This about concludes my posts regarding the cosmetics business.
Readers need to note that most of the events in my posts happened at the height of their career. I am pretty sure CJS made pretty good money from the cosmetics business and the stores because I heard that the stores were filled with fans at that time, but I don't think the business is doing that well these days.
I know Yuchun closed his store, and I heard that Crebeau's Chinese operation ceased and just running internet sales. I am guessing with all these bad publicity and the lawsuits, the business didn't pan out as well as they hoped.
Also, the public opinions regarding entertainment related business has taken some bad rap because of the failures of such companies, and it has gotten tougher to list the companies. Even YG could not list the company on the stock exchange which actually surprised many people.
Nevertheless, it really doesn't matter what happened to the business now since it was the motive to break the group that is important, not what became of the business.
If you think about it, in 2009 where TVXQ was at the height of their career, they would've succeeded in any kind of business, and that lure of gold was probably hard to resist, and when SM tried to limit their involvement in the business, they filed the lawsuit using the contract as an excuse, driving public opinion labeling the contract as a "slave" contract.
Later when I post about the lawsuits, readers will see how hard SM tried to keep the group together, and how CJS was not responsive at all.
As for HoMin, the readers should now realize that they had no choice but to stay with SM. They weren't involved in the business for good reasons, they didn't believe the contract was bad enough to file a lawsuit, they recognized SM's role in the success of TVXQ, and most importantly, they were taking responsibility for the contract they signed, keeping trust and promise. Simply, it was the RIGHT THING TO DO for them to stay with SM.
Now the final question. Even with the money making potential the cosmetics business presented, TVXQ also had big potential to make more money since they were just starting to get really big in Japan and Asia, so why would CJS risk breaking the group by filing the lawsuit? Was the cosmetics business that big that CJS would give up TVXQ? That would be answered in my future posts.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Crebeau stores
Now I'm going to post about how actual Crebeau stores did business.
I've shown how expensive the products were, and wrote about brief history of Crebeau. From those information, it is not hard to determine that there was no way for most people to buy expensive cosmetics products from a company that was never heard of. Then who would buy the products? TVXQ fans, naturally.
We all know how devoted TVXQ fans are towards their artists, so they make perfect customers for the products. So here's how they sold the products.
This is a promotional event for the Crebeau-Jeff (Jaejoon's store). You get an autograph from the CEO of Jeff by drawing when you buy the cosmetics product before the end of event (June 9th, 2009)
Next, this is how they did business with Japanese fans. Unlike Korean fans who are mostly young, there are more Japanese fans that are older, and that means more money to spend, and since TVXQ was huge in Japan, it was really easy for them to target Japanese fans to buy the cosmetics products. Following are some examples of Japanese promotion.
I don't know Japanese, so I'll just summarize what's written in Korean. Hotelinfo sounds like a travel agency, and it's offering a travel package for TVXQ's Beijing concert, and upon completion of reservation, you receive Crebeau products as 'Special Present'. On the bottom, there's an advertisement for Crebeau. Again, they used pictures of all 5 members.
Mozart tour package. The tour is for 2 days/3 nights, and the tour includes visits to the city of Daegu, Pizza restaurant, Cosmetics store, and the Ice Cream shop (Yuchun's). I guess a die hard fan may actually like it. If you download the pictures on your computer, you should be able to read what's in Japanese. I increased the size of the picture, but it still loads up small.
235.
ジェジュンの化粧品って有害成分使ってるのに名古屋店とかオ?プンしてへいきなの？
ユチョンみたいに
20万以上買ったらユチョンのママと??取れるキャンペ?ンみたいなのやらないよね
946.
ピザ屋まではいいけど、化粧品は自己責任でしょ。ジュンスの?親は何考えてるんだろ？
Pizza restaurant is ok, but cosmetics is his own responsibility. What are Junsu's parents thinking?
962.
ジュンスのサイン貰えるから先月ピザ屋に行ってきた
化粧品を?めるお父さんが必死すぎて悲しくなったよ
I went to the pizza restaurant last month because I was told I can get Junsu's autograph.
Pretty shocking, isn't it?
It sounds like the parents (especially one particular parent) were really pushing the Japanese fans to buy the cosmetics products whenever they visit Korea. When fans visited Junsu's father's pizza restaurant, he pushed the fans hard to buy the cosmetics, even personally driving the fans to the store. Then there's the ridiculous promotion of taking picture with Yuchun's mother when a fan purchases over 200,000 (probably Korean Won) worth of cosmetics. The worst part was that the Japanese fans (or non-fans) recognized that they were specifically targeted as customers because older Japanese women have more money than typical young fans. It's no wonder many Japanese fans stopped supporting CJS. A tour package that includes all the retailers CJS own? That's just too much.
It's quite embarrassing actually. So it's really not that hard to see that these people will pretty much do anything for money.
I've shown how expensive the products were, and wrote about brief history of Crebeau. From those information, it is not hard to determine that there was no way for most people to buy expensive cosmetics products from a company that was never heard of. Then who would buy the products? TVXQ fans, naturally.
We all know how devoted TVXQ fans are towards their artists, so they make perfect customers for the products. So here's how they sold the products.
This is a promotional event for the Crebeau-Jeff (Jaejoon's store). You get an autograph from the CEO of Jeff by drawing when you buy the cosmetics product before the end of event (June 9th, 2009)
These pictures look like they came from Taiwanese fans. The pictures show the merchandises they received with the purchase. I'm sure they were happy to buy the products and getting those goods. I'm also sure they proudly left glaring reviews about the product on their blogs or forums.
Basically, the products are sold by luring the fans with TVXQ merchandises, even with pictures including HoMin.
I'm sure some of the readers saw posts boasting about buying Crebeau products by fans from fan sites or personal blogs. Those fans usually post pictures of the extra merchandise they received and write raving reviews about the products prompting other fans to buy.
Next, this is how they did business with Japanese fans. Unlike Korean fans who are mostly young, there are more Japanese fans that are older, and that means more money to spend, and since TVXQ was huge in Japan, it was really easy for them to target Japanese fans to buy the cosmetics products. Following are some examples of Japanese promotion.
I don't know Japanese, so I'll just summarize what's written in Korean. Hotelinfo sounds like a travel agency, and it's offering a travel package for TVXQ's Beijing concert, and upon completion of reservation, you receive Crebeau products as 'Special Present'. On the bottom, there's an advertisement for Crebeau. Again, they used pictures of all 5 members.
Mozart tour package. The tour is for 2 days/3 nights, and the tour includes visits to the city of Daegu, Pizza restaurant, Cosmetics store, and the Ice Cream shop (Yuchun's). I guess a die hard fan may actually like it. If you download the pictures on your computer, you should be able to read what's in Japanese. I increased the size of the picture, but it still loads up small.
Then here are some comments posted by Japanese fans in 2009 from an old 2ch.net thread. My translations are from Korean translation, so some meaning may have changed, but the overall translation should be ok. I tried the google translator with the link, but it only translates the top portion of the page, so just find the comments with the post number, then copy and paste the text on the translator. I didn't spend too much time translating these, so they sound awkward, but you should understand what they say.
The comments are from this link.
ジェジュンの化粧品って有害成分使ってるのに名古屋店とかオ?プンしてへいきなの？
ユチョンみたいに
20万以上買ったらユチョンのママと??取れるキャンペ?ンみたいなのやらないよね
Jaejoong's cosmetics use hazardous ingredients, but Nagoya store is opening?
I hope he doesn't run campaign like Yuchun, taking pictures with Yuchun's mother when you buy more than 200,000
237.
20万以上買ったら
そんなのあったの？
ユチョンには興味あってもママにはないぞｗ
20万以上買ったら
そんなのあったの？
ユチョンには興味あってもママにはないぞｗ
when buying more than 200,000?
Yuchun yes, but not interested in his mother.
238.
化粧品?社の?員に告知されてた
有害成分と妊娠中の羊殺して採った胎盤の化粧品で金儲けなんて
日本では嫌われるだけだよね…
せっかく?れてきたのに
化粧品?社の?員に告知されてた
有害成分と妊娠中の羊殺して採った胎盤の化粧品で金儲けなんて
日本では嫌われるだけだよね…
せっかく?れてきたのに
The cosmetics company's employee told me
they're making money using hazardous substances and placenta from killing pregnant sheep
going to be hated in Japan
just started to get popular
240.
有害成分入りの化粧品に20万以上使った特典が
オンマと??ってまた?わからん事を
オンマはオンマであってそれ以上でも以下でもないのに。
勘違いも程?にしてくれ
Paying over 200,000 for cosmetics made with hazardous ingredients
有害成分入りの化粧品に20万以上使った特典が
オンマと??ってまた?わからん事を
オンマはオンマであってそれ以上でも以下でもないのに。
勘違いも程?にしてくれ
Paying over 200,000 for cosmetics made with hazardous ingredients
and you take pictures with Yuchun's mother? What is this?
Mother is just a mother, nothing more. Don't be nuts.
290.商?の仕方が果てしなく下品だし希望なさすぎる
化粧品屋の３人て自分の歌手としての才能に
自信ないのかな？
自分の才能もファンのことも全く信用してないような
行動してるように感じる
290.商?の仕方が果てしなく下品だし希望なさすぎる
化粧品屋の３人て自分の歌手としての才能に
自信ないのかな？
自分の才能もファンのことも全く信用してないような
行動してるように感じる
Selling method is really cheap. There's no hope.
Don't the 3 in the cosmetics business have confidence in their talent as singers?
Feels like they don't trust their abilities or the fans.
* The following replies do not have a link to the original thread. I just copied them from a blog.
お父さんに車に?せられてお母さんの化粧品店に連れていかれるらしい
怖い
怖い
When a fan from Japan eats Pizza from Junsu's father's restaurant, he drives you to mother's cosmetics store. Scary.
926.
????屋行ったら火山????に???の化粧品屋行けとしつこく言われたお
さすがに引いた
926.
????屋行ったら火山????に???の化粧品屋行けとしつこく言われたお
さすがに引いた
Junsu's father was insisting on visiting the cosmetics store. Hated it.
927.
若い子は???されたって
金持ってそうな???限定みたいだよｗ
927.
若い子は???されたって
金持ってそうな???限定みたいだよｗ
Young kids were ignored. Seemed like for only older woman who looks rich.
929.
その化粧品連行??あたしのマイミクだけかと思ったら、みんなされてるのね（爆）
でも、連れてかれた本人は「自分だけ」だと思ってよろこんで感動してたから、
そっとしとこ??。化粧品自?はよかったらしいけど。
929.
その化粧品連行??あたしのマイミクだけかと思ったら、みんなされてるのね（爆）
でも、連れてかれた本人は「自分だけ」だと思ってよろこんで感動してたから、
そっとしとこ??。化粧品自?はよかったらしいけど。
Taking to cosmetics store, I though I was the only one (LOL)
But when I was going I was happy because I thought I was only one.
The product seemed good.
933.
ジュンスの家族に日本人から稼ごうと必死なんだね
も?おばさんはそれに引っかかって買っちゃうのか
金づるにされててむなしい??
韓?に行った事ない私にはジュンス親にかかわらないからいいが～買う日本人がいるのがやだな～
Junsu's family is trying hard to make money from Japanese.
ジュンスの家族に日本人から稼ごうと必死なんだね
も?おばさんはそれに引っかかって買っちゃうのか
金づるにされててむなしい??
韓?に行った事ない私にはジュンス親にかかわらないからいいが～買う日本人がいるのがやだな～
Junsu's family is trying hard to make money from Japanese.
Older women are stuck with it.
Only thought as source of money, it's a shame.
I've never been to Korea so it's good that I didn't have to deal with Junsu's parents, but hate it that there's a Japanese who purchased..
938.
全て日本人向けでしょ？カシオペアは若いし、お金もないし、?り付けられない。なら、日本人ってこと？親が出しゃばるといけない?がする。
938.
全て日本人向けでしょ？カシオペアは若いし、お金もないし、?り付けられない。なら、日本人ってこと？親が出しゃばるといけない?がする。
All for Japanese? Can't sell to Cassies because they're young and don't have money. Then Japanese? It's not right for the parents to push.
939.
親が出てくるとややこしくなるし、本人達のイメ?ジもダウンするよね
親が出てくるとややこしくなるし、本人達のイメ?ジもダウンするよね
If parents get involved, it becomes complicated, and their images go down.
946.
ピザ屋まではいいけど、化粧品は自己責任でしょ。ジュンスの?親は何考えてるんだろ？
Pizza restaurant is ok, but cosmetics is his own responsibility. What are Junsu's parents thinking?
962.
ジュンスのサイン貰えるから先月ピザ屋に行ってきた
化粧品を?めるお父さんが必死すぎて悲しくなったよ
I went to the pizza restaurant last month because I was told I can get Junsu's autograph.
I was saddened because Junsu's father desperately pushed the cosmetics.
It sounds like the parents (especially one particular parent) were really pushing the Japanese fans to buy the cosmetics products whenever they visit Korea. When fans visited Junsu's father's pizza restaurant, he pushed the fans hard to buy the cosmetics, even personally driving the fans to the store. Then there's the ridiculous promotion of taking picture with Yuchun's mother when a fan purchases over 200,000 (probably Korean Won) worth of cosmetics. The worst part was that the Japanese fans (or non-fans) recognized that they were specifically targeted as customers because older Japanese women have more money than typical young fans. It's no wonder many Japanese fans stopped supporting CJS. A tour package that includes all the retailers CJS own? That's just too much.
It's quite embarrassing actually. So it's really not that hard to see that these people will pretty much do anything for money.
More problems with the cosmetics company
This is the second part from my previous post about the issues with the cosmetics company.
In his interview, President of Crebeau talks about the lawsuit between their Chinese distributor and Crebeau. He blames the Chinese distributor for using TVXQ in the promotion without the company's permission. He talks about the distributor selling the products with TVXQ's concert tickets
Also, many fans probably don't know about this, but there was another lawsuit from Crebeau's distributor. It was briefly mentioned in Allkpop.
http://www.allkpop.com/2009/12/tvxq_accused_of_yet_another_fraud
I don't know the result of that lawsuit because I couldn't find any information about it.
Both companies claim that they invested in Crebeau believing that CJS would participate in their promotional activities in person, and they're suing Crebeau and the 3 members of TVXQ for fraud when the 3 failed to make appearances.
I don't know the exact content of their contracts, but it is obvious both distributors believed CJS would be involved in the promotion, but their failure to participate resulted in the lawsuit.
But more importantly Crebeau does not have capacity or willingness to control their distributors' usage of TVXQ name.
Here's an internet ad from Beijing Kowloon Station Inc.
As you can see from the ad above, Yunho's picture is in the ad which is a serious violation of his rights, and Crebeau did not or could not control it. I suspect Crebeau only reacted to it after the lawsuit was filed against them. The interview states that Crebeau stopped the Chinese company from using TVXQ name any further, but when Crebeau itself was practically using TVXQ for promotion, and the fact his interview was filled with lies, I don't think anyone can really trust his statements.
Then there was this article from Korea regarding the lawsuit between Crebeau and Beijing company.
http://sportsworldi.segye.com/Articles/EntCulture/Article.asp?aid=20091120003969&subctg1=30&subctg2=00
That article talks about the lawsuit filed against Crebeau and how it tarnished TVXQ's image in China. Then the article concludes that even though the lawsuit is against the 3 members, SM needs to be involved to resolve the issue.
See how SM is dragged into this even though it had nothing to do with the business? That's really not fair for SM, but it cannot be avoided since SM is forever linked with TVXQ.
CJS's involvement in the business caused TVXQ's brand to be tarnished, and the abuse to the TVXQ brand got out of control. Most fans don't think about these possible issues, and simply do not understand why SM would stop CJS's personal business, but now the reasons are obvious.
