Demanding “Seunghan Return to RIIZE”
The global fandom of the group RIIZE predicted the delivery of a letter of protest regarding the withdrawal of member Seunghan.
On the 5th, the legal representative of RIIZE Global Fandom issued a statement saying, “We strongly demand the just restoration of RIIZE 7 members,” and said RIIZE fandom would deliver a letter of protest to related agencies.
Last month, Seunghan announced his return after ending his 11-month hiatus due to controversy over his private life. However, the decision was reversed two days after the announcement of joining the team due to strong opposition from Korean fans, and Seunghan eventually left the team by his own decision.
Regarding the measures taken by SM Entertainment, RIIZE’s agency, they pointed out, “They failed to properly protect Seunghan, the victim of privacy infringement,” “The agency neglected their obligation to protect artists by neglecting numerous condolence wreaths installed in front of the company’s office building,” and “They made a one-sided decision that did not take into account the opinions of global fandom at all,” and added, “We will deliver a letter of complaint to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, SM Entertainment, and the National Human Rights Commission of Korea to demand institutional correction of this situation.”
In addition, the RIIZE fandom demanded an official apology from SM Entertainment to Seunghan and fans, ▲ Immediately disclose the current status of legal response to the spread of malicious and false information and invasion of privacy that has been on the sidelines for a year ▲ Disclosure of the person responsible for the sudden decision to withdraw and a clear explanation ▲ Seunghan’s immediate return to the RIIZE.
Full statement from RIIZE Global Fandom
“We strongly call for the restoration of Hong Seunghan and the entire RIIZE 7.”
- SM Entertainment Accuses Unethical Behaviour Of Killing Apparent Victims Twice
Even before his debut, RIIZE member Hong Seung-han had suffered from malicious infringement of privacy by third parties and the spread of unfounded false information. On November 22, 2023, SM Entertainment forced him to suspend his activities indefinitely without any clear explanation, and Seunghan had to endure about 10 months in silence alone. During this time, the company did not take any legal action against the perpetrators, but rather had an unconventional behavior of forcing the victim, Seung-han, to apologize several times.
We are angry.
While a young man’s dreams and honor were unfairly trampled on, what did SM Entertainment, which leads the K-pop industry, do? Far from protecting their artists from malicious harassment, it rather sympathized with this violence and pushed Seunghan into the abyss.
In particular, the series of events that took place right after Seunghan’s return announcement on October 11, 2024, finally brought our anger to an extreme. The company tolerated the unprecedented act of inhumane violence called ‘condolence wreath’ installed in front of SM Entertainment’s headquarters, and in just two days, it reversed Seunghan’s return and decided to withdraw. This is not a simple mistake, but an anti-humanitarian riot that completely ignores the dignity of a person.
Even more shocking, the decision was made without sufficient discussion with the rest of the fandom in overseas. This is dogmatic behavior that completely disregards the decision-making power of the entire RIIZE team.
We will never back down.
RIIZE is a full team only when there are seven members. Seunghan is an indispensable member of RIIZE, and this unjust decision to leave must be withdrawn.
In response, we strongly demand the following:
- SM Entertainment should make an official apology to Seunghan and his fans, and immediately restore his honor.
- We need to immediately disclose the current status of the legal response to the spread of malicious false information and invasion of privacy that we have been sitting on the sidelines for the past year.
- We call for clarification of responsibility for the confusing article on October 11th, the announcement of the return, and the subsequent sudden decision to leave.
- The entire process of arbitrary decisions made without sufficient discussion with members who were on overseas schedules should be disclosed in detail and those responsible should be punished.
- We strongly demand Seunghan’s immediate return to RIIZE.
We declare.
Hong Seunghan is the victim. However, SM Entertainment has turned him into a perpetrator by forcing him to make a total of four handwritten apologies, an apparent secondary offense. Such anti-human rights and anti-ethics behavior shown by K-POP’s flagship company, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, is by no means acceptable.
We will fight to the end until Seunghan returns as a confident member of RIIZE. Until a just decision is made, our voices will never stop. We never accept the cowardly decision of the agency that gave in to undue pressure.
RIIZE is 7. We will never back down until we get back the intact RIIZE with Seunghan.
November 5, 2024
This manifesto is not just a protest, it is an expression of our firm will and legitimate demands. We solemnly declare that we will fight by all means legally until this unjust situation is corrected.
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