DSP Media Releases 2nd Statement With Detailed Responses To Specific Claims In Allegations Of APRIL Bullying Hyunjoo

DSP Media has released a second official statement regarding the allegations that former APRIL member Hyunjoo was bullied by her bandmates.

On February 28, someone claiming to be Hyunjoo’s brother made an online post alleging that the reason she left the group in 2016 was being bullied by the other members. Another individual, who claimed to be Hyunjoo’s high school classmate, made similar allegations in a second post that went into more detail about the alleged bullying.

On March 1, DSP Media—which currently houses both APRIL and Hyunjoo—made an initial statement denying the allegations and asserting that no one in the group could be considered a perpetrator or a victim.

Later that same day, the agency followed up with another statement that addressed specific claims made in the allegations, with detailed clarifications about certain points. DSP Media also warned that it would take legal action against the spreading of false rumors about the APRIL members.

The agency’s full statement is as follows:

Hello, this is DSP Media.

We are making an additional clarification regarding the post that was made on an online community regarding the unpleasant incident involving Lee Hyunjoo and the APRIL members.

Because everyone involved is an artist under our agency, we did not want to mention them by name, but due to the seriousness of the situation, we have decided to make these clarifications.

– Regarding Jeon Somin

Jeon Somin joined our agency as a trainee at 16 years old, and she quietly trained for a long time. After APRIL’s debut, she worked hard to fulfill her assigned role as the group leader. The claim that she disliked or bullied any specific member is untrue.

Jeon Somin and Kim Chaewon spent three years together as trainees at our agency, so they were already close, and there was no reason for Chaewon to defame a specific person to get close to Somin.

– Regarding the tumbler

There were about 40 to 50 tumblers at the dorm, and [Naeun] put dwenjang stew in one of them and was eating it with the other members at the practice room. At the time, Lee Hyunjoo said that the tumbler was hers, and Lee Naeun apologized right away. Lee Hyunjoo also ate the stew together with the other members at the time.

– Regarding the shoes

The company gifted each member with two pairs of the same shoes, for a total of 12 pairs. Four of the members had the same shoe size, so the [incident in question] was simply something that happened because of this.

– Regarding cursing before broadcast

The claim that [the APRIL members] cursed at any specific member before broadcast is untrue.

– Regarding their lifestyle

Our agency even checked the CCTV footage of places like the practice room where it was claimed that Lee Hyunjoo was bullied, but we were unable to find any footage of the situations described. As soon as we discovered this, we informed not only Lee Hyunjoo but also her mother of this fact.

– Regarding their manager

It’s true that APRIL was close with one female manager with whom they spent 24 hours a day back then. The claim about [a member] dating the manager is untrue, and she never stayed silent about things that were wrong because she favored a specific member.

– Regarding greeting Lee Hyunjoo’s mother

The APRIL members also recognized the seriousness of the situation and remained silent because they didn’t know what to say. This is a misunderstanding that arose from that.

Our company finds the current situation, in which we have no choice but to clarify these kinds of things, to be regrettable. However, we could no longer stand by and watch the current situation of the mentioned members suffering damages because of the unconfirmed words of a third party who did not personally witness the situation at the time. As a result, we decided to clarify these matters from the past that we did not want to bring up.

As soon as the unpleasantness between Lee Hyunjoo and the APRIL members became known, unconfirmed incidents are endlessly being posted as if they were facts. The APRIL members are suffering because of these unconfirmed posts.

We plan to take strong legal action against not only the posting and spreading of unconfirmed falsehoods, but also the groundless edited photos that are being posted on certain online communities.

Thank you.

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