Unfortunately, Korea is continuing to suffer from the effects of Coronavirus as there has been an increase in cases alongside the arrival of the new infectous strands. Now, things are getting even more hectic as famous singer RAIN is facing possible charges for breaking COVID-19 violations and putting students at risk.

On April 20th, singer RAIN was recording content for his YouTube channel ‘Season B Season’ by visiting his old high school, Anyang Arts High School. The filming and meeting was planned in advance with the school and RAIN arrived at the school around lunch time where three current students gave him a tour of the familiar yet newly updated campus.

However, what was supposed to be a fun experience of nostalgia become a moment of danger and difficulty. It was reported at one point that the school had lost control over students and over 30 gathered in narrow, crowded hallways – some without masks!

This is a complete violation of Korea’s strict COID-19 prevention rules and guidelines. His appearance caused students to recklessly flood the wholes just to greet and see him. Now, controversy has spread and the goverment is taking the situation quite seriously as they look into the case. News outlets reported that the Disease Prevention Department has banned all visits from the outside during regular school hours. Anyang Arts High School stated, “Rain recently gifted students with 1,000 new albums, and so many of the students asked him to come visit them via SNS. Rain was responding to the students’ requests. We ensured that filming took place during lecture hours, and Rain was asked to wait in a quarantined room during break hours. The teachers also did their best to maintain all COVID-19 guidelines, consistently monitoring students and emphasizing sanitation, but it seems there were a few instances in which we were not able to control the students.” 

Fans came to the defense of RAIN commenting “Why would any celebrate visit a school during mid-terms… it is a distraction for sure,” “It’s like this: Rain got permission from the school to make the visit at a specified time. THEREFORE, it was up to the school to inform the students and staff and ensure safe distancing and other guidelines were followed. However, if this is true, “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬,”  and “BOTH Rain and the school’s administration are in violation. If Rain wasn’t aware of this ban (and I can’t think of why he should be since his children are not school age yet), it was up to the school to inform him. So the school is mostly and primarily at fault and Rain is cleared of any blame.”

What do you think of the situation? Is RAIN in the wrong? Should he be blamed? Do you think he should even be fined or make an apology? Stay tuned for more details.