Throwback: IU Accidentally Posts Intimate Photo Of Her With A Shirtless Eunhyuk

South Korean superstar IU once encountered a major mishap during the early years of her career, which sent the whole K-Pop community into a frenzy.

Back in 2012, the 30-year-old singer-turned-actress shocked her followers on Twitter after accidentally posting an intimate picture of her lying in bed beside Super Junior’s Eunhyuk, who appeared shirtless. Minutes after it was uploaded, the photo got taken down from the platform, but there had been more than enough time for some fans to take a screenshot or save a copy.

The post trended all over the internet and made the headlines on news sites. Many K-Pop community members expressed their reactions on the matter, but most speculated that the duo was dating. Fans started investigating some of the pair’s sightings at the time, looking for a connection to prove their romantic relationship.

As rumors started to fuel, IU’s — real name Lee Ji-eun — agency, LOEN Entertainment, adamantly denied that she was dating or was getting married to the now-37-year-old South Korean artist.

“We are [disappointed] that something that is completely false without any proof can spread so quickly and easily,” the entertainment label told local media outlets, adding that it would be taking legal actions against persons spreading false information regarding IU and Eunhyuk’s relationship.

LOEN also urged the fans to be considerate of the artists suffering from such “exaggerated” and “baseless” rumors.

Months later, when the incident seemed to have died down, IU was able to publicly address the incident during an episode of SBS’ “Incarnation.” There, she admitted to uploading the photo by mistake, and that she felt nothing but apologetic toward Eunhyuk for causing such a problem.

“I wondered, why did this happen? Why did I do this? First, I did upload it by mistake. And to be honest, I couldn’t even blame anyone else because I was the one who uploaded it,” she said, according to an English translation from Allkpop. “It wasn’t that I could even have a hard time because of it [because it was my fault].”

The “Celebrity” hitmaker also contemplated whether or not she should apologize to everyone affected by the matter online, or just stay quiet, which was why she pushed back on appearing on variety shows.

“I was so sorry. It wasn’t something that made me have a hard time, being a burden on me or anything because I should just be sorry to everyone. I’m so sorry,” she added.

When asked about how she was that day or if she was able to eat, she revealed that her best friend, Yoo In-na, who was also a famous actress in South Korea, came to her home to cheer her up and eat meals with her. She also expressed how grateful she was to receive such support.

Eunhyuk, for his part, had a calmer reaction to the matter, even asking IU if she was okay. The latter, however, said that she didn’t have the “right to not be okay” and continued to apologize to the former. Both IU and Eunhyuk never disclosed further details about the photo. Their respective agencies, LOEN and SM Entertainment, also insisted that the two were nothing more than friends.