fans are called E.L.F's, meaning everlasting friends- their fans will always be there fans and that they are more like friends to SuJu.

This labeling creates a sense of belonging and a community where people who love a group can interact with each other. For concerts, fans will put together chants to sing during a singer's performance. So in the lulls of a song, the whole stadium will be chanting a group/singer's name. Fans put so much effort into showing their love for a group...can you imagine how intense anti-fans are?

When these two groups clash, it's like an online war... comments are overwhelmed by the number each side defending or provoking the other. So why is this different than any fan in other countries? It's how much a Korean music fan is invested in a singer. Just go to a concert, or a blog, or just a youtube video comment section.... then you might get a slightly better understanding.