Because of the business that had no control over its distributors, TVXQ's name was abused, and TVXQ got involved in 2 fraud cases further damaging its value.
I've talked about Crebeau's Chinese distributors, then how about Crebeau itself?
In his interview, Kang claims Crebeau was in business for 12 years and has over 100 stores in Korea alone, making it sound like the business is legit, big and has plenty of experience.
I visited Crebeau home page, but couldn't find a list of stores. I searched the web, and I only found just few stores that are already known to be owned by CJS and their family. So what happened to the rest of the stores? If there were 100s of stores in Korea, I should've been able to find many more Crebeau cosmetics stores, but even the company's home page doesn't list any of them. Granted, the interview was from 1 1/2 years ago, but I don't think 100 stores can all vanish in that period of time, and at least some information should still be on the web.
Then from the company's history page, I found that in 1997, the owner found a company named "Suk-Hwa Trading" (석화무역).
http://www.crebeaushop.co.kr/html/newpage.html?code=2
I searched the web again, and found the name in the list of businesses using Network Marketing (politically correct name for pyramid or multi-level business).
http://www.a24s.com/data/%B3%D7%C6%AE%BF%F6%C5%A9%B8%B6%C4%C9%C6%C3%BE%F7%C3%BC.htm
First company on that list is "Amway Korea" (we all know what that company is), and when you search "Suk-Hwa (석화)", you see "Kang Seok Won (강석원)" as the company representative. Interesting, isn't it?
Out of curiosity, I went to the Fair Trade Commission website, and searched "Crebeau (끄레뷰)", and found the following from "Communication Business List" (basically means internet sales).
The oldest one is by Kang, and it's registered in 2006. There's also "crebeau-kiss.com" which is owned by Yuchun, but that store is out of business now. If you go to that website, it links to another store that sells Yuchun's merchandises.
You can also search for "Door to door sales" businesses, and I found Crebeau there as well.
It is registered on the same day as the other one.
You can get the same info from the link below, and you're on your own with the menus. :)
http://www.ftc.go.kr/info/bizinfo/visitList.jsp
Ok, so in 1997, the owner found a multi-level company, then registered "Crebeau" in 2006 for "Internet Sales" and "Door to door" business. Internet sales, I understand, but door to door sales?
My guess is that 100's of stores are from the owner's multi-level business, and actual Crebeau brand was started a lot later. I also read from someone's blog (I'm not going to link the blog because of sensitivity regarding this issue which will be explained later), the business registration for the cosmetics manufacturing for Crebeau cosmetics started in 2009. I couldn't verify it myself since I'm not in Korea, but it all makes sense. Kang did some business with Sheep's placenta extract since 2000 according to the document from the link below, but the actual cosmetics business didn't start until 2009. He might have distributed some cosmetics product produced by someone else through the "door to door" business created in 2006, but the actual products manufactured on their own didn't start until 2009 when CJS joined the business.
The link below has scanned copies of documents from Korean FDA, and Japanese government branch (I don't know exactly what, but I'm guessing similar to FDA), with dates when the ingredient's from Sheep's placenta was approved for safety. Notice that Korean FDA approved the placenta extract to be used as processed food, but I don't know how that applies to cosmetics. The site's main page links to Yuchun's merchandise site, but their old pages are still active.
http://www.crebeau-kiss.com/bbs/zboard.php?id=faq&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=3
All of my findings also agree with the statements by HoMin's fathers where they talk about the business being multi-level. TVXQ and the business that might've been a multi level marketer? Please.
No wonder HoMin didn't want to join the business.
I visited Crebeau-Jeff website which is associated with Jaejoong (I don't know if the business is registered under his name, but most fans know it's his store), and found the ingredient page explaining how they get the sheep's placenta.
http://www.crebeau-jeff.com/sub1_2.php
It's in graphics, so you can't run it on a translator, but I'll type part of the text below so the readers can translate them and also compare with the original text. The table below lists differences between sheep's placenta and human placenta to show the advantages of using sheep's placenta. (What???) I don't know who decided to market the products comparing the placenta from sheep and human, but.... I lost words to say. I guess the sheep's pictures are ok, or not.
양태반이란?
끄레뷰 양태반 추출물은 양태반 + 양배태(3개월 미만의 영태아)를 포함하여 원재료를 공급하여 태반추출물을 생산하고 있다.
영양상태가 가장 좋은 3개월 된 어미양만을 엄선하고 있다.
The above basically says the products use sheep's placenta + embryo from 3 month pregnant sheep.
I was planning on making this post the last one about Crebeau's problems, but it looks like I need to make another post because there are more. I will post about the actual stores owned by CJS, and how they promoted and sold the products.
In his interview, President of Crebeau talks about the lawsuit between their Chinese distributor and Crebeau. He blames the Chinese distributor for using TVXQ in the promotion without the company's permission. He talks about the distributor selling the products with TVXQ's concert tickets
Also, many fans probably don't know about this, but there was another lawsuit from Crebeau's distributor. It was briefly mentioned in Allkpop.
http://www.allkpop.com/2009/12/tvxq_accused_of_yet_another_fraud
I don't know the result of that lawsuit because I couldn't find any information about it.
Both companies claim that they invested in Crebeau believing that CJS would participate in their promotional activities in person, and they're suing Crebeau and the 3 members of TVXQ for fraud when the 3 failed to make appearances.
I don't know the exact content of their contracts, but it is obvious both distributors believed CJS would be involved in the promotion, but their failure to participate resulted in the lawsuit.
But more importantly Crebeau does not have capacity or willingness to control their distributors' usage of TVXQ name.
Here's an internet ad from Beijing Kowloon Station Inc.
As you can see from the ad above, Yunho's picture is in the ad which is a serious violation of his rights, and Crebeau did not or could not control it. I suspect Crebeau only reacted to it after the lawsuit was filed against them. The interview states that Crebeau stopped the Chinese company from using TVXQ name any further, but when Crebeau itself was practically using TVXQ for promotion, and the fact his interview was filled with lies, I don't think anyone can really trust his statements.
Then there was this article from Korea regarding the lawsuit between Crebeau and Beijing company.
http://sportsworldi.segye.com/Articles/EntCulture/Article.asp?aid=20091120003969&subctg1=30&subctg2=00
That article talks about the lawsuit filed against Crebeau and how it tarnished TVXQ's image in China. Then the article concludes that even though the lawsuit is against the 3 members, SM needs to be involved to resolve the issue.
See how SM is dragged into this even though it had nothing to do with the business? That's really not fair for SM, but it cannot be avoided since SM is forever linked with TVXQ.
CJS's involvement in the business caused TVXQ's brand to be tarnished, and the abuse to the TVXQ brand got out of control. Most fans don't think about these possible issues, and simply do not understand why SM would stop CJS's personal business, but now the reasons are obvious.
Because of the business that had no control over its distributors, TVXQ's name was abused, and TVXQ got involved in 2 fraud cases further damaging its value.
I've talked about Crebeau's Chinese distributors, then how about Crebeau itself?
In his interview, Kang claims Crebeau was in business for 12 years and has over 100 stores in Korea alone, making it sound like the business is legit, big and has plenty of experience.
I visited Crebeau home page, but couldn't find a list of stores. I searched the web, and I only found just few stores that are already known to be owned by CJS and their family. So what happened to the rest of the stores? If there were 100s of stores in Korea, I should've been able to find many more Crebeau cosmetics stores, but even the company's home page doesn't list any of them. Granted, the interview was from 1 1/2 years ago, but I don't think 100 stores can all vanish in that period of time, and at least some information should still be on the web.
Then from the company's history page, I found that in 1997, the owner found a company named "Suk-Hwa Trading" (석화무역).
http://www.crebeaushop.co.kr/html/newpage.html?code=2
I searched the web again, and found the name in the list of businesses using Network Marketing (politically correct name for pyramid or multi-level business).
http://www.a24s.com/data/%B3%D7%C6%AE%BF%F6%C5%A9%B8%B6%C4%C9%C6%C3%BE%F7%C3%BC.htm
First company on that list is "Amway Korea" (we all know what that company is), and when you search "Suk-Hwa (석화)", you see "Kang Seok Won (강석원)" as the company representative. Interesting, isn't it?
Out of curiosity, I went to the Fair Trade Commission website, and searched "Crebeau (끄레뷰)", and found the following from "Communication Business List" (basically means internet sales).
The oldest one is by Kang, and it's registered in 2006. There's also "crebeau-kiss.com" which is owned by Yuchun, but that store is out of business now. If you go to that website, it links to another store that sells Yuchun's merchandises.
You can also search for "Door to door sales" businesses, and I found Crebeau there as well.
You can get the same info from the link below, and you're on your own with the menus. :)
http://www.ftc.go.kr/info/bizinfo/visitList.jsp
Ok, so in 1997, the owner found a multi-level company, then registered "Crebeau" in 2006 for "Internet Sales" and "Door to door" business. Internet sales, I understand, but door to door sales?
My guess is that 100's of stores are from the owner's multi-level business, and actual Crebeau brand was started a lot later. I also read from someone's blog (I'm not going to link the blog because of sensitivity regarding this issue which will be explained later), the business registration for the cosmetics manufacturing for Crebeau cosmetics started in 2009. I couldn't verify it myself since I'm not in Korea, but it all makes sense. Kang did some business with Sheep's placenta extract since 2000 according to the document from the link below, but the actual cosmetics business didn't start until 2009. He might have distributed some cosmetics product produced by someone else through the "door to door" business created in 2006, but the actual products manufactured on their own didn't start until 2009 when CJS joined the business.
The link below has scanned copies of documents from Korean FDA, and Japanese government branch (I don't know exactly what, but I'm guessing similar to FDA), with dates when the ingredient's from Sheep's placenta was approved for safety. Notice that Korean FDA approved the placenta extract to be used as processed food, but I don't know how that applies to cosmetics. The site's main page links to Yuchun's merchandise site, but their old pages are still active.
http://www.crebeau-kiss.com/bbs/zboard.php?id=faq&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=3
All of my findings also agree with the statements by HoMin's fathers where they talk about the business being multi-level. TVXQ and the business that might've been a multi level marketer? Please.
No wonder HoMin didn't want to join the business.
I visited Crebeau-Jeff website which is associated with Jaejoong (I don't know if the business is registered under his name, but most fans know it's his store), and found the ingredient page explaining how they get the sheep's placenta.
http://www.crebeau-jeff.com/sub1_2.php
It's in graphics, so you can't run it on a translator, but I'll type part of the text below so the readers can translate them and also compare with the original text. The table below lists differences between sheep's placenta and human placenta to show the advantages of using sheep's placenta. (What???) I don't know who decided to market the products comparing the placenta from sheep and human, but.... I lost words to say. I guess the sheep's pictures are ok, or not.
양태반이란?
끄레뷰 양태반 추출물은 양태반 + 양배태(3개월 미만의 영태아)를 포함하여 원재료를 공급하여 태반추출물을 생산하고 있다.
영양상태가 가장 좋은 3개월 된 어미양만을 엄선하고 있다.
The above basically says the products use sheep's placenta + embryo from 3 month pregnant sheep.
I was planning on making this post the last one about Crebeau's problems, but it looks like I need to make another post because there are more. I will post about the actual stores owned by CJS, and how they promoted and sold the products.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
SM's issues with the cosmetics company
I have shown from my previous posts that the monetary gains from the cosmetics business (Crebeau) was the reason why the conflict between CJS and SM started, ultimately leading to the lawsuit.
But it still doesn't explain why SM did not want them to continue the business, and why the conflict started in the first place. Why would SM interfere with CJS's personal business?
Both sides agreed that SM initially approved CJS's involvement in the business as long as it was a simple investment, but as proven later by the Korean DA, CJS owned 62.5% share of the business, but the conflict began about a year before that fact was officially released, so there must have been other reasons for SM to oppose the business.
First I want to go over the interview with the president of Crebeau, Kang Seok Won that's posted on many blogs and fan sites. Here's the interview. If you've already read the interview, you can just skip it. I deleted the picture of Kang from the original doc.
=========================================================================
The cosmetic company that is being shown by SM Entertainment as the crux of the TVXQ dispute. To find out what exactly the relationship is between TVXQ and the cosmetic company, we met with Kang Seok Won, President of Crebeau, for an interview. President Kang Seok Won carefully picked his words and said, “More than 10 years of hard work to build this company are being rattled because of TVXQ’s small investment.”
Question&Answer
▲What is the relationship between Crebeau and teh three members of TVXQ?
=Crebeau was created over 12 years ago. It has been over ten years since we began using sheep placenta as a main ingredient in the cosmetics. This can be easily verified in our homepage or on our certificate of authentication. We have over 100 stores in Korea alone. We are also a company that has spread to China and Japan. TVXQ’s Xiah Junsu, Micky Yoochun and YoungWoong Jaejoong made only small investments in our company.
▲What kind of company is the Beijing Representation Corporation that sued the three members of TVXQ?
=The Beijing Representation Corporation is the company who is in charge of all the Crebeau stores in the Shanghai region in China. We currently have three chain stores open in Shanghai as of now. We met for the first time at the Company Presentation that was held in China in January of this year and signed a contract together. This company opened these three stores in July and officially began their business. As soon as they opened, complications arose. (President Kang showed Sports Seoul the contract between Crebeau and Beijing Representation Corporation) Beijing Representation Corporation were not adhering to the clauses in teh contract and were using TVXQ to advertise their products. They irrationally held advertising events, and when we intercepted their actions, they decided to file the lawsuit.
▲If the three members of TVXQ only hold small investments, why where they sued?
=The three members attended the Investment Presentation we held in Shanghai in January. After listening to the Investment Presentation, the three completed their investments in March/April. The Beijing Representation Corporation interpreted ‘The TVXQ Three members have invested’ as ‘The TVXQ Three members are now ambassador’s to Crebeau.’ Therefore, the company tried to use TVXQ to advertise products but as soon as we heard of this and intercepted their actions, they retaliated. (Holding the contract)In the contract, not even the ‘T’ of TVXQ is mentioned. The three members of TVXQ represent SM Entertainment, not Crebeau. The side that violated the contract is in fact Beijing Representation Corporation, not the three members.
▲Do you have proof that Beijing Representation Corporation violated the contract?
=On October 2nd, when the TVXQ Shanghai concert was coming up, they sold cosmetics tied with tickets for the concert. We have even collected evidence of this. They opened a store that did not follow our standards, and illegally sold cosmetics at discounted prices near the concert location. These are all violations of the contract. The main office located in Korea told Beijing Representation Corporation to ask for all of the cosmetics sold along with tickets to be returned so that the company’s image would not be tarnished. 70 million Won worth of damages were incurred but the main office compensated for all of these losses.
▲When you say a ‘small investment’ by the three members of TVXQ. How small is their investment?
=The three members invested less than 100 million Won each in the Chinese branch of our company. Crebeau itself invested more than 3 billion Won for the Chinese expansion. The three members’ investments combined are only worth around 300 million Won. It is only around 1/10 of all of the investments. Xiah Junsu’s father also showed interest in investing. We gave him the right a chain store outside of Seoul. All the investment money related to TVXQ does not amount to much.
▲How are you planning to deal with Beijing Representation Corporation?
=We are going through the appropriate steps with a lawyer from China. They are at an advantage as this is a case that will be dealt with using the laws of China. That is why Beijing Representation Corporation did not sue the Chinese office of Crebeau either. If there was a problem with the company as a whole, why did they just sue the Korean main office? This is their blind spot. I believe that the truth will always win.
▲SM Entertainment is blaming the cosmetic company for the TVXQ dispute.
