BLACKPINK meets fans for 10th anniversary as backlash builds

K-pop girl group BLACKPINK celebrated its 10th anniversary on Saturday with a meet-and-greet for 40 fans at Seoul's National Museum of Korea, marking the end of a week where the fandom criticized the agency's handling of the milestone. All four members - Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa and Rosé - participated in the event, which was their first appearance before fans in Korea since their Goyang concerts in July last year.

Jisoo, in a Weverse live broadcast before the event, expressed that today is an important day for the group. Rosé remarked that the decade had flown by, and it did not feel like 10 years had passed. She presented a cake adorned with a "10" candle and distributed bouquets to each member, earning Jennie's praise as the "romanticist of our team."

Lisa admitted feeling nervous about eating the cake and had been listening to BLACKPINK tracks while preparing for the event. Jisoo used the broadcast to address the criticism, stating that they had initially hoped to accommodate more people but understood that it was an important day.