Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
About five months after it was revealed that DKZ member Kyoungyoon and his parents were members of the JMS cult — which they subsequently disavowed — Dongyo Entertainment has announced that Kyoungyoon would be leaving the group and will be enlisting in the military.
Since last April, Kyoungyoon has been on a temporary hiatus due to health reasons and has been focusing on getting sufficient treatment. Afterwards, Kyoungyoon’s health condition recovered a lot, and he had an in-depth discussion with the agency for a long time about the direction of his future activities. As a result, Kyoungyoon will wrap up his DKZ activities and enlist within this year to fulfill his military duties.
Regardless of the reason, Kyoungyoon feels responsible for causing concern to fans as well as to the members. We will provide unsparing support so that Kyoungyoon can greet fans in good health in the future.
Additionally, Kyoungyoon later posted a handwritten letter to fans.
In the letter, he wrote, “For the past five months, I spent a lot of time contemplating. After thinking about what would be the best option for all the people I care about, I came to the conclusion that I should let go of DKZ’s Kyoungyoon. I hope fans will understand my decision as well.” He added, “I hope everyone will stay healthy and be happier than anyone else until the day I can stand in front of you in good health.”
It’s an unfortunate outcome since he is likely a victim of the JMS cult more than anything, and I do hope he and his parents are able to cut ties and move on with their lives.
That said, this seemed inevitable, as fans would probably be skeptical of supporting a group member with cult ties. And as sympathetic as I am to his situation, there’s ample reason to doubt his family’s claims that they just cut the cult off, and the thought of an idol with those question marks developing parasocial relationships with young fans was an uncomfortable one.