=We find it quite absurd that we are being blamed for the dispute between TVXQ and SM Entertainment. Many people were witness to TVXQ’s Xiah Junsu receiving permission from SM to invest in the company. All the procedures we had to go through were legally correct and there were no problems. SM Entertainment blamed us only after the dispute occurred between the agency and members of TVXQ. Because of SM, our work has been disrupted and our image has been tarnished.
▲How do you plan on solving the issue regarding SM?
=This is a problem that has nothing to do with the three members of TVXQ. It is a problem between two companies. SM Entertainment used Crebeau as a scapegoat and tarnished our image to put the blame of the TVXQ dispute on us. The Chinese and Japanese plans we have been making have been rattled because of SM’s claims. The main office of Crebeau in Korea, as well as our offices in China and Japan are planning to get together and file a large-scale lawsuit against SM. We will receive an appropriate apology for our tarnished image and disrupted work.
I don't know how many of the readers saw this video, but here's JaeJoong speaking at the Crebeau presentation in Shanghai in January 2009.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoHBSOomdSQ
He's promoting the cosmetics product in person, yet he's just a small investor. Kang claimed in another interview that CJS happened to be at the product launch by chance while traveling China (CJS told SM they're taking a vacation). It's actually more surprising that there are people who really believe that claim. Anyways, he's promoting the Crebeau products, and says he has interest in caring his skin and used the product. Then he makes the famous quote: "After using (the product), your body will exude beauty (then everyone laughs)". Korean fans call that clip the "Body exuding beauty" video.
With these previous promotional activities, I don't know how the Chinese company can be blamed for using TVXQ for the promotion and the subsequent lawsuit. (covered in my previous post)
http://truetvxq.blogspot.com/2011/01/did-chinese-court-rule-cjs-is-not.html
This post is getting pretty long so I am going to make another post in a day or two with more info about the cosmetics business and its problems.
But it still doesn't explain why SM did not want them to continue the business, and why the conflict started in the first place. Why would SM interfere with CJS's personal business?
Both sides agreed that SM initially approved CJS's involvement in the business as long as it was a simple investment, but as proven later by the Korean DA, CJS owned 62.5% share of the business, but the conflict began about a year before that fact was officially released, so there must have been other reasons for SM to oppose the business.
First I want to go over the interview with the president of Crebeau, Kang Seok Won that's posted on many blogs and fan sites. Here's the interview. If you've already read the interview, you can just skip it. I deleted the picture of Kang from the original doc.
=========================================================================
The cosmetic company that is being shown by SM Entertainment as the crux of the TVXQ dispute. To find out what exactly the relationship is between TVXQ and the cosmetic company, we met with Kang Seok Won, President of Crebeau, for an interview. President Kang Seok Won carefully picked his words and said, “More than 10 years of hard work to build this company are being rattled because of TVXQ’s small investment.”
Question&Answer
=Crebeau was created over 12 years ago. It has been over ten years since we began using sheep placenta as a main ingredient in the cosmetics. This can be easily verified in our homepage or on our certificate of authentication. We have over 100 stores in Korea alone. We are also a company that has spread to China and Japan. TVXQ’s Xiah Junsu, Micky Yoochun and YoungWoong Jaejoong made only small investments in our company.
▲What kind of company is the Beijing Representation Corporation that sued the three members of TVXQ?
=The Beijing Representation Corporation is the company who is in charge of all the Crebeau stores in the Shanghai region in China. We currently have three chain stores open in Shanghai as of now. We met for the first time at the Company Presentation that was held in China in January of this year and signed a contract together. This company opened these three stores in July and officially began their business. As soon as they opened, complications arose. (President Kang showed Sports Seoul the contract between Crebeau and Beijing Representation Corporation) Beijing Representation Corporation were not adhering to the clauses in teh contract and were using TVXQ to advertise their products. They irrationally held advertising events, and when we intercepted their actions, they decided to file the lawsuit.
▲If the three members of TVXQ only hold small investments, why where they sued?
=The three members attended the Investment Presentation we held in Shanghai in January. After listening to the Investment Presentation, the three completed their investments in March/April. The Beijing Representation Corporation interpreted ‘The TVXQ Three members have invested’ as ‘The TVXQ Three members are now ambassador’s to Crebeau.’ Therefore, the company tried to use TVXQ to advertise products but as soon as we heard of this and intercepted their actions, they retaliated. (Holding the contract)In the contract, not even the ‘T’ of TVXQ is mentioned. The three members of TVXQ represent SM Entertainment, not Crebeau. The side that violated the contract is in fact Beijing Representation Corporation, not the three members.
▲Do you have proof that Beijing Representation Corporation violated the contract?
=On October 2nd, when the TVXQ Shanghai concert was coming up, they sold cosmetics tied with tickets for the concert. We have even collected evidence of this. They opened a store that did not follow our standards, and illegally sold cosmetics at discounted prices near the concert location. These are all violations of the contract. The main office located in Korea told Beijing Representation Corporation to ask for all of the cosmetics sold along with tickets to be returned so that the company’s image would not be tarnished. 70 million Won worth of damages were incurred but the main office compensated for all of these losses.
▲When you say a ‘small investment’ by the three members of TVXQ. How small is their investment?
=The three members invested less than 100 million Won each in the Chinese branch of our company. Crebeau itself invested more than 3 billion Won for the Chinese expansion. The three members’ investments combined are only worth around 300 million Won. It is only around 1/10 of all of the investments. Xiah Junsu’s father also showed interest in investing. We gave him the right a chain store outside of Seoul. All the investment money related to TVXQ does not amount to much.
▲How are you planning to deal with Beijing Representation Corporation?
=We are going through the appropriate steps with a lawyer from China. They are at an advantage as this is a case that will be dealt with using the laws of China. That is why Beijing Representation Corporation did not sue the Chinese office of Crebeau either. If there was a problem with the company as a whole, why did they just sue the Korean main office? This is their blind spot. I believe that the truth will always win.
▲SM Entertainment is blaming the cosmetic company for the TVXQ dispute.
=We find it quite absurd that we are being blamed for the dispute between TVXQ and SM Entertainment. Many people were witness to TVXQ’s Xiah Junsu receiving permission from SM to invest in the company. All the procedures we had to go through were legally correct and there were no problems. SM Entertainment blamed us only after the dispute occurred between the agency and members of TVXQ. Because of SM, our work has been disrupted and our image has been tarnished.
▲How do you plan on solving the issue regarding SM?
=This is a problem that has nothing to do with the three members of TVXQ. It is a problem between two companies. SM Entertainment used Crebeau as a scapegoat and tarnished our image to put the blame of the TVXQ dispute on us. The Chinese and Japanese plans we have been making have been rattled because of SM’s claims. The main office of Crebeau in Korea, as well as our offices in China and Japan are planning to get together and file a large-scale lawsuit against SM. We will receive an appropriate apology for our tarnished image and disrupted work.
source: [sports seoul+DNBN]
translation credits: jeeelim5@tohosomnia.net
shared by: tohosomnia.net
Do not remove/add on any credits
translation credits: jeeelim5@tohosomnia.net
shared by: tohosomnia.net
Do not remove/add on any credits
=========================================================================
The above interview is all over the JYJ biased sites, and somehow the fans think it proves CJS is not involved with Crebeau and proves SM is just using the cosmetics business as a scapegoat, which is quite amusing. Some fans trust an interview from a businessman who's only connected with CJS through business ($$$), but choose to ignore HoMin and their parents, who are directly involved with TVXQ, as if their signed statements meant nothing.
The above interview was released on September of 2009 in Korea, before the DA's investigation was released, so there are many lies in that interview. Most obvious lie is about CJS's investment. Kang claims CJS only invested 1/10 of the total investment, but since CJS owns 62.5% of the company, that claim is either a flat out lie, or CJS's families invested the rest. Either way, it wasn't a small investment as SM was told, and both Kang and CJS lied about it.
Last two questions from the interview talk about SM, how they plan to sue SM to get apology, and we all know how that lawsuit turned out. SM was absolved from all charges by the Korean DA, and the roles are reversed now, SM filed a lawsuit against Crebeau which is still pending.
If you haven't read my post regarding the lawsuit yet, here's the link: http://truetvxq.blogspot.com/2011/01/cosmetics-companys-lawsuit-against-sm.html
I posted the interview because it does explain some reasons why SM was against the business, so let's begin.
First, let's talk about the product itself.
Kang states that the main ingredient of their product is sheep's placenta. Some fans defending the ingredient claim that the company may be getting the placenta after the sheep has given birth, but they kill lamb/sheep that's 3 months pregnant because that is when the placenta is high in nutrients. I'm not an animal cruelty activist, but that just sounds wrong. I'm getting sick just typing about it. That info used to be on the company's website just a month ago, but they must've changed the main ingredient because it only lists 'pearl' as the ingredient now, but if you search 'Crebeau Placenta' you can still find the products selling on the web, and you can find many references to the ingredients. Actually, when you search 'TVXQ placenta', the products still pop up along with related articles. As a fan, do you really want TVXQ's name associated with products named 'Placenta' and 'Embryo'?
Here's a place I found that sells the product, and it explains the ingredients in detail. Read what it says about the product. The site is in Japanese, and it looks like they're mail order site that sells health foods and other stuff, and I put the link in the google translator.
Do the products look suspect like HoMin's father said in the statements?
Here's another site that's selling Crebeau products.
http://www.shoppingmalldvd.com/product_490106_en Look how expensive the products are and the usage of "Dong Bang Shin Ki" on every item. I highly doubt they can charge that much money with just "Crebeau" name alone.
Kang also talks about the lawsuit between a Chinese company and Crebeau, and claims that the Chinese company promoted the products using TVXQ on its own. Translate these Chinese articles with google translator. The articles talk about 'TVXQ' member CJS's Crebeau promotion in Shanghai. The articles even mention Junsu's father and his twin brother's involvement in the business.
I don't know how many of the readers saw this video, but here's JaeJoong speaking at the Crebeau presentation in Shanghai in January 2009.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoHBSOomdSQ
He's promoting the cosmetics product in person, yet he's just a small investor. Kang claimed in another interview that CJS happened to be at the product launch by chance while traveling China (CJS told SM they're taking a vacation). It's actually more surprising that there are people who really believe that claim. Anyways, he's promoting the Crebeau products, and says he has interest in caring his skin and used the product. Then he makes the famous quote: "After using (the product), your body will exude beauty (then everyone laughs)". Korean fans call that clip the "Body exuding beauty" video.
With these previous promotional activities, I don't know how the Chinese company can be blamed for using TVXQ for the promotion and the subsequent lawsuit. (covered in my previous post)
http://truetvxq.blogspot.com/2011/01/did-chinese-court-rule-cjs-is-not.html
This post is getting pretty long so I am going to make another post in a day or two with more info about the cosmetics business and its problems.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The statements and the cosmetics business
The statements released by HoMin and their fathers show exactly where they stand regarding the cosmetics business. They all point to the cosmetics business as the cause of the lawsuit. As matter of fact, the fathers' statements describe the problems with the cosmetics business in detail, how the conflict really blew up after a meeting between the parents and the CEO of SM. For your information, that meeting was recorded, and SM submitted the transcript of the recording as evidence to the court for their lawsuit.
Some fans dispute the credibility of the statements because it came from HoMin/SM side, but the statements are signed documents released to the public, which puts liability on HoMin and their parents for the contents of the statements. They can be sued for libel for what's written in them, but there was no response from CJS's side regarding the statements, not even a single press release refuting the claims in the statements.
There are also rumors questioning the authenticity of the statements, another attempt at discrediting the statements, but I am not even going to waste keystrokes explaining those since they're all hearsay without any proof. HoMin and their parents never expressed any objection to the statements, so the statements must be from them, period.
Many fans argue that CJS won't break TVXQ just for a measly cosmetics business, but part of the answer to that is in Changmin's father's statement. He quotes a phone conversation with one of the parent talking about listing the cosmetics business on Kosdaq - the Korean Stock Exchange - through backdoor listing.
Backdoor listing is a way for a company to get listed on the stock exchange without satisfying strict and complicated listing requirements by merging the business with an already listed company. It's an easier and faster way to list a company that may not meet the listing requirements.
As long as the company is legit and produces profit, there's nothing wrong with making money from company stocks.
The problem with CJS's cosmetics business was that it was aiming to artificially raise the value of the company by using TVXQ's fame, and although it may not be illegal, it's definitely shady. There's also talk of insider trading by sharing information, which could be considered illegal.
Some fans probably read an article about Korean singer Rain and his involvement with J.Tune Entertainment, and how his reputation took a big hit among Korean investors and general public. Here's an article about it from AllKpop.
http://www.allkpop.com/2010/07/rain-liquidates-jtune-entertainment-stock-angers-stockholders
I have no idea if Rain was right or wrong, but it is a fact that his reputation was greatly damaged because of his business, and same thing could easily have happened to TVXQ. Rain is still taking the rap from the public because of what happened with J.Tunes.
So how much were the parents looking to get from listing the business on Kosdaq? According to the conversation quoted in the statement, 10's and 100s of millions of dollars, which I think was enough motivation to break the group especially since that money can be earned in lump sum.
Having said that, that still does not give enough reason for SM to interfere with the business. I personally think there's nothing wrong with artists making money off of their fame, and I even think it is their right to do so. Then why did SM oppose the business?
I will write about the reasons in my next post.
Some fans dispute the credibility of the statements because it came from HoMin/SM side, but the statements are signed documents released to the public, which puts liability on HoMin and their parents for the contents of the statements. They can be sued for libel for what's written in them, but there was no response from CJS's side regarding the statements, not even a single press release refuting the claims in the statements.
There are also rumors questioning the authenticity of the statements, another attempt at discrediting the statements, but I am not even going to waste keystrokes explaining those since they're all hearsay without any proof. HoMin and their parents never expressed any objection to the statements, so the statements must be from them, period.
Many fans argue that CJS won't break TVXQ just for a measly cosmetics business, but part of the answer to that is in Changmin's father's statement. He quotes a phone conversation with one of the parent talking about listing the cosmetics business on Kosdaq - the Korean Stock Exchange - through backdoor listing.
Backdoor listing is a way for a company to get listed on the stock exchange without satisfying strict and complicated listing requirements by merging the business with an already listed company. It's an easier and faster way to list a company that may not meet the listing requirements.
As long as the company is legit and produces profit, there's nothing wrong with making money from company stocks.
The problem with CJS's cosmetics business was that it was aiming to artificially raise the value of the company by using TVXQ's fame, and although it may not be illegal, it's definitely shady. There's also talk of insider trading by sharing information, which could be considered illegal.
Some fans probably read an article about Korean singer Rain and his involvement with J.Tune Entertainment, and how his reputation took a big hit among Korean investors and general public. Here's an article about it from AllKpop.
http://www.allkpop.com/2010/07/rain-liquidates-jtune-entertainment-stock-angers-stockholders
I have no idea if Rain was right or wrong, but it is a fact that his reputation was greatly damaged because of his business, and same thing could easily have happened to TVXQ. Rain is still taking the rap from the public because of what happened with J.Tunes.
So how much were the parents looking to get from listing the business on Kosdaq? According to the conversation quoted in the statement, 10's and 100s of millions of dollars, which I think was enough motivation to break the group especially since that money can be earned in lump sum.
Having said that, that still does not give enough reason for SM to interfere with the business. I personally think there's nothing wrong with artists making money off of their fame, and I even think it is their right to do so. Then why did SM oppose the business?
I will write about the reasons in my next post.
Friday, January 21, 2011
The statement released by Changmin's father
Here's the translation of the statement released by Changmin's father.
It was released at the same time as Yunho's father's statement. If you haven't read it already, here's his statement: http://truetvxq.blogspot.com/2011/01/statement-released-by-yunhos-father.html
Also, make sure to note the date it was released (Nov 1, 2009) and imagine the circumstances and events during that time.
