By Han Sang-hee
Staff reporter
The Wonder Girls may have tasted success as a Korean group by reaching the Billboard Hot 100 last year, but it seems their life and activity in the United States was tougher than expected, according to a claim by the group's former English tutor.
Daniel Gauss, who claimed he was the group’s English tutor from October 2009 to May 2010, alleged that they were treated badly by the American branch of the JYP Entertainment (JYPE) agency, without even being covered by health insurance.
``I once saw one girl in extreme pain (due to a pre-existing problem from an operation) who received no professional medical treatment for the pain, and I saw others with minor ailments go untreated. I am pretty sure JYP, himself, has health insurance in America. Why can’t these girls be covered by health insurance in America?’’ Gauss wrote in an email sent to The Korea Times.
Park Jin-young, the head of JYP, has been considered a hero here for promoting the Wonder Girls in the U.S. and placing them in a position no other Korean singer has achieved, but the English tutor argued that the accomplishment was made by offering the Wonder Girls’ CDs for only $1 at clothing stores. This was already known to the Korean public, as Park himself told a popular television program about how he managed to persuade the store’s head to place the CDs on the counter where customers could see them.
``$1 is less than it costs to buy a little bottle of Coca-Cola in America. No American company would ever employ this strategy because it would be crazy to potentially lose money just in order to get a placement on the charts,’’ he wrote.
Gauss also added that the girls were illegally housed in the JYPE office building, which later resulted in the agency paying a fine of over $1,000.
``Some of the girls spent too much time in their rooms because of the English language barrier _ staff seemed to do little or nothing to get the girls out on the town so they could enjoy themselves,’’ he said.
JYP here in Korea failed to answer the phone, and has not released any official announcement regarding the issue.