RIIZE’s Seunghan To Take Indefinite Hiatus From Activities
On November 22, SM Entertainment released the following official statement announcing that Seunghan will be taking a hiatus from his activities:
Hello, this is SM Entertainment. This is a notice regarding RIIZE member Seunghan.
Seunghan is feeling severely apologetic and is reflecting on himself for causing disappointment and commotion to not only the team and members but also to fans due to issues regarding his personal life that are being leaked and circulated recently via social media and online communities.
Seunghan feels mental pressure and responsibility regarding this, so after deep contemplation, he relayed his intention to halt activities for the team.
We also judged that it is too difficult for him to continue activities through this situation, and respecting his opinion of no longer wanting to cause harm to the team and members, we decided on the indefinite suspension of his activities.
Therefore, RIIZE will promote with six members excluding Seunghan starting today (November 22).
It is an abrupt situation, but we ask for the generous understanding of fans as it is a matter that was decided through careful discussion with the artist himself, and we are feeling great responsibility for being inattentive about artist management although it was before his debut. We once again deeply apologize to fans.
However, the videos and photos that are being leaked and circulated were taken in his personal time during his trainee days before his debut, and they were reproduced several times to cause misunderstandings through deliberate secondary editing such as taking screenshots of a video of which the source can be specified.
In addition, the individuals who are leaking and circulating these videos and photos are even using malicious means of creating groundless false information and messenger conversations that do not exist, continuing acts of severe defamation toward the artist by spreading fabricated and distorted information that is different from the truth.
We began monitoring immediately after recognizing the above situation, and we specified who was behind the unauthorized leaks and circulation after collecting a significant amount of evidence. We plan on filing a legal complaint this afternoon at the local police station.
In addition, we are considering additional legal action against the specified individual not only for defaming the artist through unauthorized leaks and circulation but also for various illegal acts such as cybercrimes and threats.
For the sake of the artist and team as well as the fans who love the team, the agency will not only file legal complaints but also respond strongly without any settlement or leniency to all forms of secondary harm such as generating as well as circulating and reproducing additional posts about thoughtless rumors regarding the artist.
We will continue to do our best for the protection of our agency’s artists.
Thank you.