Here's a link to a Korean article about the fathers' statements.
http://www.gwangnam.co.kr/news/news_view.htm?idxno=2009110219425437546
I'll talk about the statements by HoMin and their fathers in the subsequent post, and post about the cosmetics business in detail. Here's the translation followed by the text transcript and the original scanned copy of the statement.
========================================================================
This is Shim Dongsik, father of TVXQ member, Shim Changmin.
I have been teaching Korean for 27 years.
My son Shim Changmin signed an exclusive contract with SM Entertainment, and has been working as the youngest member of the group TVXQ until now.
The injunction filed by the three members is totally against the principles of life that I’ve been teaching my son and my students for 27 years as a teacher and violates the common sense, morality, and loyalty. Also, it is regrettable that the court’s judgment was given because of the distorted truth.
I’d like to use this chance to reveal the root cause of this situation, and I am writing this statement hoping the three members would stop violating the common sense, morality and trust any longer.
In a word, the cause and the reason the three members filed the injunction is the monetary reasons related to the cosmetics company, or some other monetary gains.
As far as I know, the claims about unfair contract or incorrect profit distribution are just excuses to hide the real reason.
If I give a specific example, after 3 members started the cosmetics business and attended the company’s business presentation in China, I talked to one of the parent over the phone, and he said absurd things like: “This business may become worth 10’s and 100’s of millions of dollars. After we list the company through backdoor listing using another company listed on Kosdaq, we will spread the news of TVXQ’s involvement in the business, and when the stock starts to go up, we will give you information so you can buy the stocks.”
In addition, when there was a meeting between TVXQ’s parents and SM’s CEO Kim Youngmin because of problems related to the cosmetics business, we were explained that the cosmetics business could tarnish TVXQ’s image, and TVXQ can incur enormous loss, so we needed to refrain from the business.
One of the parents resisted strongly and refused the request. Afterwards, when the 5 parents had a separate meeting, one of the parents said, “We will stop working with SM. We heard that another company is willing to pay huge signing bonus. If two parents join us, we will talk to the president of the cosmetics company to give you company shares.”
Afterwards, they proceeded with the lawsuit after sending content-certified mail to SM.
The cosmetics business had problems in itself, but when I first heard about the business, I didn’t even understand why TVXQ, a group that was becoming Asia’s top group, needed to be involved in a business that wasn’t even big, and there were whispers that it was a multi-level company. My son had exact same thoughts as mine.
After starting to have trouble with the company because of the cosmetics business, the three members began to exert tremendous pressure against the two members directly and indirectly to leave the company together with them. The two members were almost in emotional panic because they shared the room and traveled in the same car, and they were unable to say anything outside because of this situation.
I had to swallow tears many times watching my son suffering in pain while quietly enduring it without saying a word.
We wanted a good result until the last minute while the injunction was progressing. I didn’t make any statement because the court advised to refrain from making statements through media, but I decided it’s time to tell the truth now.
The three members claim that the contract is unfair and the profit distribution is not correct, but when we signed the contract for the first time and subsequently modified the contract five times, my son and I had clear discussion and agreement with the company, and we also clearly reviewed all the paperwork when we calculated profit before agreeing to it. The three members and their parents know exactly about these, but it’s a shame they keep making false claims to hide the truth.
TVXQ was born with the vision of activities in Japan, China, and rest of Asia. My son and I agreed to this vision explained by the company, and we extended our original contract term from 10 years to 13 years to achieve this huge dream together with the company.
TVXQ is my son’s dream and everything in his life, but if all the sweat and effort accumulated for the past 5 years crumbles by false claims, I believe my son would be deeply wounded.
My son and I will keep the trust, justice and the promise. TVXQ was planned in SM entertainment, and created by SM Entertainment and the members including my son, and I believe it must not exist without SM Entertainment.
If TVXQ represented Korea and Asia without keeping the basic justice and principles that needs to be followed by a human being, what can the children, our future, learn and follow?
I believe TVXQ, the group representing Asia, will truly shine when all the members keep the trust and promises on the side of the justice, and moreover, such TVXQ will be able share the precious value and dream with the fans and growing children.
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저는 동방신기 멤버인 심 창민군의 아버지 심 동식라고 합니다. 저는 27년동안 국어교사로서 교편을 잡아왔습니다.
제 아들 심 창민군은 에스엠 엔터테인먼트와 전속계약을 체결하고 그룹 동방신기의 막내멤버로써 합류하여 지금까지 활동해 오고 있습니다.
저 는 27년동안 교직에 종사한 사람으로서 제가 항상 학생들과 아들에게 가르쳐온 인생의 원칙과 너무나 다른 상식과 도덕, 신의에 어긋난 세명의 멤버들의 금번 가처분 신청에 대해서, 또한 호도된 진실로 인한 금번 법원의 판결에 대해서 너무나도 안타까운 심정입니다. 저는 지금 이러한 기회를 통해서 금번 사건이 일어나게 된 본질적인 이유가 밝혀져서 상식과 도덕, 신의를 세명의 멤버들도 더 이상 저버리지 않기를 바라는 마음에서 이 글을 쓰게 되었습니다.
한마디로 말씀드리자면 세 명의 멤버들이 법원에 금번 가처분 신청을 제기한 발단이자 이유는 화장품 회사등과 관련된 금전적인 이유, 혹은 또다른 금전적인 이득을 위한것일 뿐입니다. 전속계약이 부당하다라느니 수익배분이 정확하지 않다느니 하는 이야기들은 제가 알고있는 한 그러한 본질적 이유를 가리고자 하는 핑계에 불과합니다.
단적인 예를 들자면, 세명의 멤버가 화장품 사업을 시작하고 중국의 화장품 회사 사업설명회에 참석한 이후에 그중 한명의 부모님과의 통화를 하였을 때 "이 사업이 장차 수백억, 수천억이 될지 모르는 사업입니다. 저희들이 앞으로 코스닥 회사를 우회상장 해서 "동방신기가 사업을 한다"라고 소문을 내서 주가가 막 치솟을 때 미리 정보를 드릴 테니 주식을 사세요." 라는 어처구니 없는 말을 하기도 하였습니다.
또한 화장품 회사관련 문제가 생겨서 에스엠 엔터테인먼트의 김영민 대표이사와 전체 동방신기 멤버들의 부모님들과의 만남이 있었던 자리에서 화장품 사업으로 인해서 동방신기에 대한 이미지가 실추되고 동방신기에 대한 막대한 피해가 있을수도 있으니 화장품 사업을 자제하라 라고 설명받은 자리가 있었습니다. 이 때 한 부모님은 강하게 반발을 하면서 완강히 거절했고 그 후 5명의 부모끼리 시간을 갖은 자리에서 한 부모님이 "이제 에스엠하고는 그만 하겠다. 그리고 이미 다른 기획사에서 거액의 계약금을 준다는 이야기도 들었다. 두 부모님께서 함께해 주신다면 화장품 회사 회장님에게 이야기해서 화장품 회사의 지분을 드리겠다"라고 이야기했고, 그 후에 에스엠 엔터테인먼트에 내용증명을 보내고 소송이 진행되었던 것입니다.
화장품 사업은 그 자체도 문제가 있지만 처음 이야기를 들었을 때부터 저는 도대체 왜 이제 아시아 최고의 그룹으로 성장하고 있는 동방신기가 대형 화장품 회사도 아닌 다단게 회사였다라는 이야기까지 들리는 그러한 화장품 회사의 사업을 해야 하는지 전혀 이해가 되지 않았고, 저의 아들도 저와 똑 같은 생각을 갖고 있었습니다.
세 명의 맴버가 화장품사업으로 인해 회사외 불화가 생긴 이후에 두명의 멤버에 대해서도 같이 회사를 나가자는 엄청난 직간접적인 압력을 행사하게 되었고 두명의 멤버들은 세명의 멤버들로부터 이렇게 정신적인 압박을 받고 있는데도 현실적으로는 숙소를 같이 쓰고 차량을 같이타고 이동하며 대외적으로는 한마디 말도 할 수 없는 상황때문에 심리적인 공황상태에 빠질 정도였습니다. 저는 이렇게 고통받고, 그러한 고통 속에서도 아무말도 하지 못하고 묵묵히 견디고 있는 아들의 모습을 보면서 수없이 눈물을 삼켰습니다.
소송이 진행되는 마지막까지 좋은결과를 바랬고 또한 법원에서 언론발표를 자제하라는 말씀도 전해듣고 지금까지 저도 일체 함구하고 있었지만 이제는 사실을 말씀드려야 한다고 생각합니다.
세 명의 멤버들은 계약이 부당하고 정산이 불투명하다고 주장하지만 저와 저의 아들은 소속사와 처음 계약을 체결했을때부터 새로 계약을 다섯차례 갱실할 때에 정확히 소속사와 협의하고 동의하여 계약을 체결했으며, 수차레 수입 정산을 할 때에도 모든 자료를 정확히 검토하고 동의하여 확인해 왔습니다. 이러한 사정을 세명의 멤버들과 그 부모들도 정확히 알고 있음에도 진실을 숨기기 위한 거짓주장만을 하는 그들이 참 안타까울 따름입니다.
동방신기는 탄생 과정부터 일본과 중국, 아시아 시장으로 진출하고자 하는 비젼을 가지고 탄생한 그룹입니다. 저도 저의 아들도 이러한 비젼에 대해서 소속사로부터 설명을 듣고 공감하였고, 소속사와 함께 원대한 꿈을 이루기 위해서 모든 멤버들과 부모들이 데뷰하기 젼 10년이었던 계약기간을 13년으로 갱신하여 계약을 맺었던 것입니다.
동방신기는 제 아들의 꿈이며 인생의 전부이고, 이를 위해 지난 5년간 쌓아온 땀과 노력이 세명의 멤버들의 거짓된 주장들로 무너지게 된다면 저의 아들의 상처는 너무나도 클 것 같습니다.
저와 저의 아들은 정의와 신뢰, 그리고 약속을 지킬 것입니다. 동방신기는 에스엠 엔터테인먼트에서 기획되었고, 에스엠 엔터테인먼트와 저의 아들을 포함한 멤버들이 함께 만들어 왔으며 에스엠 엔터테인먼트를 떠나서는 존재해서는 안된다고 생각합니다.
사람으로서 지켜야 할 기본적인 정의와 원칙이 지켜지지 않는 동방신기가 한국과 아시아를 대표했을 때 우리의 미래인 아이들은 무엇을 배우고 따를까요?
저는 진정한 아시아를 대표하는 그룹인 동방신기의 멤버들 모두가 신뢰와 약속을 지키고 정의가 서 있을 때 진정한 빛을 발할 수 있으며, 또한 그러한 동방신기로 인해 팬들과 자라나는 어린 아이들이 소중한 가치관과 꿈을 공유할 수 있을 거라고 믿고 있습니다.
It was released at the same time as Yunho's father's statement. If you haven't read it already, here's his statement: http://truetvxq.blogspot.com/2011/01/statement-released-by-yunhos-father.html
Also, make sure to note the date it was released (Nov 1, 2009) and imagine the circumstances and events during that time.
Here's a link to a Korean article about the fathers' statements.
http://www.gwangnam.co.kr/news/news_view.htm?idxno=2009110219425437546
I'll talk about the statements by HoMin and their fathers in the subsequent post, and post about the cosmetics business in detail. Here's the translation followed by the text transcript and the original scanned copy of the statement.
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This is Shim Dongsik, father of TVXQ member, Shim Changmin.
I have been teaching Korean for 27 years.
My son Shim Changmin signed an exclusive contract with SM Entertainment, and has been working as the youngest member of the group TVXQ until now.
The injunction filed by the three members is totally against the principles of life that I’ve been teaching my son and my students for 27 years as a teacher and violates the common sense, morality, and loyalty. Also, it is regrettable that the court’s judgment was given because of the distorted truth.
I’d like to use this chance to reveal the root cause of this situation, and I am writing this statement hoping the three members would stop violating the common sense, morality and trust any longer.
In a word, the cause and the reason the three members filed the injunction is the monetary reasons related to the cosmetics company, or some other monetary gains.
As far as I know, the claims about unfair contract or incorrect profit distribution are just excuses to hide the real reason.
If I give a specific example, after 3 members started the cosmetics business and attended the company’s business presentation in China, I talked to one of the parent over the phone, and he said absurd things like: “This business may become worth 10’s and 100’s of millions of dollars. After we list the company through backdoor listing using another company listed on Kosdaq, we will spread the news of TVXQ’s involvement in the business, and when the stock starts to go up, we will give you information so you can buy the stocks.”
In addition, when there was a meeting between TVXQ’s parents and SM’s CEO Kim Youngmin because of problems related to the cosmetics business, we were explained that the cosmetics business could tarnish TVXQ’s image, and TVXQ can incur enormous loss, so we needed to refrain from the business.
One of the parents resisted strongly and refused the request. Afterwards, when the 5 parents had a separate meeting, one of the parents said, “We will stop working with SM. We heard that another company is willing to pay huge signing bonus. If two parents join us, we will talk to the president of the cosmetics company to give you company shares.”
Afterwards, they proceeded with the lawsuit after sending content-certified mail to SM.
The cosmetics business had problems in itself, but when I first heard about the business, I didn’t even understand why TVXQ, a group that was becoming Asia’s top group, needed to be involved in a business that wasn’t even big, and there were whispers that it was a multi-level company. My son had exact same thoughts as mine.
After starting to have trouble with the company because of the cosmetics business, the three members began to exert tremendous pressure against the two members directly and indirectly to leave the company together with them. The two members were almost in emotional panic because they shared the room and traveled in the same car, and they were unable to say anything outside because of this situation.
I had to swallow tears many times watching my son suffering in pain while quietly enduring it without saying a word.
We wanted a good result until the last minute while the injunction was progressing. I didn’t make any statement because the court advised to refrain from making statements through media, but I decided it’s time to tell the truth now.
The three members claim that the contract is unfair and the profit distribution is not correct, but when we signed the contract for the first time and subsequently modified the contract five times, my son and I had clear discussion and agreement with the company, and we also clearly reviewed all the paperwork when we calculated profit before agreeing to it. The three members and their parents know exactly about these, but it’s a shame they keep making false claims to hide the truth.
TVXQ was born with the vision of activities in Japan, China, and rest of Asia. My son and I agreed to this vision explained by the company, and we extended our original contract term from 10 years to 13 years to achieve this huge dream together with the company.
TVXQ is my son’s dream and everything in his life, but if all the sweat and effort accumulated for the past 5 years crumbles by false claims, I believe my son would be deeply wounded.
My son and I will keep the trust, justice and the promise. TVXQ was planned in SM entertainment, and created by SM Entertainment and the members including my son, and I believe it must not exist without SM Entertainment.
If TVXQ represented Korea and Asia without keeping the basic justice and principles that needs to be followed by a human being, what can the children, our future, learn and follow?
I believe TVXQ, the group representing Asia, will truly shine when all the members keep the trust and promises on the side of the justice, and moreover, such TVXQ will be able share the precious value and dream with the fans and growing children.
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저는 동방신기 멤버인 심 창민군의 아버지 심 동식라고 합니다. 저는 27년동안 국어교사로서 교편을 잡아왔습니다.
제 아들 심 창민군은 에스엠 엔터테인먼트와 전속계약을 체결하고 그룹 동방신기의 막내멤버로써 합류하여 지금까지 활동해 오고 있습니다.
