Police have called for the woman – who is currently in Japan – to come forward for questioning on charges of sexual harrassment in a public space.

The incident happened during the K-pop idol’s first public event in Seoul last June, which saw him hug 1,000 fans. Instead of just hugging the star, the woman appeared to have kissed his face, with Jin responding by turning his face away.

The kiss angered other BTS fans, one of whom filed a criminal complaint against her, leading police to launch an investigation.

On 13 June, 2024, the day after he was discharged from the army, Jin, whose real name is Kim Seok-jin, held a fan event where he hugged 1,000 fans and performed songs in front of 3,000 others.

During the three-hour long “hugathon”, fans who won the chance to embrace him queued up and went on stage one by one to meet the 33-year-old star.

But one of them caused an uproar when she appeared to kiss Jin’s face.

Clips of the moment went viral on the internet. Videos show that Jin, taken aback by the move, tried to turn his head while hugging the woman before quickly moving on to the next fan. Fans could also be seen reacting angrily to her actions.

She later wrote on her blog later that she kissed him “on his neck” and “the skin was very soft”.

The woman’s identity has not been revealed but police added that they had identified her with the assistance from their Japanese counterparts.

The BBC has reached out to BTS’ agency HYBE for comment.

Jin is the first BTS member to have been discharged from military duty. He was followed by J-Hope who was discharged in October. The other five – V, RM, Jimin, Jungkook and Suga – are still serving and the band is expected to reunite only in June 2025.

K-pop idols are known for having a close relationship with their fanbases through various communication channels and events. It’s common for artists to communicate with fans through social media livestream chats and in-person events to cultivate loyal fans.

But fans and agencies have increasingly been aware of some toxic fan cultures as well. For example, many artists have been vocal about the stress caused by “sasaeng fans”, who are overly obsessed with their idols that would stalk and harass the artists.

The 24-year-old was found in her home in the city’s Seongsu-dong district by a friend at around 16:55 (07:55 GMT) on Sunday.

Officers said no signs of foul play had been found and they were investigating the cause of death.

Kim began her career as a child actor and was seen as one of South Korea’s most promising young actresses.

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Born in Seoul in 2000, she rose to prominence with her role in 2009 film A Brand New Life – which saw her appear at the Cannes Film Festival.

She went on to star in South Korea’s highest grossing film of 2010 The Man from Nowhere and 2012 thriller The Neighbour, for which she received award recognition.

Other notable roles include the 2014 film A Girl at My Door and television roles such as Mirror of the Witch in 2016.

The actress largely withdrew from the public eye in 2022 due to a drink driving incident, for which she was fined 20 million won (£11,000) in April 2023.

Kim’s last role was in Netflix’s 2023 Korean drama Bloodhounds. Variety reported that most of her role was edited out due to the driving incident.

The five-member girl band announced their departure from Ador, a subsidiary of powerhouse label Hybe, in a late-night press conference held on Thursday.

Ador however has said its contract with NewJeans still stands, as the agency has not violated any terms.

This dispute is the latest development in a long-running conflict between former NewJeans producer Min Hee-Jin and Hybe’s chairman Bang Si-hyuk, which has made headlines in South Korea.

One of the group’s members, Hanni, has alleged that she suffered workplace harassment while working with the label.

“This is not the type of work ethic we respect and not one we want to be a part of, and to continue working under a company with no intention of protecting NewJeans would only do us harm,” Hanni said.

She added the group had faced “mistreatment, not just towards us but also including our staff”, and said the group had experienced “deliberate miscommunications and manipulation in multiple areas”.

Ador maintains that its contract with NewJeans remains valid as it has not violated its duty and has asked the group to “continue their activities” with the agency.

“A unilateral claim that trust has been broken does not constitute valid grounds for termination of a contract,” Ador said in the statement after the group’s announcement.

“We regret that the press conference on the termination of the contract took place without sufficient consideration, and even before we gave our response to the demand letter,” the agency said.

NewJeans said they would like to work with Min, the group’s former mastermind who left Ador in August following accusations that she had planned to split from Hybe, taking NewJeans with her.

This would have made NewJeans and Ador independent of Hybe. Min has denied the accusations against her.She has previously accused Hybe of launching another girl group, Illit, that was copying NewJeans’ music and appearance.

On 13 November, NewJeans filed a legal notice to Ador demanding the company resolve breaches of their exclusive contracts within 14 days.

They said that failure to meet their demands would result in the termination of their contracts.

The group has asked for an apology for a comment allegedly made by an executive at Belift Lab, another subsidiary of Hybe, and accused the company of workplace bullying.

They have also asked for the immediate reinstatement of Min.

They added that they would fulfil their contractual obligations, but at the conference warned their fans they might not be able to use the band’s name after the contract terminates.

