Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Following in the footsteps of APRIL members Chaewon and Yena, Naeun and Jinsol have also released statements regarding allegations of bullying former member Hyunjoo.
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“Hello, this is Lee Naeun. I’m sorry it took so long for me to finally write something. The biggest reason that I haven’t shared my position during this time is that I trusted in APRIL and I was waiting for the company’s response. I didn’t think it was appropriate for an individual to respond for the whole team, and I still think this way. However, I think it is in my place to say something for my fans, who may be believing something that is different than the truth and to prevent further speculation. I’ll briefly leave my thoughts. I didn’t want to mention everything that has happened, but I did not do any of that, nothing. I really wanted to say this one thing. I thought I should be careful talking about things that happened from the past up until now. Talking about the past and sharing the feelings and emotions I experienced as a girl group member is difficult. In May 2015, I joined [the company] as a trainee when I was 17. I only trained for three months before standing on stage in August. It was solely my responsibility to adapt to the unfamiliar situations that arose. Since I debuted at a young age, I was inexperienced in many things and clumsy. After seven years of activities, I tried to show everyone a Lee Naeun who is honest at every moment. Sometimes, I was embarrassed to express my honest feelings, but I was able to approach [my fans] because I received a lot of love. Through this incident, I have learned the weight that comes with being a public figure. It is all about perseverance and working hard at every moment to make your dreams come true. As a result of this incident, I asked myself over and over again whether I was lacking a lot. My answer made me think I should be a more confident person. From now on, I will love myself more and be closer to you all as a public figure. I want to thank you all so much for trusting me and waiting for me up until now. Thank you.”
“Hello. This is April’s Lee Jinsol. Firstly, I apologize for having worried many people over the controversy. The reason that I have been silent against the speculations and criticisms up to now, is due to the legal steps we have been taking, as well as that we were unable to release our statements and could only wait, after long discussions with the company. Even in this moment, as I am writing this, I do not know what to say. As no matter what I say, people will not believe me, so I have had no choice but to keep silent. Thinking about the time that we spent with the former member, I entered the company in February 2015 and was confirmed for debut. Without time to get used to it, I had to follow the rules and routines of the debut team, and was extremely busy practicing. As the members were confirmed, we simply practiced and went back and forth between the dorms and practice rooms as excursions and days off were not allowed. At that point in time, me and most of the members lived as a group and started dorm life for a couple of months, without knowing each other at all. In the process of the group getting to know each other, I barely ran into the former member. She barely turned up to the practice rooms and did not come to the dorms often. We mostly only saw each other during schedules. Because of that, I did not have the chance to have many personal conversations with the former member. Despite that, there were definitely times where we both tried to get to know each other and take care of each other. Although it’s only a portion (of the time), as I treasured the memories from then, it makes me sad to have to write this. In the time I spent with her, and even now, I have never had malicious emotions towards her, nor have I acted maliciously. Thank you to the fans that have waited and trusted in me, despite being tired out by the long silence.”
Naeun issued a vague blanket denial, with the main point of it seemingly being to set the stage for a return to activities or something of that sort.
Jinsol denies bullying Hyunjoo, essentially saying that she couldn’t have done so because in fact she barely interacted with her at all.
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DSP Media has also already denied the allegations on behalf of the group and company, but recently had defamation lawsuits against Hyunjoo’s brother and acquaintance dismissed. The timing of these two statements is thus pretty interesting considering other members had spoken out already before.
Anyway, my thoughts are still that Hyunjoo has the case that makes the most sense so far based on everything that’s come out. Neither statement is really about the bullying and is more about providing a salve of sorts for their fans, so it wasn’t really intent on changing minds of the public anyway.