저 는 27년동안 교직에 종사한 사람으로서 제가 항상 학생들과 아들에게 가르쳐온 인생의 원칙과 너무나 다른 상식과 도덕, 신의에 어긋난 세명의 멤버들의 금번 가처분 신청에 대해서, 또한 호도된 진실로 인한 금번 법원의 판결에 대해서 너무나도 안타까운 심정입니다. 저는 지금 이러한 기회를 통해서 금번 사건이 일어나게 된 본질적인 이유가 밝혀져서 상식과 도덕, 신의를 세명의 멤버들도 더 이상 저버리지 않기를 바라는 마음에서 이 글을 쓰게 되었습니다.
한마디로 말씀드리자면 세 명의 멤버들이 법원에 금번 가처분 신청을 제기한 발단이자 이유는 화장품 회사등과 관련된 금전적인 이유, 혹은 또다른 금전적인 이득을 위한것일 뿐입니다. 전속계약이 부당하다라느니 수익배분이 정확하지 않다느니 하는 이야기들은 제가 알고있는 한 그러한 본질적 이유를 가리고자 하는 핑계에 불과합니다.
단적인 예를 들자면, 세명의 멤버가 화장품 사업을 시작하고 중국의 화장품 회사 사업설명회에 참석한 이후에 그중 한명의 부모님과의 통화를 하였을 때 "이 사업이 장차 수백억, 수천억이 될지 모르는 사업입니다. 저희들이 앞으로 코스닥 회사를 우회상장 해서 "동방신기가 사업을 한다"라고 소문을 내서 주가가 막 치솟을 때 미리 정보를 드릴 테니 주식을 사세요." 라는 어처구니 없는 말을 하기도 하였습니다.
또한 화장품 회사관련 문제가 생겨서 에스엠 엔터테인먼트의 김영민 대표이사와 전체 동방신기 멤버들의 부모님들과의 만남이 있었던 자리에서 화장품 사업으로 인해서 동방신기에 대한 이미지가 실추되고 동방신기에 대한 막대한 피해가 있을수도 있으니 화장품 사업을 자제하라 라고 설명받은 자리가 있었습니다. 이 때 한 부모님은 강하게 반발을 하면서 완강히 거절했고 그 후 5명의 부모끼리 시간을 갖은 자리에서 한 부모님이 "이제 에스엠하고는 그만 하겠다. 그리고 이미 다른 기획사에서 거액의 계약금을 준다는 이야기도 들었다. 두 부모님께서 함께해 주신다면 화장품 회사 회장님에게 이야기해서 화장품 회사의 지분을 드리겠다"라고 이야기했고, 그 후에 에스엠 엔터테인먼트에 내용증명을 보내고 소송이 진행되었던 것입니다.
화장품 사업은 그 자체도 문제가 있지만 처음 이야기를 들었을 때부터 저는 도대체 왜 이제 아시아 최고의 그룹으로 성장하고 있는 동방신기가 대형 화장품 회사도 아닌 다단게 회사였다라는 이야기까지 들리는 그러한 화장품 회사의 사업을 해야 하는지 전혀 이해가 되지 않았고, 저의 아들도 저와 똑 같은 생각을 갖고 있었습니다.
세 명의 맴버가 화장품사업으로 인해 회사외 불화가 생긴 이후에 두명의 멤버에 대해서도 같이 회사를 나가자는 엄청난 직간접적인 압력을 행사하게 되었고 두명의 멤버들은 세명의 멤버들로부터 이렇게 정신적인 압박을 받고 있는데도 현실적으로는 숙소를 같이 쓰고 차량을 같이타고 이동하며 대외적으로는 한마디 말도 할 수 없는 상황때문에 심리적인 공황상태에 빠질 정도였습니다. 저는 이렇게 고통받고, 그러한 고통 속에서도 아무말도 하지 못하고 묵묵히 견디고 있는 아들의 모습을 보면서 수없이 눈물을 삼켰습니다.
소송이 진행되는 마지막까지 좋은결과를 바랬고 또한 법원에서 언론발표를 자제하라는 말씀도 전해듣고 지금까지 저도 일체 함구하고 있었지만 이제는 사실을 말씀드려야 한다고 생각합니다.
세 명의 멤버들은 계약이 부당하고 정산이 불투명하다고 주장하지만 저와 저의 아들은 소속사와 처음 계약을 체결했을때부터 새로 계약을 다섯차례 갱실할 때에 정확히 소속사와 협의하고 동의하여 계약을 체결했으며, 수차레 수입 정산을 할 때에도 모든 자료를 정확히 검토하고 동의하여 확인해 왔습니다. 이러한 사정을 세명의 멤버들과 그 부모들도 정확히 알고 있음에도 진실을 숨기기 위한 거짓주장만을 하는 그들이 참 안타까울 따름입니다.
동방신기는 탄생 과정부터 일본과 중국, 아시아 시장으로 진출하고자 하는 비젼을 가지고 탄생한 그룹입니다. 저도 저의 아들도 이러한 비젼에 대해서 소속사로부터 설명을 듣고 공감하였고, 소속사와 함께 원대한 꿈을 이루기 위해서 모든 멤버들과 부모들이 데뷰하기 젼 10년이었던 계약기간을 13년으로 갱신하여 계약을 맺었던 것입니다.
동방신기는 제 아들의 꿈이며 인생의 전부이고, 이를 위해 지난 5년간 쌓아온 땀과 노력이 세명의 멤버들의 거짓된 주장들로 무너지게 된다면 저의 아들의 상처는 너무나도 클 것 같습니다.
저와 저의 아들은 정의와 신뢰, 그리고 약속을 지킬 것입니다. 동방신기는 에스엠 엔터테인먼트에서 기획되었고, 에스엠 엔터테인먼트와 저의 아들을 포함한 멤버들이 함께 만들어 왔으며 에스엠 엔터테인먼트를 떠나서는 존재해서는 안된다고 생각합니다.
사람으로서 지켜야 할 기본적인 정의와 원칙이 지켜지지 않는 동방신기가 한국과 아시아를 대표했을 때 우리의 미래인 아이들은 무엇을 배우고 따를까요?
저는 진정한 아시아를 대표하는 그룹인 동방신기의 멤버들 모두가 신뢰와 약속을 지키고 정의가 서 있을 때 진정한 빛을 발할 수 있으며, 또한 그러한 동방신기로 인해 팬들과 자라나는 어린 아이들이 소중한 가치관과 꿈을 공유할 수 있을 거라고 믿고 있습니다.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The statement released by Yunho's father
Here's the translation of the statement released by Yunho's father. It is a signed document that could be used as a court evidence.
It's pretty long, and I tried to keep every words stated intact so some of it may sound a bit awkward.
Keep in mind that this statement was released in November 1, 2009, 5 months after the 3 got out of SM, and right after the injunction judgment was given. That was when HoMin were being viciously attacked by the fans for not leaving SM with the other 3, and false rumors were flying around everywhere. The readers may think HoMin are attacked badly right now, but it was much worse back then because some information we know now weren't available, and almost everyone blamed HoMin and SM for the situation. This was the last and only statements released by HoMin and their parents, but they're getting bashed for the statements even today.
HoMin and their parents decided to release statements to clarify some of the rumors, and to clearly state their position to the fans, but unfortunately, their statements just added fuel to the fire, and the bashing simply intensified and their voice completely ignored.
Make sure to read the parts that talk about the cosmetics business. He describes about the cosmetics business in detail, and I'll refer back to what's said in the statements on my future posts.
I'll translate Changmin's father's statement next, then make an analysis of their statements on separate post.
Here's the link to the Allkpop article. Their version is pretty short.
http://www.allkpop.com/2009/11/yunho_and_changmins_fathers_express_strong_disapproval_of_other_members
Now the translation, followed by the Korean text and the scanned copy of the signed statement.
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This is Chung Yang Hyun, father of Chung Yunho, the leader of the group TVXQ.
Between the filing of the injunction until now when the injunction judgment is given, the two members who didn't file the injunction are really the ones taking the most damage.
Realistically, the result made the existence of the group TVXQ difficult, and I feel helpless as to how the two members can be compensated for their economical damages, emotional suffering, and especially the damages to their reputation.
I feel great sadness and anger, and I cannot comprehend the reason why this so called “TVXQ crisis” is currently happening after the 3 members filed the injunction
Even just a few months ago, the members and the company officials had great respect and esteem towards each other. The members debuted after sweating blood as trainees for years, then worked hard as one for 5 years to become Asia’s biggest group TVXQ who was capable of selling out every Tokyo Dome Concerts.
It is frustrating that the group is facing this crisis, and it feels like a nightmare that for whatever reason, three members are causing this huge trouble giving up the honor of being the top Korean national brand, huge potential value, and the guarantee of the future.
I’d like to ask the three members if they have to break up TVXQ like this causing a huge controversy, and I’d also like to ask if they have any regard for the two members who are not involved in this dispute and how they can denounce the two like this.
The remaining two members know the truth about this situation. The reason they have been silent without making any statement was to allow the involved parties to reach a mutual agreement, and wished the problems to be resolved as an internal matter between TVXQ and the company without distorting the truth.
If you look at this crisis from the two members’ perspective, they are the ones who lost the most emotionally, economically, and socially, but they refrained from making any comments to protect TVXQ. I decided to write this statement because I believed telling the real root of this problem and the truth would ultimately help protecting TVXQ and its reputation.
To fully grasp the root of this case, you need to discuss the fundamental reason why the 3 filed the injunction.
If TVXQ breaks up, there would be huge losses from public backlash, damage to their reputation and image, and loss of potential wealth, but there must be something much bigger if they are willing to give these up. Their relationship for the past 5 years was really great even when they weren’t as successful or weren’t making as much money as now, but they’re breaking up and leaving TVXQ when they’re at the peak of their career. What would be the reason to do that now?
I can’t help but to think the root of the problem lies in the cosmetics business and the resulting greed for wealth. To clarify this, I’d like to talk in detail about the cosmetics business as much as I know.
I first heard about the cosmetics business around February of 2009.
Changmin’s father and I had different opinion than the parents of 3 members, and we didn’t understand why top Asian star TVXQ would do things like investing in a cosmetics company that nobody ever heard of and opening up stores without any discussion with the company. It wasn’t like TVXQ was modeling for a cosmetics brand known worldwide, and we weren’t even in a difficult situation.
We also heard from others that the company used to be multi-level marketer, and the product’s main ingredient was lamb’s placenta.
Because the business was run without any formal discussion with SM, and the cosmetics company itself had low reputation, we determined that the business could possibly damage TVXQ brand’s value and its image both domestic and abroad.
Those points were explained to my son, and because he had the same thoughts as mine, we told the parents of 3 that we won’t participate in the cosmetics business in any way.
But sure enough, there were issues brought up in Japan regarding problems with the 3 members’ cosmetics business.
Kim Young Min, CEO of SM Entertainment, and the 3 members had a meeting in Japan about the issues, and some time later around May 2009, Mr. Kim and the parents of 5 members held a meeting to resolve the problems related to the cosmetics business.
In that meeting, Mr. Kim stated that Avex of Japan made an official inquiry about the cosmetics business, and he requested to refrain from the cosmetics business because the business was not a simple investment. He also said the business can damage TVXQ’s image, and the members can incur enormous loss because the business was using TVXQ in direct and indirect way.
However, the parents of three members just reacted against it without any convincing reason. When the parents gathered after Mr. Kim left, a father of the 3 members said, “We’re done working with SM any more”. Changmin’s father and I tried to convince them to reconsider, but they were firm in their stance.
Since then, I heard that three members sent SM a content-certified document that the contract is void and null without any discussion with the parents of the two, and then I learned that they filed an injunction to void the exclusive contract.
* Blogger's note: a content-certified document (or mail) has its content certified by the post office. 3 copies of the mail/document are made, and one copy is sent to the recipient, and the rest are kept by the sender and the post office.
The 3 members are not the sole owner of TVXQ.
Taking a legal action and denying the effect of the contract, causing huge public backlash without any discussion with two members is an act of ignoring the two members’ rights (Yunho, Changmin), and it’s causing them tremendous damage.
These are all the reasons I know that led to this crisis, and it is really sad that TVXQ, that my son values more than his life, is facing this crisis and its reputation damaged.
TVXQ was born from the beginning to be the best group not only for domestic market, but also the international market.
We were told of this overseas plan from the company all the time, so as a parent, I knew exactly what it is.
Other members and their parents also knew exactly what it is.
That is why everyone, the members and their parents, gladly agreed on signing extended contract for the overseas activities increasing the term from 10 years to 13 years.
I do not understand the three members’ claim that the exclusive contract and profit distribution were unfair.
I want to ask the 3 members and their parents why they didn’t raise any issues while calculating earnings. We went over detailed documents, got explanation from the accounting officer Lee Jong In, and signed the accounting papers. If they felt the contract was unfair, I’d like to ask them why they didn’t raise any issues when signing contract amendments.
I don’t know what their answers would be, but my belief won’t change that this situation was caused because of the desire to earn money through questionable ways while ignoring the exclusive contract with the company, and I believe the truth will eventually be revealed.
My son is only 24 years old. He doesn’t really know about the real world, and doesn’t even know if he will continue to work as an artist for decades, or live a common life.
Due to this incident, my son and I were deeply hurt. My son was dumfounded by these sudden events.
As a father, I’d like to tell my son that the truth will be revealed eventually, and the God and my son’s conscience know the truth. I'd also like to tell him that deceiving the world may work for a while, but he needs to be a person that keeps justice and his conscience even if it carries pain, and he needs to keeps promises, not lose others’ trust and abide the law.
I do not want to teach my child to acquire wealth by betraying his conscience, or advance to the front by taking a shortcut instead of taking a proper path.
I’d like to tell my son that the gains achieved with questionable methods will crumble just as easily, and also tell the same things to the 3 members who are like my sons.
The company always told us the vision and the future plans for TVXQ even prior to debuting, and we signed the contract because we both agreed to them.
In our opinion, we are certain that SM Entertainment is capable of further developing and growing TVXQ into a national brand, and we cannot imagine TVXQ without SM.
I’m certain this situation can be worked out wisely, and continue to grow large with the company together.
November 1, 2009
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저는 동방신기의 리더 정 윤호군의 아버지인 정 양현 입니다.
가처분 신청이라는 소송이 제기된 이후부터 소송 결과가 나온 지금까지 가처분 신청을 제기하지 않은 두명의 멤버는 사실상 가장 큰 피해를 보고 있습니다.
현실적으로 동방신기라는 그룹이 존속되기가 어렵게 만든 금번 결과로 인한 두명의 멤버에 대한 경제적, 정신적 손실과 무엇보다도 두명의 멤버들의 명예의 실추는 어디서 보상받을지 막막한 심정일 뿐입니다.
가처분 신청을 세 명의 멤버가 제기한 이후 저는 오늘 도대체 무슨 이유로 이러한 "동방신기 사태"까지 라고 불리우는 일이 생기게 되었는지에 대해서 너무나도 큰 슬픔과 분노를 느낍니다.
불과 몇 개월 전만 해도 서로 존중하고 존경하였던 회사 관계자와 멤버들, 또한 수 년동안 피나는 노력으로 연습생 시절을 거쳐 데뷔하고 데뷔 후 5년동안 한 뜻으로 노력하여 한국 일본 등 아시아 최고의 가수로 거듭나서 역사적인 일본 도쿄돔을 연일 매진시키는 공연을 하게 된 동방신기가 왜 지금 이런 위기를 맞이해야 되는지 너무나도 안타까운 심정 뿐이고, 세 명의 멤버가 도대체 왜, 도대체 무슨 이유로 국가적 브랜드로, 한류 최정상의 명예와 앞으로 따르는 엄청난 부가가치 및 미래에 대한 보장을 포기하고 이러한 엄청난 분란을 일으키게 되었는지 지금도 저는 마치 꿈만 같습니다.
