Park Jae-beom, the former leader of boy band 2PM, has asked his fans to respect his decision to quit the group.
In a terse letter posted on an online fan club community, he also called for his fans to stop criticizing Park Jin-young, the chief of 2PM's agency JYP Entertainment, for allowing him to quit the band, as he has always supported him.
"(Park Jin-young) and 2PM members have always been with me in this time of difficulties. It's already too much. Please, don't make it harder for them. They are like my family members."
It is the first time he has expressed his position with regards to quitting the group earlier this month, which involved negative comments about Korea he made four years ago.
"There are reasons that I quit," he said, though he did not specify.
He also issued an apology to his fans. "I'm really sorry for causing so much concern."
His fans raised questions about the genuineness of his postings. However, JYP Entertainment staff affirmed that the note was indeed posted by Jae-beom himself.
His remarks came two days after an alliance of his fan clubs said it would boycott the group resuming its activities with the remaining six members unless the agency reinstates Jae-beom.
"JYP Entertainment should withdraw its decision to allow Jae-beom to leave the group. Otherwise, we will boycott a six-member 2PM," said the alliance in a statement Sunday.
Last week, Park Jin-young said that the band will resume its activities as a six-member group without its former leader.
Jae-beom quit the group on Sept. 8, four days after the comments ― which included "I hate Korea" ― he posted on his MySpace account between 2005 and 2007 were made public. The boy band debuted in 2008.