HYBE Labels apologized for after it was revealed that their security guards at a recent &TEAM fansign event had conducted inappropriate body searches on some fans. 

On July 9 KST, HYBE Labels released an official statement after some fans took to social media to express their anger after undergoing inappropriate "underwear searches" by security guards at a fansign event for &TEAM recently held in South Korea. The fans revealed that instead of using a metal detector, the security guards had pulled certain fans over to the side and had them lift their shirts for them. They expressed that they had felt violated of their human rights by the action of the security guards, and their post quickly garnered a lot of attention and naturally, a lot of anger toward HYBE Labels for their poor management. 

In response, HYBE Labels released an official statement to apologize and explain their situation: 

"Hello, this is Weverse Shop.

We would like to apologize to the fans who attended &TEAM’s in-person fan signing event held on July 8, regarding the security body searches that were carried out by the female security guards.

Fan signing events are a place where artists and fans have one-on-one conversations and if recordings are leaked to the public, it might not be good for the fan and the artist. So, in order to prevent such a situation from arising, we have always strictly limited [fans from] bringing in electronic devices that have recording features. Up until now, many fans have actively cooperated with this policy.

However, there have been several instances where fans would hide electronic devices on their bodies to bring them in. Thus, a body search was carried out on July 8 by female security guards to check for [any recording devides]. We apologize to the fans for making you uncomfortable.

Even if it was a security issue, we are aware that it is not an acceptable excuse for making fans uncomfortable. We sincerely apologize that this kind of incident happened at the event.

We will work toward making improvements, such as introducing contact-free methods for security checks, and we will try to make it possible for fans to participate in fan signing events with artists in a more comfortable and happy environment.

Thank you."