저는 세 명의 멤버들에게 어떠한 이유이건 간에 이러한 엄청난 분란을 일으키며 국가적 브랜드인 동방신기를 해체시켜야만 하는지, 이 사건의 당사자가 아닌 나머지 두 명의 멤버는 안중에도 없으며 이렇게 매도해도 되는지 되묻고 싶습니다.
이 사건에 대한 진실은 나머지 두 명의 멤버는 다 알고 있습니다. 하지만 두명의 멤버들이 그간 어떠한 입장표명도 하지 않고 침묵해온 것은 당사자들이 상호 합의를 할 수 있도록 배려한 것이며, 진실을 왜곡하지 말고 회사 및 동방신기의 내부 문제로 빨리 해결되기를 바라고 있기 때문입니다.
나머지 두 명의 입장에서 보면 금번 사건으로 인하여 정신적, 경제적, 사회적으로 가장 큰 피해를 당하고 있는 상황에서도 동방신기를 지키기 위해서 그간 어떠한 발언도 자제해 왔으나 오히려 정확한 사건의 본질과 진실을 이야기 하는 것이 궁극적으로는 동방신기를 지키고, 동방신기의 명예를 위해서 도움이 될 것이라고 생각해서 이 글을 쓰게 되었습니다.
금번 사건의 본질을 정확히 파악하기 위해서는 세명이 가처분 신청을 제기하게 된 근본부터 따져 보아야 한다고 생각합니다. 동방신기가 해체되면 사회적인 파장, 이미지 실추, 명예의 실추, 향후 예상되는 경제적 손실 등 손실이 엄청난데도 불구하고 이것을 포기하고 무엇인가를 하고자 한다면 이것보다 더 큰 뭔가가 있어야 할 것입니다. 즉, 과거 5년동안 지금보다 덜 성공했을 때에도, 지금보다 돈을 더 많이 벌지 못하고 있을 때에도 너무나 사이가 좋았던 관계가 최고로 성장한 이 시점에서 결과적으로는 동방신기를 깨고 나가려는 이유가 무엇이겠습니까?
저는 금번 사건의 본질에는 어떻게든 화장품사업과 그로 인한 금전적 욕심이 있다고밖에 생각할 수 없습니다. 이러한 사실을 명확히 하기 위해서 화장품 사업에 관하여 그간 제가 알고 있는 사실들을 상세히 말씀드리고자 합니다.
제가 화장품 사업에 대해서 이야기를 처음 들었던 것은 2009년 2월 경이었습니다. 그 때 세 멤버의 부모들과 저와 창민군의 아버지는 생각이 달랐으며, 현재 아시아 최고 스타인 동방신기가 세계적 브랜드의 화장품 모델 하는 것도 그다지 어려운 상황도 아니었는데, 굳이 생전 처음 들어보는 화장품 회사에 투자를 하고 소속사와 논의 없이 대리점을 내는 등의 행동을 하는 이유가 납득이 가지 않았습니다. 또한 주위에서 그 회사가 예전에 다단게 회사였다는 등, 양 태반을 원료로 한 화장품이라는 등의 말들도 들었습니다.
공식적으로 소속사와 논의를 해서 진행하는 사업도 아니고, 사업을 진행하는 화장품 회사 자체도 신뢰도가 떨어지고, 자칫 잘못하면 국내뿐만 아니라 해외에서도 동방신기의 이미지와 브랜드 가치가 떨어질 우려가 있다고 판단하여 저는 저의 아들에게도 이러한 점을 설명해 주었고, 저의 아들도 저와 같은 생각을 가지고 있었기 때문에 화장품 사업에는 전혀 참여하지 않겠다라고 세명의 멤버와 그 부모님들에게 이야기를 했습니다.
그런데 아니나다를까 그 후 일본에서 세 멤버들의 화장품 사업에 관한 문제가 불거지게 되었습니다. 이 문제로 가처분 신청을 제기한 세명의 멤버들과 에스엠 엔터테인먼트의 김영민 대표이사가 일본에서 만남을 가졌다고 하고, 이에 그 후인 2009년 5월경 화장품 사업에 대한 문제를 해결하는 차원에서 김영민 대표이사와 전체 동방신기 멤버들의 부모님들과의 만남이 있었습니다.
그 자리에서 김영민 대표이사는 일본 에이벡스로부터 화장품 회사 관련 공식 질의를 받았고, 단순 투자가 아니라 직 간접적으로 동방신기를 이용한 화장품 사업이 진행되고 있으므로 이로 인해서 앞으로 국내외적으로 동방신기에 대한 더 큰 이미지 손상과 멤버들에 대한 막대한 피해가 있을 수도 있다고 이야기하며 화장품 사업에 대한 자제를 요청하였습니다. 그러나 세 멤버의 부모들은 납득할 만한 이유 없이 이에 반발만 하였습니다. 김영민 대표이사가 자리를 뜬 이 후 동방신기부모들끼리 모인 자리에서 세 멤버 중 한 멤버의 아버지가 "이제 에스엠하고는 일 안한다"라는 발언을 하였고, 저와 심창민군의 아버지가 나머지 부모들을 설득하였으니 완강한 입장들이었습니다.
그 이후 세 멤버가 두 멤버의 부모와는 아무런 상의 없이 에스엠에 계약이 무효라는 내용증명을 보냈다는 이야기를 들었고, 그 후에 금번 전속계약 무효에 대한 가처분 신청을 하였다라는 사실을 알게 되었습니다. 그룹 동방신기는 멤버 3인만의 소유물이 아닙니다. 회사 그리고 두명의 멤버(윤호,창민)에게 아무런 상의 없이 법적 조치를 취하여 계약을 부정하며 엄청난 사회적인 파장을 일으킨 것은 두명의 멤버(윤호,창민)의 권리마저도 무시한 조치이며 엄청난 피해를 주고 있습니다.
이게 제가 알고 있는 금번 사건이 일어나게 된 이유의 전부이며, 이것이 전부 이기 때문에 제 아들이 목숨보다 더 중요하게 생각하는 동방신기가 단지 이러한 이유로 위기를 맞게 되고 명예가 실추되는 것이 너무나 안타깝습니다.
동방신기는 처음부터 국내뿐만이 아니라 해외 시장에서 최고의 그룹을 만들기 위해 탄생하였습니다. 데뷔 전부터 그러한 해외진출에 대한 비전을 소속사로부터 줄곧 들어왔기에 부모인 저 또한 이를 정확히 알고 있었습니다. 다른 멤버들과 멤버들의 부모님들도 정확히 인지하고 있었습니다. 그렇기 때문에 계약기간이 10년이었던 것을 해외활동을 위해 13년으로 연장계약을 체결하였을 때도 모든 멤버들과 부모들이 흔쾌히 동의하였던 것입니다.
저는 가처분 신청을 제기한 세명의 멤버들이 전속계약이 부당하고 수익배분도 제대로 받지 못했다고 주장하는 것이 전혀 이해가 되지 않습니다. 오히려 저는 그렇게 문제가 있다고 생각한다면 데뷔 이후 수입 정산을 할 때마다 상세한 자료를 보고 재무담당임원인 이종인 이사에게 설명을 듣고 각 정산서에 서명까지 할 때에는 왜 문제제기를 하지 않았는지, 계약이 부당하다고 생각했다면 회사와 계약을 갱신하여 체결할 때에 왜 문제제기를 하지 않았는지 세 명의 멤버들과 그 부모들에게 묻고 싶습니다. 그들이 어떻게 대답할지 모르지만 사실은 회사와의 전속계약을 무시하고 편법으로 돈을 벌고싶은 목적 때문에 이러한 사건이 발생하게 되었다는 저의 소신은 변함이 없으며 진실은 결국 숨기지 못할 것입니다.
제 아들은 이제 나이가 스물 네 살 밖에 되지 않았습니다. 아직 사회에 대해서 잘 모르고, 앞으로 수십 년 동안 연예인 생활을 할 지, 일반인으로 살아갈지도 모르는 상황입니다. 이번 사건으로 인해 저도 그렇지만 제 아들 역시 큰 상처를 입었습니다. 정말 어이없이 당한 제 아들에게 아버지로서 해주고 싶은말은 진실은 언젠가는 꼭 밝혀질 것이 세상 모두를 어느 순간까지는 속일수 있다고 해도, 자신의 양심과 하나님만은 알고 있기에 어떤 고통이 수반된다고 해도 정의와 양심을 지키는 그런 사람이 되라고 말했으며 최소한 약속은 지키고 신뢰는 잃지 말며 또한 법은 꼭 지켜야한다고 강조해왔습니다.
아주 약간의 양심을 눈감으면 거액의 돈이 생길 수도 있고, 정상적인 길이 있지만 지름길을 쓰면 남들보다 앞서 나갈 수 있으며, 이러한 편법들이 세상의 진실이다'라고 제 자식에게 가르치고 싶지는 않습니다. 결국 그러한 편법을 통해서 얻는 것들은 쉽게 무너지게 마련이라는 것을 저의 아들뿐만 아니라 자식들과 같은 세 명의 멤버들에게 이야기해주고 싶습니다.
저와 저의아들(정윤호)은 데뷔하기 이전부터 지금까지 누누히 소속사로부터 동방신기로서의 비젼과 향후 계획에 대해서 들었고, 저와 제 아들도 그에 동의하였고, 이에 합의되었기에 계약을 체결한것입니다. 그렇기에 지금 현재저와 저의 아들 입장에서 미래에도 에스엠엔터테인먼트가 동방신기를 한층 발전시켜 국가적 브랜드로 성장시키리라는 확신이 있기에 에스엠 엔터테인먼트를 떠난 동방신기는 상상할 수 없습니다. 앞으로도 이번 일을 현명하게 극복하여 소속사와 함께 더 큰 성장을 이루어 나가리라 확신합니다.
2009년 11월 1일
It's pretty long, and I tried to keep every words stated intact so some of it may sound a bit awkward.
Keep in mind that this statement was released in November 1, 2009, 5 months after the 3 got out of SM, and right after the injunction judgment was given. That was when HoMin were being viciously attacked by the fans for not leaving SM with the other 3, and false rumors were flying around everywhere. The readers may think HoMin are attacked badly right now, but it was much worse back then because some information we know now weren't available, and almost everyone blamed HoMin and SM for the situation. This was the last and only statements released by HoMin and their parents, but they're getting bashed for the statements even today.
HoMin and their parents decided to release statements to clarify some of the rumors, and to clearly state their position to the fans, but unfortunately, their statements just added fuel to the fire, and the bashing simply intensified and their voice completely ignored.
Make sure to read the parts that talk about the cosmetics business. He describes about the cosmetics business in detail, and I'll refer back to what's said in the statements on my future posts.
I'll translate Changmin's father's statement next, then make an analysis of their statements on separate post.
Here's the link to the Allkpop article. Their version is pretty short.
http://www.allkpop.com/2009/11/yunho_and_changmins_fathers_express_strong_disapproval_of_other_members
Now the translation, followed by the Korean text and the scanned copy of the signed statement.
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This is Chung Yang Hyun, father of Chung Yunho, the leader of the group TVXQ.
Between the filing of the injunction until now when the injunction judgment is given, the two members who didn't file the injunction are really the ones taking the most damage.
Realistically, the result made the existence of the group TVXQ difficult, and I feel helpless as to how the two members can be compensated for their economical damages, emotional suffering, and especially the damages to their reputation.
I feel great sadness and anger, and I cannot comprehend the reason why this so called “TVXQ crisis” is currently happening after the 3 members filed the injunction
Even just a few months ago, the members and the company officials had great respect and esteem towards each other. The members debuted after sweating blood as trainees for years, then worked hard as one for 5 years to become Asia’s biggest group TVXQ who was capable of selling out every Tokyo Dome Concerts.
It is frustrating that the group is facing this crisis, and it feels like a nightmare that for whatever reason, three members are causing this huge trouble giving up the honor of being the top Korean national brand, huge potential value, and the guarantee of the future.
I’d like to ask the three members if they have to break up TVXQ like this causing a huge controversy, and I’d also like to ask if they have any regard for the two members who are not involved in this dispute and how they can denounce the two like this.
The remaining two members know the truth about this situation. The reason they have been silent without making any statement was to allow the involved parties to reach a mutual agreement, and wished the problems to be resolved as an internal matter between TVXQ and the company without distorting the truth.
If you look at this crisis from the two members’ perspective, they are the ones who lost the most emotionally, economically, and socially, but they refrained from making any comments to protect TVXQ. I decided to write this statement because I believed telling the real root of this problem and the truth would ultimately help protecting TVXQ and its reputation.
To fully grasp the root of this case, you need to discuss the fundamental reason why the 3 filed the injunction.
If TVXQ breaks up, there would be huge losses from public backlash, damage to their reputation and image, and loss of potential wealth, but there must be something much bigger if they are willing to give these up. Their relationship for the past 5 years was really great even when they weren’t as successful or weren’t making as much money as now, but they’re breaking up and leaving TVXQ when they’re at the peak of their career. What would be the reason to do that now?
I can’t help but to think the root of the problem lies in the cosmetics business and the resulting greed for wealth. To clarify this, I’d like to talk in detail about the cosmetics business as much as I know.
I first heard about the cosmetics business around February of 2009.
Changmin’s father and I had different opinion than the parents of 3 members, and we didn’t understand why top Asian star TVXQ would do things like investing in a cosmetics company that nobody ever heard of and opening up stores without any discussion with the company. It wasn’t like TVXQ was modeling for a cosmetics brand known worldwide, and we weren’t even in a difficult situation.
We also heard from others that the company used to be multi-level marketer, and the product’s main ingredient was lamb’s placenta.
Because the business was run without any formal discussion with SM, and the cosmetics company itself had low reputation, we determined that the business could possibly damage TVXQ brand’s value and its image both domestic and abroad.
Those points were explained to my son, and because he had the same thoughts as mine, we told the parents of 3 that we won’t participate in the cosmetics business in any way.
But sure enough, there were issues brought up in Japan regarding problems with the 3 members’ cosmetics business.
Kim Young Min, CEO of SM Entertainment, and the 3 members had a meeting in Japan about the issues, and some time later around May 2009, Mr. Kim and the parents of 5 members held a meeting to resolve the problems related to the cosmetics business.
In that meeting, Mr. Kim stated that Avex of Japan made an official inquiry about the cosmetics business, and he requested to refrain from the cosmetics business because the business was not a simple investment. He also said the business can damage TVXQ’s image, and the members can incur enormous loss because the business was using TVXQ in direct and indirect way.
However, the parents of three members just reacted against it without any convincing reason. When the parents gathered after Mr. Kim left, a father of the 3 members said, “We’re done working with SM any more”. Changmin’s father and I tried to convince them to reconsider, but they were firm in their stance.
Since then, I heard that three members sent SM a content-certified document that the contract is void and null without any discussion with the parents of the two, and then I learned that they filed an injunction to void the exclusive contract.
* Blogger's note: a content-certified document (or mail) has its content certified by the post office. 3 copies of the mail/document are made, and one copy is sent to the recipient, and the rest are kept by the sender and the post office.
The 3 members are not the sole owner of TVXQ.
Taking a legal action and denying the effect of the contract, causing huge public backlash without any discussion with two members is an act of ignoring the two members’ rights (Yunho, Changmin), and it’s causing them tremendous damage.
These are all the reasons I know that led to this crisis, and it is really sad that TVXQ, that my son values more than his life, is facing this crisis and its reputation damaged.
TVXQ was born from the beginning to be the best group not only for domestic market, but also the international market.
We were told of this overseas plan from the company all the time, so as a parent, I knew exactly what it is.
Other members and their parents also knew exactly what it is.
That is why everyone, the members and their parents, gladly agreed on signing extended contract for the overseas activities increasing the term from 10 years to 13 years.
