good thing corporations can't legally adopt children, as far as i know(maybe the legal experts out there can enlighten me), or we would keep seeing 10 yr olds debuting and no one would be able to stop them because they have legal guardianship. it's nice

I mean child stars have never been a new thing; in the west you have stars like justin timberlake, ryan gosling, britney and christina who all got their start in showbiz from a disney youth club. Demi lovato has spoken up about how damaging it could be to a child’s growth when they’re by far the biggest earner in the family when they were still a teen. Bella thorne has revealed she felt the need to continue being in showbiz not bc she loved it but bc it helped keep a roof over her parents’ head. This is a big issue not just in korea, but at the same time the idol system is also a lot more vicious than other entertainment industries that you can’t help but wonder if these kids have the protection they need to still be able to grow into well-adjusted adults away from many potential harms

It's the sad state of things - Jennette Mccurdy's memoir, "I'm Glad My Mom Died" also detailed how her mother abused her too. Plenty of horror stories all around and it's complicated, messy, especially for those children that genuinely wanted to go into the entertainment and even more so for THOSE that didn't but were kinda forced to by their parents to support the entire family.