kougazgurlasked me to explain the lawsuit. I thought it'd be best to post my own little summary of the lawsuit, and its events up until now, in case there are others who aren't following and are confused. Hopefully I won't confuse anyone. All information from and source credit to
allkpop.com.
Since the end of July, Kim Jaejoong, Park Yoochun and Kim Junsu of DBSK, have been in a lawsuit against their company SM Entertainment. They are suing the company because they believe that their exclusive contract is unfair and that they were not receiving enough money. In other words, SM isn't giving them enough profit from the sales of their albums/singles/DVDs, etc... As such the three members have been in a tight battle against SME to recover their loss.
Jung Yunho and Shim Changmin had not been involved, until recently, because they were/are busy with their own solo activites, but they do give their own statements about the lawsuit when asked. No, this does not affect their Japan activites. AVEX already released their own statement saying that TOHOSHINKI will continue with their Japan activities.Today (well yesterday according to Seoul's time), a number of things were revealed. The main event was
Yunho and Changmin's statement of support on SME's side. In the form of a simple letter, it stated that SME is what made them what they are now and that,
in order for them to continue with activities --Korean album for next spring-- they want Jae, Chun and Junsu to a decision as soon as possible. Yunho and Changmin's fathers also expressed their own opinions on the matter, disapproving of the other three members.EDIT: No one knows for sure if it was actually Yunho and Changmin who wrote said letter. Fans are still determing whether or not it was a forged/photoshpped signature on the letter.
Yunho's father stated
"The two members who did not involve themselves in this legal dispute are the real victims here. They suffered from financial loss, psychological suffering and most importantly they lost their reputation. Who is to compensate them for their losses? I intend to ask the other three members this: Whatever the reason, why do you intend to cause such great controversy and drive DBSK, an international brand name, into a break-up? Do you care at all about the other two members and their suffering?" Changmin's father on the other hand said,
"Simply put, the other three members took legal actions against SM because of the beauty product business matter and other reasons which involve their financial gains. What they claim as their reasons, reasons such as unfair contract and unclear profit division are merely excuses to hide the true reason behind their actions. After the three members started the beauty product business, one of the parents called me and told me shenanigans like "This business can be worth millions or even billions in the future. When we tell the media that DBSK has started a business, share price of our company will hit the roof - we will tell you in advance so you can profit from the information."Other highlights of today (yesterday) were
SM's press conference and Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu's reactions. What happened during the conference was
SME gave their side of the story. SME stated,
"When we first planned for DBSK, we wanted to make them the number one artist in Asia. Five members and their parents shared such vision and agreed to add 3 years to initial 10 year contract. The members and their parents agreed to the contract because they found the vision as the number one artist in Asia, constant support from SM, plans to go abroad and continuous investment into the group very appealing. Everyone thoroughly reviewed the contract and agreed to all clauses", and
"To keep the promise of advancement into Japan, SME invested over $4 mil into DBSK despite poor financial condition that the company was in. After 5 years in Japan, we can finally say that we are successful. It is unfair to focus merely on the number 13 without any background knowledge of how the contract was made and the goals and visions shared between SME and DBSK".
SME's C.E.O also revealed some more shocking news,
"On January 6, 2009, the three members told SM that they were going to China for a vacation; but in fact, they attended a meeting with the beauty product company's Chinese subsidiary to talk about investment into the company. We only realized of the deal after photos of them promoting the company surfaced online. We then learned that the three members are board members of the Chinese subsidiary and that they even carry business cards of the company with their name and position engraved." Hard to believe right? SME's C.E.O also added that
"The truth face of their action is a fraud. A fraud which fooled the entire nation with words such as "human rights" and "slavery". In addition to what Changmin and Yunho stated before,
SME also wants the three members to reach a decision by the 12th of this month in order to resume activites.
So what do the leading actors have to say about this?
After watching the press conference, Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu had a phone interview in which they said
"They had issues that SM Entertainment stated the root cause was with the investment into the cosmetic company. They state that this cosmetic issue has nothing to do with the suspension of exclusive contract as their activities as TVXQ are more important than a cosmetic company. They also stated that they pulled out of the cosmetic company to avoid controversy. They did admit that the cosmetic company controversy played some part into their decision for the suspension of the exclusive contract but emphasized once again that they pulled out of the company." The interview concluded with,
"The trio also stated that having TVXQ continue together is the most important goal but SM Entertainment abused their position in authority and have cheated them out of billions of won (millions of dollars). They stated that they're worried about their fans and that the fans will be the ones suffering the most through this trial".
What will they do now? That's the answer we're waiting for. Right now, Cassies who are reading this may be outraged and a bit sad. Don't think of this as Changmin & Yunho vs. Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu. It was never that or intended to be that in the beginning. All we can do as fans is be patient and wait and
Always Keep The Faith. The boys want us to believe in them and their decision, so that's all we have to do right now.
TVXQ HWAITING! CASSIOPEIA HWAITING!