I do not understand the three members’ claim that the exclusive contract and profit distribution were unfair.
I want to ask the 3 members and their parents why they didn’t raise any issues while calculating earnings. We went over detailed documents, got explanation from the accounting officer Lee Jong In, and signed the accounting papers. If they felt the contract was unfair, I’d like to ask them why they didn’t raise any issues when signing contract amendments.
I don’t know what their answers would be, but my belief won’t change that this situation was caused because of the desire to earn money through questionable ways while ignoring the exclusive contract with the company, and I believe the truth will eventually be revealed.
My son is only 24 years old. He doesn’t really know about the real world, and doesn’t even know if he will continue to work as an artist for decades, or live a common life.
Due to this incident, my son and I were deeply hurt. My son was dumfounded by these sudden events.
As a father, I’d like to tell my son that the truth will be revealed eventually, and the God and my son’s conscience know the truth. I'd also like to tell him that deceiving the world may work for a while, but he needs to be a person that keeps justice and his conscience even if it carries pain, and he needs to keeps promises, not lose others’ trust and abide the law.
I do not want to teach my child to acquire wealth by betraying his conscience, or advance to the front by taking a shortcut instead of taking a proper path.
I’d like to tell my son that the gains achieved with questionable methods will crumble just as easily, and also tell the same things to the 3 members who are like my sons.
The company always told us the vision and the future plans for TVXQ even prior to debuting, and we signed the contract because we both agreed to them.
In our opinion, we are certain that SM Entertainment is capable of further developing and growing TVXQ into a national brand, and we cannot imagine TVXQ without SM.
I’m certain this situation can be worked out wisely, and continue to grow large with the company together.
November 1, 2009
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저는 동방신기의 리더 정 윤호군의 아버지인 정 양현 입니다.
가처분 신청이라는 소송이 제기된 이후부터 소송 결과가 나온 지금까지 가처분 신청을 제기하지 않은 두명의 멤버는 사실상 가장 큰 피해를 보고 있습니다.
현실적으로 동방신기라는 그룹이 존속되기가 어렵게 만든 금번 결과로 인한 두명의 멤버에 대한 경제적, 정신적 손실과 무엇보다도 두명의 멤버들의 명예의 실추는 어디서 보상받을지 막막한 심정일 뿐입니다.
가처분 신청을 세 명의 멤버가 제기한 이후 저는 오늘 도대체 무슨 이유로 이러한 "동방신기 사태"까지 라고 불리우는 일이 생기게 되었는지에 대해서 너무나도 큰 슬픔과 분노를 느낍니다.
불과 몇 개월 전만 해도 서로 존중하고 존경하였던 회사 관계자와 멤버들, 또한 수 년동안 피나는 노력으로 연습생 시절을 거쳐 데뷔하고 데뷔 후 5년동안 한 뜻으로 노력하여 한국 일본 등 아시아 최고의 가수로 거듭나서 역사적인 일본 도쿄돔을 연일 매진시키는 공연을 하게 된 동방신기가 왜 지금 이런 위기를 맞이해야 되는지 너무나도 안타까운 심정 뿐이고, 세 명의 멤버가 도대체 왜, 도대체 무슨 이유로 국가적 브랜드로, 한류 최정상의 명예와 앞으로 따르는 엄청난 부가가치 및 미래에 대한 보장을 포기하고 이러한 엄청난 분란을 일으키게 되었는지 지금도 저는 마치 꿈만 같습니다.
저는 세 명의 멤버들에게 어떠한 이유이건 간에 이러한 엄청난 분란을 일으키며 국가적 브랜드인 동방신기를 해체시켜야만 하는지, 이 사건의 당사자가 아닌 나머지 두 명의 멤버는 안중에도 없으며 이렇게 매도해도 되는지 되묻고 싶습니다.
이 사건에 대한 진실은 나머지 두 명의 멤버는 다 알고 있습니다. 하지만 두명의 멤버들이 그간 어떠한 입장표명도 하지 않고 침묵해온 것은 당사자들이 상호 합의를 할 수 있도록 배려한 것이며, 진실을 왜곡하지 말고 회사 및 동방신기의 내부 문제로 빨리 해결되기를 바라고 있기 때문입니다.
나머지 두 명의 입장에서 보면 금번 사건으로 인하여 정신적, 경제적, 사회적으로 가장 큰 피해를 당하고 있는 상황에서도 동방신기를 지키기 위해서 그간 어떠한 발언도 자제해 왔으나 오히려 정확한 사건의 본질과 진실을 이야기 하는 것이 궁극적으로는 동방신기를 지키고, 동방신기의 명예를 위해서 도움이 될 것이라고 생각해서 이 글을 쓰게 되었습니다.
금번 사건의 본질을 정확히 파악하기 위해서는 세명이 가처분 신청을 제기하게 된 근본부터 따져 보아야 한다고 생각합니다. 동방신기가 해체되면 사회적인 파장, 이미지 실추, 명예의 실추, 향후 예상되는 경제적 손실 등 손실이 엄청난데도 불구하고 이것을 포기하고 무엇인가를 하고자 한다면 이것보다 더 큰 뭔가가 있어야 할 것입니다. 즉, 과거 5년동안 지금보다 덜 성공했을 때에도, 지금보다 돈을 더 많이 벌지 못하고 있을 때에도 너무나 사이가 좋았던 관계가 최고로 성장한 이 시점에서 결과적으로는 동방신기를 깨고 나가려는 이유가 무엇이겠습니까?
저는 금번 사건의 본질에는 어떻게든 화장품사업과 그로 인한 금전적 욕심이 있다고밖에 생각할 수 없습니다. 이러한 사실을 명확히 하기 위해서 화장품 사업에 관하여 그간 제가 알고 있는 사실들을 상세히 말씀드리고자 합니다.
제가 화장품 사업에 대해서 이야기를 처음 들었던 것은 2009년 2월 경이었습니다. 그 때 세 멤버의 부모들과 저와 창민군의 아버지는 생각이 달랐으며, 현재 아시아 최고 스타인 동방신기가 세계적 브랜드의 화장품 모델 하는 것도 그다지 어려운 상황도 아니었는데, 굳이 생전 처음 들어보는 화장품 회사에 투자를 하고 소속사와 논의 없이 대리점을 내는 등의 행동을 하는 이유가 납득이 가지 않았습니다. 또한 주위에서 그 회사가 예전에 다단게 회사였다는 등, 양 태반을 원료로 한 화장품이라는 등의 말들도 들었습니다.
공식적으로 소속사와 논의를 해서 진행하는 사업도 아니고, 사업을 진행하는 화장품 회사 자체도 신뢰도가 떨어지고, 자칫 잘못하면 국내뿐만 아니라 해외에서도 동방신기의 이미지와 브랜드 가치가 떨어질 우려가 있다고 판단하여 저는 저의 아들에게도 이러한 점을 설명해 주었고, 저의 아들도 저와 같은 생각을 가지고 있었기 때문에 화장품 사업에는 전혀 참여하지 않겠다라고 세명의 멤버와 그 부모님들에게 이야기를 했습니다.
그런데 아니나다를까 그 후 일본에서 세 멤버들의 화장품 사업에 관한 문제가 불거지게 되었습니다. 이 문제로 가처분 신청을 제기한 세명의 멤버들과 에스엠 엔터테인먼트의 김영민 대표이사가 일본에서 만남을 가졌다고 하고, 이에 그 후인 2009년 5월경 화장품 사업에 대한 문제를 해결하는 차원에서 김영민 대표이사와 전체 동방신기 멤버들의 부모님들과의 만남이 있었습니다.
그 자리에서 김영민 대표이사는 일본 에이벡스로부터 화장품 회사 관련 공식 질의를 받았고, 단순 투자가 아니라 직 간접적으로 동방신기를 이용한 화장품 사업이 진행되고 있으므로 이로 인해서 앞으로 국내외적으로 동방신기에 대한 더 큰 이미지 손상과 멤버들에 대한 막대한 피해가 있을 수도 있다고 이야기하며 화장품 사업에 대한 자제를 요청하였습니다. 그러나 세 멤버의 부모들은 납득할 만한 이유 없이 이에 반발만 하였습니다. 김영민 대표이사가 자리를 뜬 이 후 동방신기부모들끼리 모인 자리에서 세 멤버 중 한 멤버의 아버지가 "이제 에스엠하고는 일 안한다"라는 발언을 하였고, 저와 심창민군의 아버지가 나머지 부모들을 설득하였으니 완강한 입장들이었습니다.
그 이후 세 멤버가 두 멤버의 부모와는 아무런 상의 없이 에스엠에 계약이 무효라는 내용증명을 보냈다는 이야기를 들었고, 그 후에 금번 전속계약 무효에 대한 가처분 신청을 하였다라는 사실을 알게 되었습니다. 그룹 동방신기는 멤버 3인만의 소유물이 아닙니다. 회사 그리고 두명의 멤버(윤호,창민)에게 아무런 상의 없이 법적 조치를 취하여 계약을 부정하며 엄청난 사회적인 파장을 일으킨 것은 두명의 멤버(윤호,창민)의 권리마저도 무시한 조치이며 엄청난 피해를 주고 있습니다.
이게 제가 알고 있는 금번 사건이 일어나게 된 이유의 전부이며, 이것이 전부 이기 때문에 제 아들이 목숨보다 더 중요하게 생각하는 동방신기가 단지 이러한 이유로 위기를 맞게 되고 명예가 실추되는 것이 너무나 안타깝습니다.
동방신기는 처음부터 국내뿐만이 아니라 해외 시장에서 최고의 그룹을 만들기 위해 탄생하였습니다. 데뷔 전부터 그러한 해외진출에 대한 비전을 소속사로부터 줄곧 들어왔기에 부모인 저 또한 이를 정확히 알고 있었습니다. 다른 멤버들과 멤버들의 부모님들도 정확히 인지하고 있었습니다. 그렇기 때문에 계약기간이 10년이었던 것을 해외활동을 위해 13년으로 연장계약을 체결하였을 때도 모든 멤버들과 부모들이 흔쾌히 동의하였던 것입니다.
저는 가처분 신청을 제기한 세명의 멤버들이 전속계약이 부당하고 수익배분도 제대로 받지 못했다고 주장하는 것이 전혀 이해가 되지 않습니다. 오히려 저는 그렇게 문제가 있다고 생각한다면 데뷔 이후 수입 정산을 할 때마다 상세한 자료를 보고 재무담당임원인 이종인 이사에게 설명을 듣고 각 정산서에 서명까지 할 때에는 왜 문제제기를 하지 않았는지, 계약이 부당하다고 생각했다면 회사와 계약을 갱신하여 체결할 때에 왜 문제제기를 하지 않았는지 세 명의 멤버들과 그 부모들에게 묻고 싶습니다. 그들이 어떻게 대답할지 모르지만 사실은 회사와의 전속계약을 무시하고 편법으로 돈을 벌고싶은 목적 때문에 이러한 사건이 발생하게 되었다는 저의 소신은 변함이 없으며 진실은 결국 숨기지 못할 것입니다.
제 아들은 이제 나이가 스물 네 살 밖에 되지 않았습니다. 아직 사회에 대해서 잘 모르고, 앞으로 수십 년 동안 연예인 생활을 할 지, 일반인으로 살아갈지도 모르는 상황입니다. 이번 사건으로 인해 저도 그렇지만 제 아들 역시 큰 상처를 입었습니다. 정말 어이없이 당한 제 아들에게 아버지로서 해주고 싶은말은 진실은 언젠가는 꼭 밝혀질 것이 세상 모두를 어느 순간까지는 속일수 있다고 해도, 자신의 양심과 하나님만은 알고 있기에 어떤 고통이 수반된다고 해도 정의와 양심을 지키는 그런 사람이 되라고 말했으며 최소한 약속은 지키고 신뢰는 잃지 말며 또한 법은 꼭 지켜야한다고 강조해왔습니다.
아주 약간의 양심을 눈감으면 거액의 돈이 생길 수도 있고, 정상적인 길이 있지만 지름길을 쓰면 남들보다 앞서 나갈 수 있으며, 이러한 편법들이 세상의 진실이다'라고 제 자식에게 가르치고 싶지는 않습니다. 결국 그러한 편법을 통해서 얻는 것들은 쉽게 무너지게 마련이라는 것을 저의 아들뿐만 아니라 자식들과 같은 세 명의 멤버들에게 이야기해주고 싶습니다.
저와 저의아들(정윤호)은 데뷔하기 이전부터 지금까지 누누히 소속사로부터 동방신기로서의 비젼과 향후 계획에 대해서 들었고, 저와 제 아들도 그에 동의하였고, 이에 합의되었기에 계약을 체결한것입니다. 그렇기에 지금 현재저와 저의 아들 입장에서 미래에도 에스엠엔터테인먼트가 동방신기를 한층 발전시켜 국가적 브랜드로 성장시키리라는 확신이 있기에 에스엠 엔터테인먼트를 떠난 동방신기는 상상할 수 없습니다. 앞으로도 이번 일을 현명하게 극복하여 소속사와 함께 더 큰 성장을 이루어 나가리라 확신합니다.
2009년 11월 1일
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Why is this lawsuit taking so long?
As some of you are aware, there was another trial session today in Korea. It sounds like SM's witness could not make it to that trial for a reason, and SM-bashers are in full force condemning SM for delaying the trial process.
You know that Hankyung's lawsuit began later than CJS's, but his trial is already over, and some of you are probably wondering why CJS's lawsuit is taking so much longer, and this post will explain why.
After the Temporary Contract Injunction judgment was given on Oct 2009, CJS's lawyer had an interview stating that the main lawsuit will be filed within 2 weeks which they never did.
Let me first explain what an injunction is. The injunction is a court process that's used to get a quick judgment on a matter that's considered urgent. For example, if someone were publishing a book that contains some info damaging your reputation, it would be too late to go through the normal trial process because even if you win the lawsuit to stop the book, it would've already been published damaging your reputation. So you file an injunction to stop the book momentarily until the main lawsuit is over. Injunction is usually filed with the main lawsuit at the same time. CJS's lawyer just used it to get a judgment that allowed CJS's entertainment activities without SM. It was a pretty brilliant move at that time.
During the interview by CJS's lawyer, Lim Sang Hyuk, he said, "We got what we wanted from this injunction. We are allowed to do entertainment activities freely by stopping the effect of the contract." This tells that CJS didn't need to file the main lawsuit, so they didn't, and it shows that they didn't care about the result of the lawsuit at that time as long as they were freed from the contract.
http://news.kukinews.com/article/view.asp?page=1&gCode=kmi&arcid=0002115777&cp=nv
Remember that after the injunction, CJS signed an exclusive contract with Avex, and worked actively in Japan including the Tokyo Dome Concert and many other activities. At that time, CJS fans didn't take any issue with delaying the actual lawsuit because their "idols" were doing fine.
Well, guess who filed the main lawsuit first? It was SM, not CJS.
http://truetvxq.blogspot.com/2010/12/brief-explanation-of-lawsuits.html
SM was trying to get the 3 members to come back to continue activities as TVXQ according to the court testimonies (will be covered in the future), but the 3 didn't want to go back, so it was SM who finally filed their own lawsuit to validate the contract on April 2010. SM also filed an objection to the injunction at the same time. Only then, two months after the SM's lawsuit, 8 months after the injunction judgment was given, and almost 11 months after filing the injunction, CJS finally filed the lawsuit to void the exclusive contract on June 2010.
CJS delayed the main lawsuit for 11 months, but now they seem desperate to get a judgment from the lawsuit along with JYJ fans, so what changed? Avex, that's what. Avex suspended CJS's activities in Japan on September 2010, so CJS couldn't work in Japan any more.
