Korean pop music scandals

Korean Pop (K-pop) Music Scandals
Korean Payola Scandal 2002
Time magazine reported to Americans that in 2002 a widespread investigation was pursued by the Korean government into what became a huge payola scandal. It was revealed that the Korean pop music industry was riddled with "systematic corruption" involving the bribery of television executives by music industry executives. One source was quoted in Time as saying, "Bribery is marketing." Four entertainment companies were earmarked for the investigation: SidusHQ, GM Planning, Doremi Music Publishing and SM. At the center of the controversy loomed the figure of Lee Su Man, who is credited with virtually inventing K-pop at his company SM.
Plagiarism Scandal Involving Lee Hyori
In June 2010 the performer Lee Hyori was accused of singing songs stolen from various western performers. She had also been accused of plagiarizing a Brittany Spears song in 2006 and stopped performing that song. The allegedly plagiarized songs are on her album: “H-Logic.” these are the songs allegedly stolen: “Bring It Back” from Cookie Couture’s “Boy, Bring It Back”, “Feel the Same” to "Feel the Same" by Melanie Durrant, “I’m Back” to “So Insane” by Lil precious, “How Did We Get” to “How Did We” by Jason Derulo, and “Memory” to the British group Second Person’s “The Alphabet Song” by Second Person. The songwriter for Lee, however, seemed to claim that the songs were stolen from him.
It was discovered, however, that the songwriter seemed to be an inveterate liar and was described by a business associate as a "con-man." The song writer had previously written a letter of regret to a performer who had caught him in an act of plagiarism and he had lied about attending Yonsei University.
Secret Marriage of Seo Taiji
After gaining legendary status in Korea for ground-breaking work in the field of pop music, Seo Taiji shocked the entire nation, in April 2011, when it was revealed that he had kept a long-term marriage a secret from the public. The marriage to Lee Ji-ah was only discovered because of an alimony and division of property claim in the court system. Apparently the two individuals met in America after the breakup of Seo Taiji and The Boys. The two were married in the US in 1997 and lived there until the early 2000s. They have also lived in Japan. Rumors spread that this mega-star in Korea had kept his marriage a secret in order to remain a "heart-throb" to teen girls who idolized him.
JYPE and Wonder Girls, May 2010
Just before the release of the Wonder Girls 2010 comeback album, the Korea Herald newspaper published a number of facts about the manner in which the Wonder Girls were being managed and treated in New York City.
An ex-tutor for the group stated that the group was without health insurance in America, was illegally housed in Manhattan offices and that the primary reason for the chart success of the song "Nobody" in America was that the CD was sold at $1 at teen clothing stores.
The story was initially denied by JYPE's president, who claimed that the tutor had been fired and that the performers had insurance. It was, however, revealed that the tutor had not been fired, but had quit on principle because he felt both he and the performers had not been treated well, and that his claims about the health insurance issue and the illegal housing issue were true. It was further revealed that the Wonder Girls had been brought into the United States under F-1 student visas and not the proper O-1 performing visas. The president of JYPE stated that this was known to be "illegal" before the company switched the performers to O-1 visas.
Slave Contracts
Three members of the K-pop girl group KARA filed suit against their entertainment company in February of 2011 in what seemed to be the latest dispute over what are called "slave contracts" in Korean pop music. Han Seung-yeon, Nicole Jung and Kang Ji-young ended their contracts with DSP Entertainment because they claimed that they were being coerced to perform an overly rigorous schedule. They claimed the agency forced them to perfom concerts they did not want to perform.
The band TVXQ divided into two groups after three members revolted against their company: SM Entertainment. They claimed they had been forced to sign a life-long slave contract and were not provided with clear information about profit sharing. Their contract had held them under SM's control for 13 years.
Super Junior was also a band that experienced controversy over the issue of "slave contracts." In late 2009 a Chinese member of the group split from SM because of a 13 year "slave contract." He won his lawsuit against SM and now performs as a solo act in China.
The Korean Supreme Court has ruled that contracts over 10 years are not legally binding.
Rain sued in the US
In October 2010 the Korea Times reported that Rain was being sued for gambling debts in the USA. It was alleged that the star borrowed over $150,000 from a LA businessman and never paid the sum back. Andrew Kim, who had helped to organize a US tour by Rain accused the perfomer of fraud, breach of contract, embezzlement and other charges. According to Kim, Rain divulged that he had a heavy gambling habit. Rain's attorney, however, countered the charges by saying: “A casino is more of a comprehensive leisure facility and visiting those places is not illegal. You shouldn’t label a person a gambling addict just because he goes there several times.”
In the same story it is alleged by Kim that Rain sought to avoid compulsory military service in Korea by seeking a US green card. Kim stated that the performer felt that doing his militart service would hurt his singing career.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu