Volume IX

Zayrah O. Marzan

October 13, 2014

South Korean-Chinese boy band Exo perform during the spectator welcome at the opening ceremony of the 2014
Asian Games at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium in Incheon on September 19, 2014.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

EXO Member Luhan

Files Lawsuit to
Leave K-Pop Group

outh Korean K-pop label SM

Entertainment Co. is going
through a rough patch.

On Friday, a Chinese member of the

labels boyband EXO filed a lawsuit
against SM in a bid to nullify his
contract with the company,
according to the Seoul Central
District Court. A spokesman for the
court confirmed the filing but
declined to provide further details.
It wasnt immediately clear why the
member, Luhan, was seeking an
apparent divorce from the company.

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Last week, SMs popular ninemember group, Girls Generation,

officially became an eight member
team after one of the members,
Jessica Jung, was ousted due to
disagreements over her business
activities in fashion.

He and his legal representative

couldnt be reached for comment.
SM said in a statement that it was
baffled, by the lawsuit. The label
added that it was the midst of
working out of Luhans next career
steps following a request from him
to focus more on individual
activities. SM said it suspected the
involvement of a third party in
motivating the action but didnt say
why.
Speculation surfaced recently that
Luhans relationship with the label
may have gone sour following his
absence at an EXO concert in
Bangkok last month. SM explained
the absence at the time by saying he
had been suffering from headaches
and an unspecific sleep disorder.

Analysts say SM is increasingly

battling with the challenges of
managing groups with large
numbers of singers, as well as
increasing desire among artists to
more actively decide their own
career paths. K-Pop labels create
groups with large numbers of
members to allow them to more
easily deal with the absence of
individuals, such as through illness
or mandatory military service for
men.
Shares of SMwhich is listed on the
countrys Kosdaq stock-exchange for
smaller companiesdropped by the
daily limit of 15% on the news of the
latest lawsuit, hitting a more-thanone-year-low.

The move follows a similar suit filed

by another Chinese member from
the same group in May. Half of the
twelve-member group originate from
China or are Chinese-speaking
Koreans, a strategy aimed at
increasing the appeal of the group in
the Chinese market.

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EXO-M Kriss
lawsuit against
SM
Entertainment
confirmed

ultiple Korean
media have
confirmed that
EXOMs Kris has filed a
lawsuit against his label
SM Entertainment to
have his exclusive
contract terminated.
10Asia and The Korea
Herald confirmed that
EXO-Ms leader has
indeed filed the lawsuit
to Seoul Central
District court on May
15.
A lawsuit regarding
the termination of the
contract has been
submitted under Kriss

Chinese name on the

15th. 10Asias article
read.
SM Entertainment was
quick to deny the
allegations this
morning but has since
confirmed that it was
looking into the facts.
We are perplexed by
the incident we will
do our best to keep
EXOs activities on
track. An S.M.
Entertainment
spokesperson told
Yonhap.
allkpop.com reported
that Hangengs lawyers,
who also took SM
Entertainment to court
will also be
representing Kris on
the case.
It is true Kris has filed
a suit today (15th)
against SM

Entertainment for the

nullification of his
contract Lawyer Cho
Bum Suk, who
represented Hangeng,
has picked up this
case. A representative
was quoted saying on
allkpop.
The lawsuit came as a
surprise to fans as
EXO-K/EXO-M had just
only released their new
song Overdose on May
7 and whether this suit
will affect the groups
promotions in Korea
and China has yet been
confirmed.
Kriss lawsuit isnt the
first time SM
Entertainment has been
taken to court by their
own artists. JYJ and exSuper Juniors Hangeng
both took SM to court
in 2009 over unlawful
contracts.

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