There are no roads long enough and oceans wide enough to stop BTS fans from meeting their favorite K-pop idols who have greatly inspired them but sometimes the journey made in haste can be proven dangerous. Recently, three school girls from a sleepy village in Karur district attempted to travel to South Korea with little money and no passports.
13-year-old school girls away from home to meet BTS
The girls, all aged 13, and students of class 8 in a state-run school devised a plan to travel to The Land of The Morning Calm in hopes of meeting the K-pop boyband BTS. They settled upon the seaport Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh to take a ship to South Korea, as per a Child Welfare Committee Official.
BTS fever leads three schoolgirls on journey from rural Tamil Nadu to Seoul; rescued in Vellore https://t.co/7aK7yEc2o6
— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) January 7, 2024
The girls stepped out of their homes in the early hours of January 4, 2024, to reach the state’s capital Chennai after taking a train in Erode which is closer to their village Karur. When the parents failed to locate their whereabouts by the end of the day they decided to file a report with officials, who promptly alerted state-wide authorities.
NDTV reports that the teenagers had ₹14,000 ($169 approx) and no passports but they believed that they could cross the borders by taking a ship to Seoul. To reach the port they first decided to reserve a room in Chennai on Thursday night.
By Friday their fianance and naive courage began to run thin and they decided to return to their homes. However, the troubles continued as the girls who stepped down to buy food missed their train on the Vellore platform. The people present noticed something off and altered Child Line authorities.
The teenage fans received counseling
P Vedanayagam, head of the Vellore District Child Welfare Committee said that the authorities accommodated the girls at a state-run facility in Vellore district until they were united with their parents.
13-Year-Old School Girls Attempt To Travel To Korea Without Passports — All For BTShttps://t.co/6DGqEB7hMH
— Koreaboo (@Koreaboo) January 10, 2024
Their talks with the children and their parents revealed that the girls were inspired by the global superstars and wished to follow their path. They also noted that girls came from difficult households where some of the parents worked as farmer laborers. One of the girl’s mother is a single parent, and another’s father was mentally challenged.
One can believe that the message of the South Korean group might have resonated with the ambitious teenage girls and inspired them. However, lack of information and misguidance could have led to grave consequences if they weren’t rescued.
Therefore, the authorities provided counseling to the teens and their parents. They emphasized the importance of education as a way to achieve their dreams and told them that the internet and smartphones should be used wisely and for educational purposes.
The parents were also advised to make suitable arrangements to take care of their children and provide them with necessary support and guidance. After the counseling, the children and their parents returned to their homes by train on the night of January 6, 2024.
Netizens reactions
The story of the three girls soon went viral across social media and many K-pop fans and netizens began to criticize their decisions. They called them delusional and refused to acknowledge them as part of the fandom.
"the girls knew the most minuscule detail about the members" this feels like the most fake info bs ever cus if they did they'd know bts are in the military https://t.co/wUoUyYLchA
— mina (@jjksmina) January 10, 2024
Meanwhile, some ARMYs sympathized with the girls upon learning about their challenges and expressed relief that they returned home safely. They also shared their support and hoped that the circumstances of the teens change for the better.
Lastly, they expressed concerns regarding the misinformation available on the internet that made the teenagers believe they could meet the septet while the members were fulfilling their duties in mandatory military service.
