aespa Member Winter Has ‘Preventive’ Surgery to Treat Collapsed Lung

aespa member Winter recently underwent preventive surgery to treat a collapsed lung. The K-pop group’s label, SM Entertainment, released a statement on Friday (April 12) describing the procedure to treat a pneumorthorax, a condition in which air accumulates in the chest, applying pressure on the lungs and possibly leading to collapse.

According to South Korean news outlet Newsen, the SM statement read, “Winter is recovering from recent pneumothorax surgery. As the disease is prone to recurrence, the decision was made as a preemptive measure based on the opinions of the medical staff after sufficient discussion.”

The statement added that the 23-year-old singer’s recovery is a priority and that “future schedules will be made with Winter’s recovery status as the top priority.” At press time the group’s spokesperson had no additional information about Winter’s surgery or recovery process.

According to Newsen, Winter’s most recent public appearance was on April 6 on Japan’s NHK music show Venue 101, after which she returned to South Korea on the morning of April 9. The group will make the jump to the big screen on April 24 and 27 when their first concert film, aespa: WORLD TOUR, brings fans inside the group’s U.K. live debut at London’s O2 Arena as part of their 2023 Synk: Hyper Line world tour.

The quartet can currently be heard on the just-released Rebel Moon – Songs of the Rebellion EP, which also features original songs by Jessie Reyez, Tainy, Tokischa, TOKiMONSTA, Black Coffee and Kordhell inspired by Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon movie series. aespa are slated to kick a run of SYNK: Parallel Lines dates in Asia and Australia, with the tour kicking off with two nights in their native Seoul on June 29-30.