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By Cho Jae-hyon
Staff Reporter
Park Jin-young, the head of JYP Entertainment, has asked fans of Jae-beom, the former leader of popular boy band 2PM, to respect his decision to quit after controversial negative comments he made about Korea four years ago became public.
The remarks came days after the lead singer flew to the United States and fans vented their anger against Park for letting him go. JYP Entertainment is the management agency for 2PM.
In a letter posted on JYP's Web site, Park explained the reasons behind the decision.
``With the comments he made four years ago, lots of people were shocked. I would have been shocked and felt betrayed if another entertainer wrote such content,'' Park said. ``However, those who have known him for long were not that surprised. That's because we've already known that Jae-beom was such a guy.''
Park said Jae-beom was a sort of delinquent boy when he first set foot in Korea four years ago, and at that time looked down on the job of entertainers.
Park said that even though he was not so well-behaved, he has always been forthright and never wicked.
``Among other things, he was so sorry for Korean people who were so good to him. I could not keep him from quitting because I know him,'' Park said. ``If I had been in his shoes, I would have made the same decision.''
Park asked his fans to let him take ``enough time'' on his own before moving on.
``I'm aware of not only the public anger but also the disappointment of his fans. What matters now is not Jae-beom as the 2PM leader but Jae-beom as a young man,'' Park said. ``It is very important for him to take a look at himself and repent. As I did, I hope you will respect his decision.''
Jae-beom was the center of netizen outrage over comments he made about Korea to a friend on the social networking site MySpace between 2005 and 2007. Jae-beom, who was then a trainee at JYP Entertainment, wrote, ``Korea is gay. I hate Koreans. I wanna come back.''
When the comments belatedly surfaced last week, Korean fans quickly lashed out at the young singer, saying they were disappointed in his comments and felt betrayed.
chojh@koreatimes.co.kr
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경찰, 이태원 등 외국인 밀집지역 특별관리
