AOA's Kwon Min-ah slammed for naming officer, calling police 'trash' amid sister's disappearance

Kwon Min-ah, a former member of the K-pop group AOA, has drawn criticism for crossing the line after she publicly named a police officer and unleashed a torrent of insults while complaining about how authorities handled a missing-persons report she filed for her older sister.

Kwon took to SNS on Monday, naming a specific police precinct and the officer assigned to her case. "My sister hasn't cleared her read receipts in a long time, which is unlike her, and our mother is in a critical condition — we just wanted to file a missing-persons report to confirm she's alive. Are you saying that's not your job?" she wrote, venting her frustration.

She then added: "The police are trash. You won't even listen when someone is a little flustered in a situation like this, and you just hang up? I called another officer — extremely rude — but at least managed to get the report filed. How are we supposed to trust South Korea's police going forward?"

Kwon also invoked the name of a convicted serial killer, writing: "South Korea's laws? Investigations? You're the real winner here, Yoo Young-chul."

The day before, Kwon had posted about her mother's deteriorating health and directed a string of expletive-laden messages at her sister.

On Monday morning she again appealed to the public to help locate her sister, saying her mother had been admitted to an intensive care unit and was at risk of brain damage. When she was unable to reach her sister, she apparently filed the missing-persons report directly with police — and the friction arose during that process.

Even accounting for the desperation of a family emergency, observers say Kwon crossed the line by publicly identifying a specific officer by name, making derogatory remarks, and invoking the name of a murderer.

Kwon debuted with AOA in 2012 and later transitioned to acting after leaving the group, but she has been a recurring subject of controversy — including allegations of bullying within the group, personal disputes, claims that a nurse subjected her to gapjil, accusations that she pressured a partner into breaking up with someone else, and questions about her sincerity during apologies and explanations she delivered via SNS live streams.

On Sept. 4, she also went public with a financial dispute involving her sister, claiming the sister had taken money from her, their mother and a friend of their mother's — alleging the combined losses for all three exceeded 700 million to 800 million won ($592,000). She said she had been out of contact with her sister for several years.

Kwon said that if no apology was forthcoming, she would pursue legal action against her sister on charges including fraud and forgery of private documents.