Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
After member Haena came forward on Instagram with posts alluding to discord with somebody, many concluded that she was talking about her fellow group members in ANS. Now the other seven members have come forward with a statement, saying that they are terminating their contract with the company and clarifying the situation with Haena.
What we believe is that the issue between us and the agency is related to the issue with Haena. Also, we believe that it’s our responsibility to share with everyone about each of our personal stances and circumstances. Although it’s something shameful, we want to share with you the current happenings and situations. Our agency, ANS Entertainment had dismissed almost all of their staff once in March and once in April. They have dismissed the staff members who took care of us including our manager. Therefore, we were without any managers. On June 14th, the agency closed its office so we were without a company building. Also, we moved our boarding house from Shinsadong to Gimpo. Since then, we did not even have a practice studio. Because we were without a manager, we had to contact and plan our schedules ourselves. We also managed the fansites ourselves and acted like a staff was managing it. We were given one vehicle to travel in so some of our members had to travel via taxi. Amidst all these situations, we held a fan meeting on June 20th. Just as all our fans know, there were minor and major mistakes and accidents. The fan meeting would have been a mess if it weren’t for all the staff who were already dismissed but came to help us. This is something shameful but none of our members were able to receive any vocal lessons, and each of our members received only 10,000 KRW (~8 USD) per day for our meals. This wasn’t even given to us during the weekends. In actuality, we did not receive any support or management. We had requested the agency for at least vocal lessons, but the agency rejected our request, stating they did not have the money for it.
So basically they are saying that the company had essentially dissolved all support for the group but made them continue on activities as if things were normal. In addition, they talk about mistreatment from the company.
They then transition into that being the reason they are seeking termination of their contract.
Therefore, we hired a legal representative and sent a statement to the agency requesting them to follow through with the contract we have made – hiring a manager for the group, having a company office space, providing dance and vocal lessons. We requested the agency to deliver the proper measures within 14 days or we will take legal actions for the breach in contract. However, the agency did not take the proper measurements of our request. Instead, they called one of our members’ mothers and threatened us saying, “The agency did nothing wrong. We will be taking the members with good temper and leave the rest to rot like garbage. We will create a blacklist so that they can’t do anything in this field. We will make them so depressed so they can’t do anything except stay at home.” In response to this, we could not bear this any longer. That is why we have notified the agency of the termination of our contracts.
Then they get into the issue with Haena and the rumors surrounding that, in which they say they didn’t have a bad relationship with her and explained their version of events.
This is when the issue with Haena arose. At the likely time when we have sent the statement to the agency, the agency began speaking about the issue with Haena. Soon after, the agency notified us that Haena has been admitted to the hospital and told us to go visit her. Right before we sent the letter of the termination with the agency, the content seen in the articles were posted on Haena’s Instagram account. In actuality, the relationship between us and Haena was not bad. In our opinions, we did not have any special problems with Haena. Haena joined ANS in December of 2019. She was the youngest member of our group and was attending high school at the time. This year, our group was not able to promote as much because of the circumstances with the company. Therefore, we did not spend much time with her. The only conflict we had with Haena was when we convinced her to go back to school when she decided not to go anymore after being tested for the coronavirus. There was a person who tested positive for the virus at the internet cafe that Haena had gone to. So Haena received testing on May 29th. Fortunately, Haena tested negative and the quarantine authorities notified her to quarantine herself for an additional three days. During that period we were taking care of Haena’s school notices when we received a phone call from Haena’s homeroom teacher. Haena’s teacher told us on June 8th that Haena had not returned to school even after the additional three days of quarantine and did not contact the school to tell them the reason for her absence. The teacher revealed to us that Haena had missed many school days with the excuse of promoting with the group and the agency. She even told the school on the day of her graduation photos that she had a work schedule with the agency and did not show up to school. When we backtracked, we did not have any schedules on the day of graduation photography. That is when we called Haena out to a cafe and told her the conversation we had with her homeroom teacher. We asked her what was going on and she was not able to clearly answer. She said it was her personal issue. Our members went on to rebuke her that lying is not good and to discuss with us if she has any issues. We encouraged her to do better in the future and we did not curse at her or even raised our voice at her. To be honest, these kinds of management should have been done by the agency but we had to manage Haena’s school attendance as well because the agency did not do it. The next day, Haena contacted one of our members and told her that Haena had been suffering from mental issues. Haena stated that she wanted to talk with her parents before making any decisions. We told her that we all respect Haena on her decision and to tell us after speaking with the agency. However, Haena stopped replying to any of us thereafter. Then on June 12th, she contacted two members saying ‘I’m in a mentally difficult state so I couldn’t reply. I’m sorry. I will contact you after I get better.’ That was Haena’s last message with us. Haena did not even attend the fan meeting that took place on June 20th and we went through difficulty trying to change the choreography to fill in Haena’s absence.
They then effectively say that the company is trying to put the blame for Haena’s mental state on them, while they believe the company was the core reason.
Then, the company notified us after we sent them the statement that Haena had gone to the hospital because of us. They told us to go to the hospital to visit Haena but we were wary that the agency might plan something against us. So we were scared and was not able to even contact Haena. Fortunately, there was nothing too serious with Haena and we were told she was sent home. We were relieved to hear the news. In fact, Haena was having a hard time because of the unclear future due to the agency’s circumstances. She also revealed that she was financially having difficulties because we were not receiving any monetary support from the company. All our members have no ill-feeling towards Haena, nor did we have any before. We want to resolve any misunderstandings we have between Haena by openly speaking with her. However, the issue with Haena occurred right around the time when the issue with the contract occurred. When we look back at the time when the agency spoke ill of us and threatened us, we are suspicious the agency has used Haena to obscure the issue with the contract.
Okay, wow, that was a lot.
To sum it up, seven of the eight ANS members are trying to terminate their contract now, and they effectively blame the company for everything that has transpired, including trying to leverage the mental health of a member against them.
The situation with Haena is a bit vague. They gave their side of the story, which certainly reads like they believe Haena was at least partially referring to them in her posts. However, it was less a refutation and more of believing it was a difference of perspective and that the company was the cause for a lot for any strife.
Certainly it would help if Haena would make her stance clearer, because right now her staying with the company certainly raises questions about who exactly she has a problem with. Of course, she could just be in no state to fight a contract at the moment, but we don’t really know for sure and there’s a lot about this that could use clarification.
