South Korean songstress IU has opened up for the first time after being caught in a scandal with Super Junior member Eunhyuk.
The pop princess wrote a greeting on her official fan community Youaena (in romanised Korean) on December 25, titled 'Merry Christmas'.
"How have you been everyone? It felt stifling to be behind closed doors for so long. It's a white Christmas! I haven't been out, of course. It felt bad not being able to communicate with my fans," IU said in a post.
"Thanks to that, I learned that there are lots of things one can do in that kind of situation, such as writing comments online! I want to say that I'm sorry to my fans. You might have lost weight from all the worrying but I apologise for gaining weight, even after such a huge incident…"
"But it's Christmas and this is Youaena! I felt time was right to say hello to you all! Take care! I'm going to open the door soon. Please wait for me with a cup of juice!!!," said the singer.
On November 10, IU posted a photo of Eunhyuk and herself onto her official Twitter account. In the image, the pair is seen in an affectionate pose together, and it looks like IU is wearing her pajamas and Eunhyuk seems shirtless. Some Internet users even enlarged a vague image in IU’s pupil and speculated that they were together in Eunhyuk’s house.
Despite IU's agency Loen Entertainment's explanation that the two idol stars are just friends, some IU fans - especially her middle-aged "uncle" fans, expressed their outrage on numerous local online communities, as her popularity was based on her pure and innocent image.
IU, 19, burst into the music scene at the age of 15 with her debut mini-album Lost and Found in 2008. The singer-songwriter shot to stardom with her hit tune Good Day in 2010, which brought her wider recognition earning her the nickname "the nation's younger sister."
Her post on Christmas was the first since the scandal broke out.
Eunhyuk, 26, is a member of top K-pop boy band Super Junior which made their debut in 2005. They have enjoyed a successful career in Korea and remain one of the most popular K-pop acts in Asia.
Eunhyuk's agency SM Entertainment has not made any kind of statement since the scandal broke out.
