Court rules in favor of four Loona members, suspending contracts and group's future

Girl group Loona may be on its way to disbanding. The Seoul Northern District Court ruled Friday the exclusive contracts that four members of Loona — Heejin, Kim Lip, Jinsoul and Choerry — signed with their agency Blockberry Creative be ...

Girl group Loona [BLOCKBERRY CREATIVE]

Girl group Loona may be on its way to disbanding.

The Seoul Northern District Court ruled Friday the exclusive contracts that four members of Loona — Heejin, Kim Lip, Jinsoul and Choerry — signed with their agency Blockberry Creative be suspended. The court dismissed the case for five other members — Haseul, Yeojin, Yves, Olivia Hye and Go Won. The remaining two members — Vivi and Hyunjin — did not sue. All of the cases are related to unfair contract terms.

The decision comes 10 months after a court ruled last March that member Chuu’s exclusive contract with the company be provisionally suspended. Chuu was able to continue her activities without her agency’s interference but was kicked out of the band last November.

The members who won the case last week had the same terms in their contracts as Chuu did. The artist and the company split income 3 to 7 but the company splits expenses with the artist 50:50. The terms for the five who did not win are different, which the court did not deem unfair enough to suspend the contracts.

With Friday’s ruling, only seven members of the band, which originally debuted with 12, will remain under the agency’s control. The group had already indefinitely postponed the release of its album “The Origin of Album 0,” which was scheduled to drop on Jan. 3.

The band debuted in August 2018 and is said to have cost the company 10 billion won ($8 million) to produce, including marketing and promotion costs.

There are several cases where a band continues to release music together even after some of its members leave the agency they debuted with, such as boy band Monsta X and girl group Girls’ Generation.

However, such cases are only possible when the two parties part ways on amicable terms or if all of the members succeed in moving to a different company.

A picture of boy band TVXQ will all former members together in 2004 [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

In 2009, three members of boy band TVXQ filed a case against its agency SM Entertainment, claiming that a 13-year exclusive contract — not including the two years that members would have to spend serving their mandatory military service — was unfair.

The court took the members’ side and they were able to part ways with SM Entertainment, but they had to form their own group JYJ. For years, no television show would book the band for an appearance, which some claim was in fear of retaliation by SM.

Boy band B2ST, or Beast, had to change its name to Highlight after none of the members renewed their contracts with Cube Entertainment when they ended in 2017 and all joined a new agency named Around Us Entertainment. The band has released eight albums and one single since.

Loona’s case may be much more complicated.

Chuu filed to have her exclusive contract with the agency suspended by the court last January, taking issue with the unfair income split. The court took sides with the singer, but the contract has only been suspended temporarily.

On Nov. 25, Blockberry Creative announced that it has “expelled” Chuu citing her gapjil, a Korean term for power abuse, toward staff members.

Fans, bandmates and the singer herself denied the agency’s claims. One member, Hyunjin, was seen skipping a regular television show after she publicly defended Chuu on fan community service Weverse.

An Instagram story posted by Chuu, former member of girl group Loona, explaining that she had "never done anything that would embarrass fans" on Nov. 28 after being expelled from the group [SCREEN CAPTURE]

"I have not been contacted or informed about the recent events so I am still figuring out what is going on," wrote Chuu on her Instagram on Nov. 28. "One thing that I am sure about is that I have never done anything that would embarrass my fans."

This was the first time in K-pop history that an agency had ended its relationship with an artist because of alleged gapjil, as opposed to many cases where artists’ wrongdoings were reported by the press and the agency was quick to defend the artist. Blockberry Creative claimed that it was only speaking the truth, but the company’s history may impact its credibility.

In December 2021, Loona’s stylists claimed that they had not been paid for a year by the company and that they were fired after taking the matter to a lawyer. A choreographer for Loona also claimed that they had not been paid that year.

“We won’t know for sure until things are all cleared up, but things may be difficult for the company, especially with overseas fans threatening a boycott,” said an industry insider who wished to remain anonymous. Overseas Loona fans have been coming together since last year under the hashtag “#freeloona,” demanding that Blockberry Creative let go of the girl group's members.

Blockberry Creative refused to comment on the issue and said it will release an official statement soon. The band's first Japanese concert, titled "LOONATHEWORLD" set for March 3 has not been canceled.

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