Former TEMPEST Hwarang Joins Military Following Club Controversy
Hwarang (Song Jaewon), a former member of the K-pop group Tempest, has reportedly enlisted in the military for national defense duty. This follows his departure from the group earlier this year after a controversy involving his visit to a club.
Tempest, a seven-member boy group that debuted in 2022, quickly gained attention in the K-pop industry. The group released three mini-albums in their debut year, selling 75,015 copies of their first album. They were also nominated for No. 1 on music programs just six days after debuting with their title track “Bad News.”
Recognized as one of the top fourth-generation male groups of 2022, Tempest won the Best New Male Group award at both the 2022 Brand of the Year Awards and the 2022 Genie Music Awards (GMA). Their popular tracks include “Bad News,” “Can’t Stop Shining,” “Dangerous,” “Vroom Vroom,” and “LIGHT HOUSE.”
In February, TEMPEST Hwarang became embroiled in controversy when a fan alleged during a video call signing event that they had seen him at a club. Hwarang admitted, saying, “I went to the club but did nothing bad.” While visiting a club is not inherently problematic for Hwarang, who was born in 2001 and is an adult, the issue escalated when it was revealed that he socialized with others during his visit.
Yuehua Entertainment responded to the situation by stating, “We will respond strongly to the spread and speculation of false information against our artists. The contents being distributed differ from the facts. Hwarang deeply reflects on his visit to the club and has pledged not to repeat such behavior. We and Hwarang will take special care to prevent this from happening again.”
Despite these assurances, Hwarang suspended his activities in March, and Tempest continued as a six-member group. In August, Yuehua Entertainment announced that Hwarang would not return to Tempest: “After in-depth discussions about future activities and careers, we mutually agreed to end his activities as a Tempest member and terminate his exclusive contract with the company.”
Since then, there had been no updates on Hwarang, (Song Jaewon) until photos of him enlisting in November surfaced on social media and online communities. In these images, Hwarang is seen wearing a beret, military uniform, and leather gloves.
When asked about Hwarang’s enlistment, Yuehua Entertainment commented, “It is difficult to provide an answer because he is no longer an artist belonging to us.”
Meanwhile, Tempest recently appeared on Mnet’s survival show Road to Kingdom: ACE OF ACE, which concluded on November 7.
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