BY JONATHAN HICAP
A former member of a K-pop girl group has filed a complaint for sexual harassment against the CEO of her agency.
Ga-eun, 19, former member of idol group Madein, accused CEO Lee Yong-hak of 143 Entertainment of sexual harassment. She is also seeking a formal apology and the termination of her exclusive contract with the agency.
K-pop girl group Madein (Instagram)
Former Madein member Ga-eun (X)
On April 29, Ga-eun’s side, including her mother, held a press conference about the sexual harassment, which reportedly happened in October last year.
During the press conference, a handwritten memorandum allegedly made by Lee Yong-hak was released.
The memorandum stated, "I sincerely apologize for the sexual harassment. In future contractual relationships with 143 Entertainment, I will step down from the position of legal representative director and take responsibility to ensure that I am not disadvantaged. I will also give Ga-eun the right of first choice in contract extensions and other contractual relationships,” Korean media reported.
143 Entertainment issued a statement, saying, "It is also deeply regrettable that Ga-eun's side demanded a large sum of consolation money based on one-sided claims related to an incident that was already reported last year, and when this was refused, they filed a criminal complaint about six months after the incident occurred."
The controversy was first reported by a current affairs program of Korean TV channel JTBC in November last year. 143 Entertainment denied the allegations.
Also last November, 143 Entertainment announced the departure of Ga-eun from Madein and denied the sexual harassment allegations.
Madein, formerly Limelight, debuted in September last year. The group’s current members are Mashiro, MiU, Suhye, Yeseo, Serina, and Nagomi.
No comments:
Post a Comment