TSE terminates contract with Song Jieun, will seek damages for alleged contract violation

Back in January, former SECRET member Song Jieun signed a contract with Haewadal Entertainment after he contract with TS Entertainment was supposedly declared invalid. TSE didn’t take that lying down though, and filed a lawsuit claiming her exclusive contract with the company was still valid when she signed, so Song Jieun and Haewadal decided to part ways.

Now TSE released a statement regarding the lawsuit regarding her contract, announcing that they are terminating the contract but will seek appropriate damages for contract violation.

Hello. This is TS Entertainment. We will give the company’s official position regarding Song Ji Eun’s exclusive contract. In a state in which Song Ji Eun’s exclusive contract had not yet expired, Song Ji Eun unilaterally informed us of a contract termination with proof of contents around May of 2017, and she signed a contract with a new agency in January of 2019. As Song Ji Eun’s exclusive contract with TS Entertainment is still currently legally valid, signing with a new agency becomes a double exclusive contract and a clear breach of contract. Currently we’ve requested mediation from Korea Entertainment Management Association’s (KEMA) Disciplinary Mediation Ethics Committee (DMEC) regarding the double exclusive contract due to the violation of the exclusive contract and the violation of prior contract obligation, as well as compensation, and more. Furthermore, from the standpoint of the company, we feel unfortunate that the agency in question ignored the industry precedents regarding the prior notification of the invalidity of the exclusive contract and renewing contracts after contract completion and that they unilaterally provided the cause of the problem regarding the double exclusive contract, and we are currently considering other legal measures. In addition, the company has determined that they can no longer continue the contract with Song Ji Eun who unilaterally ignored the contractual relationship, and we will enter a legal process so that the corresponding responsibility will be taken for breaking the market order by unilaterally moving forward with the contract and causing loss and damage to the company’s image with a press release. Thank you to everyone who has loved and looked after all the artists in our agency, and of course, the company promises to actively put in effort for the company’s artists. Thank you.

At this point you have to wonder whether the company is just some kind of front for lawyers to collect fees or something. I can’t think of anybody else this company has paid but them.

With the information we have, it’s difficult to make much of a conclusion here, but hopefully Song Jieun gets away without much damage.