I've always been dumbfounded at the amount of paparazzi at the airports mobbing idols but you almost never see paparazzi when idols are simply strolling around the Seoul area.
Why is that? Is there laws in Korea for media interaction with idols? Is it a cultural thing?
Posted Nov 20, 2019, 3:04 PM UTC
Generally, when you see the large mobs of people with cameras taking idol photos at airports, most of them are fancammers/fansites and not commercial photographers. For kpop fandom at least, airport arrivals/departures fall into the category of (semi-)official schedule type events where this is considered acceptable fan behavior. If an idol is out in Seoul on their own personal time, following them around and taking their pictures would probably be considered crossing the line into sasaeng territory (meaning unacceptable fan behavior).
The people you see at the airports are majority of the time actually fans, not paps! In Korea, Dispatch pretty much takes care of the whole paparazzi thing, but functions much differently than here in the states; celebs and entertainment companies work with Dispatch and do official interviews, photoshoots, and give exclusive photo rights/access for certain events or concerts.
Airports are viewed as photo-ops these days, with the agencies telling paparazzi when idols will be there. Fansites will also find out and be there.
The street is unannounced and severely looking down upon. People who take photos of idols on the street is considered sasaengs, stalkers, and a fansite doing that might get frozen out from the fandom. There’s of course dispatch taking photos of idols on the street when they reveal dating scandals, but that’s the only exception and is always met by mixed reactions.