Prior to the NewJeans’ announcement, the band were committed to a seven-year contract, which runs out in 2029.

The contract includes a clause specifying that parties can unilaterally terminate the contract if the other has violated its duty. However, the matter is likely to go to court as both sides do not agree. In such a scenario, a judge would decide if the contract can be terminated and if one side owes the other any damages.

In October, the K-pop news site Koreaboo estimated that the members would have to pay about 300bn South Korean Won (about £170m) to terminate the contract early.

But group singer Haerin said it made “no sense” that the group would be liable to pay a contract breach fee.

“We never broke any rules,” Haerin said. “We did nothing but try our best – they are the ones at fault. Hybe and Ador are the ones responsible.”

Ador said it had not “violated” the terms of the contract, adding that it “respectfully requests that the group continue its collaboration with Ador on upcoming activities”.

“Despite multiple requests for meetings with the artists, our efforts have not been successful. We hope the members will now be willing to engage in an open and candid discussion,” it said, referring to NewJeans.

The group has been embroiled in a year-long controversy with audits and emotional accusations making South Korean headlines.

In October, a member of the group, Hanni, 20, testified at the Labour Committee of South Korea’s National Assembly at a hearing about workplace harassment.

She alleged that entertainment agency Hybe had deliberately undermined her band, and accused senior managers of deliberately ignoring her.

Following several incidents, she said: “I came to the realisation that this wasn’t just a feeling. I was honestly convinced that the company hated us.”

Hybe shares fell by 4% in Seoul trading on Friday.

NewJeans made its debut in 2022 and is among Hybe’s most successful K-pop groups, along with BTS.

With slick pop hits including Super Shy and OMG, NewJeans were the eighth biggest-selling act in the world last year, and were nominated for best group at this year’s MTV Awards.

Formed by Ador in 2022, its five members – Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein – range in age from 16 to 20.

Jung Woo-sung, a 51-year-old A-lister in South Korea’s film industry, confirmed via his agency on Sunday that he is the father of 35-year-old model Moon Ga-bi’s newborn son.

While Jung pledged to “fulfil his responsibilities” as the father, his silence on whether he plans to marry Moon drew fierce backlash in the conservative country where births outside marriage are seen as taboo.

But some progressive voices have defended Jung, noting a shift in South Korea’s attitudes towards diverse family structures.

Moon announced her child’s birth via Instagram on Friday, without mentioning the father, describing the pregnancy as “unexpected” and saying she had been “completely unprepared for the sudden news”.

QTwo days later, Jung’s agency Artist Company released a statement confirming that “the baby Moon revealed on her social media is Jung Woo-sung’s son”.

The statement further noted that Jung and Moon were “discussing the best way to raise the child”.

It triggered outrage that quickly spread across the country, triggering a slate of opinion pieces in tabloids, spurring online debate and eliciting comments from national politicians.

Online, the response was largely critical towards Jung, whose prolific film career has made him a household name in South Korea.

Many commentators seemed to believe the actor had tarnished an otherwise upstanding and squeaky clean image, with some expressing disappointment that the former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ambassador “can’t accept his own child”.

“Jung Woo-sung is pretending to be a good guy saying he will fulfil all his duty… A child does not grow on money alone,” wrote one commenter on Naver News, South Korea’s largest news aggregate website.

“It’s not a problem not marrying after having a child. It’s that he pretended to be such an ethical person so far,” wrote another.

Speaking to conservative news outlet JoongAng, an unnamed lawmaker from the right-wing People Power Party described Jung’s decision to have a child outside marriage as “something unthinkable in this country of social mores”.

“No matter how much the times are changing, Korea’s tradition and public sentiment must be kept (righteous),” the lawmaker said.

A recent social survey by South Korea’s statistics agency found that 37% of people believed it was acceptable to have a child outside marriage – an almost 15% increase since 2012.

Of those who said marriage was necessary, more than 72% were above the age of 60 – with younger respondents increasingly less likely to take that view.

Other lawmakers have defended Jung, with Lee So-young, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, saying that “deciding to live with someone is a deeply personal and existential choice”.

“To assume that simply having a child obligates people to marry and take on the duties of cohabitation and mutual support feels suffocating,” Lee wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.

“Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being ‘normal’… [But] even if society appears to have a standard of ‘normal’, every life is unique in its own way.

“Perhaps a better society is one that accepts and respects such differences without judgment,” she added. “That’s what I believe.”

Kyunghyang, a progressive major newspaper, put out an editorial piece noting that while some voices have pushed for traditional values, “also rising is the voice that our society must think of the diverse shapes families take”.

“It makes one hope that celebrities having babies outside of marriage, like Jung and Moon, will help change the public view which today is against [such] births.”

South Korea has a notoriously high-pressure entertainment industry, with celebrities often held to inordinately high social standards and placed under extreme scrutiny.