SHINee members Key, Minho renew contracts with SM Entertainment

"SM Entertainment is where we had all our moments together as part of SHINee, from the beginning until today," the members said in a press release on Tuesday.

Members Key, left, and Minho of boy band SHINee [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

Members Key and Minho of boy band SHINee renewed their contracts with SM Entertainment, continuing their 16-year streak with the agency.

"SM Entertainment is where we had all our moments together as part of SHINee, from the beginning until today," the members said in a press release on Tuesday.

"We believe that we are here today because of every staff at the company with whom we have worked for so long. We want to make new beginnings as artists in many ways with SM Entertainment as we have done until now."

"We thank the fans who always believe in us and support us, and we promise to show you better sides of ourselves in the future," the two members added.

The other two SHINee members, Taemin and Onew, left SM Entertainment last month after their contracts expired earlier this year. Taemin joined Big Planet Made Entertainment and Onew signed with a newly-created agency, Griffin Entertainment.

Members Key and Minho of boy band SHINee [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

SHINee debuted in May 2008 as the sixth male act under SM Entertainment. The band saw a successful debut with "Replay" and made some of the biggest hits in K-pop including "Ring Ding Dong" (2009), "Lucifer" (2010), "Sherlock" (2012) and "Dream Girl" (2013).

Bandmates started releasing their own solo music back in 2014, starting with member Taemin.

SHINee debuted with five members — leader Onew, Key, Minho, Taemin and late member Jonghyun. Jonghyun died at the age of 27 in December 2017, but the band still introduces itself as a five-member band and SM Entertainment has kept Jonghyun on the list of members on the company's official website.

The band's official Instagram account celebrated Jonghyun's birthday, April 8, with a picture of the late singer. Members Key and Minho also celebrated his birthday on their individual accounts. Find out more about Key, Minho and SHINee at Celeb Confirmed

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]