More details on W Korea’s Love Your W event are popping up. Somehow, it’s even worse than what was originally reported. It was already criticized as a tone-deaf display of wealth. Now it’s being exposed as a misuse of charity funds. Worse, the organizers of the event may have exploited the celebrities it invited.
Donation Numbers Don’t Add Up
According to Dispatch, W Korea accepted large payments each year from luxury brands. Fashion houses reportedly donated around ₩30 million KRW (about $21,000 USD) each, with jewelry brands adding ₩5.0 million KRW (about $3,530 USD). Love Your W should be raising over $700,000 USD per year. Yet that number isn’t reflected in the magazine’s overall donations
Now, lawmaker Lee Soo Jin has shared some shocking data with Women’s Newspaper. W Korea only donated ₩315 million KRW (around $222,000 USD) to the Korea Breast Health Foundation over 17 years. That’s less than half of the ₩1.10 billion KRW (about $776,000 USD) the magazine claimed to raise over 20 years. Even worse, records show donations stopped between 2017 and 2023, only starting again in 2024.
So if W Korea was accepting money from luxury brands during the years they weren’t donating, what happened to all that money? Where is it all going?
How the Celebrities Were Treated
Dispatch also revealed that celebrities weren’t paid for attending. Many even covered their own hair, makeup, and styling costs. They believed they were showing support for a meaningful cause. Instead of a cancer prevention campaign, the event became a huge party with W Korea posting videos from the after party on their social media accounts.
Another layer of the scandal is how W Korea handled its guests. Managers and staff were reportedly banned from entering the venue. They were forced to wait outside for over six years. They were also prohibited from being present during interviews and photo sessions. Celebrities rely on managers to make sure they’re prepared for anything that’s thrown their way. A leaked memo showed that W Korea went out of their way to keep celebrities isolated from their staff.
Organizers encouraged celebrities to participate in activities like clinking champagne glasses or TikTok challenges. One example is aespa’s Karina being asked to pose to Tyler the Creator’s song “Sugar on My Tongue.” The song is sexually explicit with no relation to breast cancer awareness.
Interviews made zero reference to breast cancer awareness. Instead celebs were asked questions like “How often do you look in the mirror?” or “What are your year-end plans?” None of these activities were approved by the talent agencies who sent their clients to the event. The whole thing paints a disturbing picture of how W Korea prioritized viral content over basic respect.
No Official Response From W Korea
Adding to public outrage is W Korea’s refusal to address the controversy. Their social media team has been posting on Instagram promoting luxury brands such as Dyson, Moët & Chandon, and Perfumer H. These posts include hashtags related to the event.
They were also liking comments criticizing people who are upset with the magazine. One comment that caught Koreans’ attention was: “It seems like every single ancestor of theirs was a slave and somehow gained the right to speak.”
Yeah, it’s almost as if W Korea is enjoying the negative attention at this point.
The W Korea employees who organized this year’s Love Your W event should be fired. Lawmakers need to launch an investigation into the magazine’s fundraising practices. If W Korea doesn’t want to respond appropriately, maybe a court case will do the trick.
