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| Lee Seok-cheol, a former member of the K-pop group The East Light, sheds tears while testifying in Seoul, Friday, about alleged assaults and threats he and his brother suffered at the hands of Media Line Entertainment producer Moon Young-il. The Lee brothers were forced to leave the agency after they made the abuse allegations public. Yonhap |
Abuse case casts shadow over K-pop industry
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Korean pop group The East Light's drummer Lee Seok-cheol and his brother Seung-hyun filed a complaint against Media Line Entertainment' s producer Moon Young-il and CEO Kim Chang-hwan on Monday, three days after they accused both of verbally and physically assaulting them and their band-mates repeatedly for nearly four years.
On Monday, their lawyer Cheong Ji-seok submitted relevant documents to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency with voice recordings and photos showing their injuries as a result of assaults as evidence to prove their claims.
At a press conference held Friday, the drummer claimed he and his brother were the victims of assaults which first began in 2015 and continued until recently. Lee also claimed Moon threatened to kill him if he or his younger brother revealed what they had gone through to their parents.
Lee's younger brother Seung-hyun, who was then a middle school student, suffered mental trauma and has since been seeing a psychiatrist.
The Lee brothers said they were determined to take legal action against the entertainment company to end the inhumane treatment of K-pop idols.
Other members of their group, however, remained silent about the allegations.
Earlier their lawyer Cheong encouraged other members _ Lee Woo-jin, Jeong Sa-gang, Lee Eun-sung and Kim Joon-wook _ to join the legal action if they had experienced similar violence in the entertainment industry and said he would be willing to represent them together. But no other members have come forward.
"The four remaining members appear to feel hesitant to come forward partly because they fear possible retaliation from the management agency and partly because they don't want their dream to be shattered," Lee said during a radio interview with a local news outlet Monday.
The abuse dates back to 2015, when The East Light members were minors.
CEO Kim was accused of being aware of it but not taking necessary measures to stop the abuse. Although he witnessed the members being assaulted by Moon, Kim told the producer to "take it easy," according to the elder Lee.
"From 2015 to 2017, Moon habitually beat us with a baseball bat or a mop while forcing us to hold a push-up position. The abuse occurred in the basement practice room, recording studio and on the rooftop," he said. "The producer confined my brother in a studio and hit him about 30 times and even forced him to smoke when he was underage."
Lee also claimed the producer wrapped guitar cables around his neck and tightened them whenever he made a mistake while practicing.
When Lee confronted producer Moon and CEO Kim, they threatened to ruin his musical career if he told to anyone about the abuse. The 18-year-old drummer said he had to remain silent and didn't reveal the mistreatment even to his parents when they asked him about the bruises on his body.
Exploitive contracts and mistreatment of singers and trainees are fairly common in the K-pop industry and they have been considered "part of the system."
K-pop trainees, who join agencies when they are teens or younger, are exposed to unfair contracts where they are obliged to stay with their agencies for certain periods of time. And for the trainees that do debut and start earning money, a considerable part of their income goes to their agency.
Whenever child abuse accusations surface, agencies say they invested a lot until their trainees make their debut.
In response to Friday's press conference, Media Line Entertainment's CEO apologized for his "inappropriate" handling of the case. "It saddened me when I first heard about the abuse a year and four months ago," Kim said in a statement, denying any recurrence of abuse since then.
Kim also denied his involvement in the abuse case, threatening to take legal action for defamation if the allegations are found to be groundless.
Meanwhile, Media Line Entertainment issued an official statement on Monday, saying the company will terminate its contracts with four other members. "After deep consideration, we are announcing that we have decided to terminate contracts with the remaining four members of The East Light," the agency noted.
"In addition, as the controversy continues to grow and is in the public eye, we will no longer respond to the press for the sake of the six members including the Lee brothers."
The East Light made their official debut with the single "Holla" in 2016.
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