GFriend trainee fined $15,000

By Ko Dong-hwan

The Seoul Central District Court has ordered a former apprentice of K-pop girl band GFriend to pay her former agent over 12 million won ($15,000) for violating a contract.

Source Music brought the damages suit against the apprentice, identified by the surname Kim, in August 2014. But the court on Monday dismissed the company’s argument that she was responsible for delaying the band’s debut until January last year.

In October 2013, Kim signed up with the company to train and debut with the band. The contract bound her to compensate Source Music double the money the company invested in her if she violated its terms and terminated the deal.

In April 2014, Kim told the company she “wishes to quit and rest at home,” according to media reports, and left the company.

The following month, the company notified her of her dismissal from the band. Three months later, the company filed the damages suit.

The court’s first trial ordered Kim to pay Source Music twice the amount of 6.2 million won the company had invested in her. Kim appealed.

In the appeals court, Kim said the company had forced her to lose a “nonsensical” amount of weight, criticized her look and cut her out from training. But the court dismissed her appeal, saying her argument was groundless.

After releasing its third album “Snowflake” in January, GFriend has become one of the hottest girl bands in Korea. In January 2015, American pop magazine Billboard selected the band as one of the “Top 5 K-pop Artists to Watch in 2015.”