Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Following a recent post of multiple trainees alleging that an unnamed famous first generation idol was a physically and verbally abusive CEO, it was reported that the initial former trainee that posted their experience had resolved things and received the apology they wanted.
But later, two employees of that CEO’s company stepped forward to share their experience in detailed posts, which I will summarize.
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The first individual identifies herself as a former representative for the company. She says she’s worked for three entertainment companies in total, including the company in question for three months. She said she was warned about the company before, and her experience in it led to trauma and her leaving the industry entirely.
There were 20 trainees under the company and no other managers, so the company pressured her to get a special driver’s license on her own dime and time to take on more duties, and she ended up as a manager for the CEO on his events as well. She details the CEO not allowing her to get food and drinks despite harsh and long shoots, and generally treated her like a servant, doing things like throwing worn socks at her.
The worst incident was their office flooding and the CEO trying to pin the fault on their landlord even though it was likely the company’s error, and he wanted the employee to lie for him, but she didn’t want to due to morals. The CEO at that point ripped into her with insults, had another employee lie, and instructed her to bully the landlord daily. She also says she was scapegoated at another event and forced to apologize while he belittled her, claiming that this was the only company that was this bad. She also mentions that he used to not pay composers and told them to be grateful for working with him instead. She provided pictures of herself on the job.
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The second individual worked for a long time at the company of the CEO, and she talks about the assault incident described by the former trainee, apologizing for not doing anything at the time.
She goes on to say that she herself was assaulted twice and verbally abused by the CEO. She describes being hit in the head in 2014 while in China in the back of a taxi, then after they got out at a restaurant he slapped her again and berated her. Then in 2019 at KBS she was putting in his mic and he slapped her hand away. She says she put up with the abuse for a while, even staying when he belittled her in front of new employees.
She also included a blurred picture of her at the company.
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As for who it is, a netizen in the comments took the picture the second individual provided and connected it to WH Creative, run by H.O.T. member Jang Woohyuk, and it definitely fits the descriptions provided of the company and the CEO by all parties involved.
Of course, this is not absolutely definitive in terms of evidence, but it certainly seems to all add up. His behavior appeared to be an open secret that people finally got sick of hiding, and given that he apparently already apologized to the initial trainee, it seems like there’s damage control being done and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him respond soon publicly if this gets bigger.