Without Japanese market, they suddenly found the need to work in Korea, but because they're still technically under SM, and there's suspicion in the entertainment industry that they signed a "dual" contract with C-Jes (I'll go over that issue too) therefore blocking their Korean activities, they are desperate to get a judgment. CJS's lawyers were asking the judge to make an immediate judgment on the validity of the contract during every court sessions for that reason.
So please SM bashers, if you're going to complain about delaying this lawsuit, you should talk to CJS and their lawyers. SM's witness will testify in March. This is going to be a lengthy court process.
This would've been already over if CJS camp filed the lawsuit and the injunction at the same time like they were supposed to do.
You know that Hankyung's lawsuit began later than CJS's, but his trial is already over, and some of you are probably wondering why CJS's lawsuit is taking so much longer, and this post will explain why.
After the Temporary Contract Injunction judgment was given on Oct 2009, CJS's lawyer had an interview stating that the main lawsuit will be filed within 2 weeks which they never did.
Let me first explain what an injunction is. The injunction is a court process that's used to get a quick judgment on a matter that's considered urgent. For example, if someone were publishing a book that contains some info damaging your reputation, it would be too late to go through the normal trial process because even if you win the lawsuit to stop the book, it would've already been published damaging your reputation. So you file an injunction to stop the book momentarily until the main lawsuit is over. Injunction is usually filed with the main lawsuit at the same time. CJS's lawyer just used it to get a judgment that allowed CJS's entertainment activities without SM. It was a pretty brilliant move at that time.
During the interview by CJS's lawyer, Lim Sang Hyuk, he said, "We got what we wanted from this injunction. We are allowed to do entertainment activities freely by stopping the effect of the contract." This tells that CJS didn't need to file the main lawsuit, so they didn't, and it shows that they didn't care about the result of the lawsuit at that time as long as they were freed from the contract.
http://news.kukinews.com/article/view.asp?page=1&gCode=kmi&arcid=0002115777&cp=nv
Remember that after the injunction, CJS signed an exclusive contract with Avex, and worked actively in Japan including the Tokyo Dome Concert and many other activities. At that time, CJS fans didn't take any issue with delaying the actual lawsuit because their "idols" were doing fine.
Well, guess who filed the main lawsuit first? It was SM, not CJS.
http://truetvxq.blogspot.com/2010/12/brief-explanation-of-lawsuits.html
SM was trying to get the 3 members to come back to continue activities as TVXQ according to the court testimonies (will be covered in the future), but the 3 didn't want to go back, so it was SM who finally filed their own lawsuit to validate the contract on April 2010. SM also filed an objection to the injunction at the same time. Only then, two months after the SM's lawsuit, 8 months after the injunction judgment was given, and almost 11 months after filing the injunction, CJS finally filed the lawsuit to void the exclusive contract on June 2010.
CJS delayed the main lawsuit for 11 months, but now they seem desperate to get a judgment from the lawsuit along with JYJ fans, so what changed? Avex, that's what. Avex suspended CJS's activities in Japan on September 2010, so CJS couldn't work in Japan any more.
Without Japanese market, they suddenly found the need to work in Korea, but because they're still technically under SM, and there's suspicion in the entertainment industry that they signed a "dual" contract with C-Jes (I'll go over that issue too) therefore blocking their Korean activities, they are desperate to get a judgment. CJS's lawyers were asking the judge to make an immediate judgment on the validity of the contract during every court sessions for that reason.
So please SM bashers, if you're going to complain about delaying this lawsuit, you should talk to CJS and their lawyers. SM's witness will testify in March. This is going to be a lengthy court process.
This would've been already over if CJS camp filed the lawsuit and the injunction at the same time like they were supposed to do.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
The Cosmetics Company's lawsuit against SM
Many readers are aware that Wishop Plus filed a couple of lawsuits (criminal and civil) against SM for defamation and interfering with its business. There are many articles about that lawsuit, and many of them just report that the lawsuit was dropped.
Here is the link to the Allkpop article, and other articles around the net are pretty much the same.
http://www.allkpop.com/2010/06/court-case-between-sm-entertainment-and-crebeaus-wishop-plus-canceled
Compared to the article about the lawsuit in China, this article is pretty bare. There's not much detail about the lawsuit, no analyzing, just a couple of lines that states the case was dropped. Then the article emphasizes about the lawsuit between SM and CJS, and says SM is preparing legal actions against Wishop Plus. What happened to the "neutral" journalism?
What all of those articles fail to mention is the reason why the lawsuit was dropped.
Here's the Korean article explaining why the lawsuit against SM was dropped. (June 17, 2010)
http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/06/17/2010061702148.html
If you search "SM 무혐의 위샵플러스" (SM not charged Wishop Plus) in any Korean search sites, you'll find many articles about it.
Here's the translation of the part from the article that explains the reason for dropping the case.
"According to the investigation by the Korean DA, it was found that the 3 members and their families own 62.5% share of the cosmetics company, and they were involved in the business, so the DA determined that the Cosmetics Business was one of the important cause for the contract dispute."
Well, there it is. The Korean DA's investigation found the 3 members and their family owns 62.5% of the company. For those who doesn't know what that means, the majority shareholder has total control of the company, so they're basically the owner of the company. In comparison, Lee Sooman, the founder of SM, owns about 29% of SM shares.
I mentioned in my previous post about the China Court ruling that they shot themselves in the foot with this lawsuit. Before this, the public didn't have a clear idea how much CJS were involved in the cosmetics business, but as a result of DA's investigation from this lawsuit, everyone found out exactly how much.
After this ruling, SM has counter sued Wishop Plus for defamation and interruption of business because SM's reputation took a hit from the cosmetics company's wrongful lawsuit, and that lawsuit is pending.
CJS and the cosmetics company really shot themselves in the foot. Now it is confirmed by the Korean DA that they are heavily involved in the business. This was a major reason that I personally realized that CJS side is lying because they have testified in the court that they are just minor investors in the company which was found to be lies. This is about the time when the public opinion regarding the contract dispute, which was initially one sided favoring CJS, started to turn against CJS.
Have you international fans ever seen this fact in any of the articles out there?
Here is the link to the Allkpop article, and other articles around the net are pretty much the same.
http://www.allkpop.com/2010/06/court-case-between-sm-entertainment-and-crebeaus-wishop-plus-canceled
Compared to the article about the lawsuit in China, this article is pretty bare. There's not much detail about the lawsuit, no analyzing, just a couple of lines that states the case was dropped. Then the article emphasizes about the lawsuit between SM and CJS, and says SM is preparing legal actions against Wishop Plus. What happened to the "neutral" journalism?
What all of those articles fail to mention is the reason why the lawsuit was dropped.
Here's the Korean article explaining why the lawsuit against SM was dropped. (June 17, 2010)
http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/06/17/2010061702148.html
If you search "SM 무혐의 위샵플러스" (SM not charged Wishop Plus) in any Korean search sites, you'll find many articles about it.
Here's the translation of the part from the article that explains the reason for dropping the case.
"According to the investigation by the Korean DA, it was found that the 3 members and their families own 62.5% share of the cosmetics company, and they were involved in the business, so the DA determined that the Cosmetics Business was one of the important cause for the contract dispute."
Well, there it is. The Korean DA's investigation found the 3 members and their family owns 62.5% of the company. For those who doesn't know what that means, the majority shareholder has total control of the company, so they're basically the owner of the company. In comparison, Lee Sooman, the founder of SM, owns about 29% of SM shares.
I mentioned in my previous post about the China Court ruling that they shot themselves in the foot with this lawsuit. Before this, the public didn't have a clear idea how much CJS were involved in the cosmetics business, but as a result of DA's investigation from this lawsuit, everyone found out exactly how much.
After this ruling, SM has counter sued Wishop Plus for defamation and interruption of business because SM's reputation took a hit from the cosmetics company's wrongful lawsuit, and that lawsuit is pending.
CJS and the cosmetics company really shot themselves in the foot. Now it is confirmed by the Korean DA that they are heavily involved in the business. This was a major reason that I personally realized that CJS side is lying because they have testified in the court that they are just minor investors in the company which was found to be lies. This is about the time when the public opinion regarding the contract dispute, which was initially one sided favoring CJS, started to turn against CJS.
Have you international fans ever seen this fact in any of the articles out there?
Did a China Court rule CJS is not related to the Cosmetics Company?
I was translating statements by TVXQ members' fathers, but it's taking a lot of time, so meanwhile, I figured I'll clarify about the article that's spread around the internet titled: "China Court: “TVXQ Has Nothing To Do With The Cosmetics Company Promotion”."
This article is a prime example of misleading articles that use only part of the facts to spread the reporter's agenda.
Let's get to the article and see what it says. (The article is in italics.) If you've already seen this article, just skip to the next part where I explain about it.
=========================================================================
SM Entertainment had attributed the main reason for the “TVXQ’s Lawsuit” to be the cosmetics investment business by some of the TVXQ’s members and used this reason as justification to propose a 2.2 billion won in damages from the 3 members.
The declaration that SM Entertainment had submitted to Seoul Central District Court on 14th April claimed that “Some TVXQ members had invested in a cosmetic company which resulted to be the beginning of the conflict. They have used TVXQ’s name and portrait without the company’s consent and that have violated the exclusive contract. However, they denied the effectiveness of the exclusive contract and proposed the disposition for the effectiveness of the termination of the exclusive contract”. During November last year, China Beijing Kowloon Station Century Culture Communication Co. Ltd* (Gao Jian Wen, Representative. Also known as Beijing Kowloon Station Inc.) had used “The fraud of Crebeau which is the collaboration between TVXQ’s 3 members and Korea Cosmetics Company, Wisyaplus had caused their damages” as the reason to apply for legal action for the damages compensation at the District Court. Recently, the cosmetics company, Wisyaplus announced that “Beijing Haidian District People’s Court rejected the Beijing Kowloon Station Inc’s claims” and revealed the China Court’s arbitration decision documents.
According to the open verdict, the court had rejected all the arbitration applications from the applicant (Beijing Kowloon Station Inc.) and the applicant will bear all the costs for the arbitration (38,470 yuan = 5,635 USD). TVXQ’s 3 members has nothing to do with the cosmetics company promotion and this was ultimately confirmed by the China Court. And SM Entertainment have been using the photos of the 3 members attending the investment seminars to suspect if the 3 members had directly or indirectly carry out promotional activities.
On the other hand, the cosmetic company’s representative, President Kang Suk-won had expressed towards the accusation of SM Entertainment attributing the main cause of the TVXQ’s lawsuit with the members’ cosmetics business that “The police investigation has already shown that the reason behind the TVXQ’s lawsuit has nothing to do with the cosmetics. However, SM Entertainment once again entangled with it. Therefore, our company will propose a reputation damage lawsuit again for the third time”.
President Kang Suk-won claimed that “The reasons why TVXQ’s 3 members had filed a lawsuit towards SM Entertainment are because of the unfair contractual relationship and unjust distribution of income distribution. This fact has been ruling in the injunction application and it was confirmed. However, such behaviour seems to have become a kind of inertia for SM Entertainment in order to rescue its company reputation”.
Wisyaplus had already filed the reputation damage and impede business lawsuit towards SM Entertainment twice in August and November last year. Seoul Gangnam Police Department investigation ended in February and make the decision of without detention and transfer investigation towards SM Entertainment representative, Kim Youngmin. At that point of time, the police had already made a judgement that “The lawsuit of ending the long term exclusive contracts requested by TVXQ’s 3 members had nothing to do with the cosmetics investment”.
*(T/N: This is the rough translation of the company name as I can’t find the English name for it)
=========================================================================
Here's the summary of the article above.
The first part of the article talks about the SM's claim that the cosmetics company is the cause of TVXQ's trouble. Then without even a break in the paragraph, the article shifts toward the lawsuit between "Wishop Plus" (Wisyaplus in the article, mother company of Crebeau, the company the CJS is involved with) and another Chinese company, Beijing Kowloon Station Inc. The Kowloon Company sued Wishop Plus for fraud related to the promotion activities of TVXQ (the 3 members), but the China Court has rejected the lawsuit. The reporter uses this fact to prove that TVXQ is not related to the cosmetics company's promotion. Then the article shifts to the interview of the president of Wishop Plus to emphasize his company is not related to the lawsuit between the 3 members and SM.
Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? A Chinese company sued Wishop Plus for reasons related to the 3 members' promotional activities, but the court rejected it; therefore, the 3 members must not be related to the Cosmetics company. But the article omits a critical part of the China court's decision. Here's the scanned copy of the decision. The article above references this document too, so you've probably seen it. I don't know Chinese, so I had to rely on my friends to translate it, and I verified with other Chinese friends too. I ask the readers to do the same and verify the content of the document below with someone who knows Chinese.
In summary, the court dropped the case because the warranty period specified in the contract between the two companies has expired, and Wishop Plus is relieved of any responsibilities from the contract because the lawsuit was filed after the warranty period is over. The China court didn't rule on TVXQ's relationship with the cosmetics company at all, but it just dropped the case on technicality and the laws related to the contract itself, not because of TVXQ's relationship with the company or lack thereof. The author of the article cleverly mixed this ruling with the SM and CJS's case, and reached a conclusion the way he see fits.
The part about the president of Wishop Plus will be covered in the future when I talk about the company, and also his statement regarding the injunction will be covered when I post about the lawsuits. The injunction didn't rule the contract was unfair, period. Again, there wouldn't be a pending lawsuit if the contract were ruled unfair at that time.
The article also mentions about the lawsuit filed by Wishop Plus against SM for defamation and interfering with the business. I'll talk about the result of that lawsuit on another post. They totally shot themselves in the foot with that one.
The above article was translated from the original article written by a Korean reporter named "Kim Bum Tae". Remember that name because I am going to make a post about him too. Here's the link to the original article from the Korean newspaper.
http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/view/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0001364989
Geez, after I post one article, it leads to 3 more articles that I need to write. This whole situation is full of drama and twists.
This article is a prime example of misleading articles that use only part of the facts to spread the reporter's agenda.
Let's get to the article and see what it says. (The article is in italics.) If you've already seen this article, just skip to the next part where I explain about it.
=========================================================================
SM Entertainment had attributed the main reason for the “TVXQ’s Lawsuit” to be the cosmetics investment business by some of the TVXQ’s members and used this reason as justification to propose a 2.2 billion won in damages from the 3 members.
The declaration that SM Entertainment had submitted to Seoul Central District Court on 14th April claimed that “Some TVXQ members had invested in a cosmetic company which resulted to be the beginning of the conflict. They have used TVXQ’s name and portrait without the company’s consent and that have violated the exclusive contract. However, they denied the effectiveness of the exclusive contract and proposed the disposition for the effectiveness of the termination of the exclusive contract”. During November last year, China Beijing Kowloon Station Century Culture Communication Co. Ltd* (Gao Jian Wen, Representative. Also known as Beijing Kowloon Station Inc.) had used “The fraud of Crebeau which is the collaboration between TVXQ’s 3 members and Korea Cosmetics Company, Wisyaplus had caused their damages” as the reason to apply for legal action for the damages compensation at the District Court. Recently, the cosmetics company, Wisyaplus announced that “Beijing Haidian District People’s Court rejected the Beijing Kowloon Station Inc’s claims” and revealed the China Court’s arbitration decision documents.
According to the open verdict, the court had rejected all the arbitration applications from the applicant (Beijing Kowloon Station Inc.) and the applicant will bear all the costs for the arbitration (38,470 yuan = 5,635 USD). TVXQ’s 3 members has nothing to do with the cosmetics company promotion and this was ultimately confirmed by the China Court. And SM Entertainment have been using the photos of the 3 members attending the investment seminars to suspect if the 3 members had directly or indirectly carry out promotional activities.
On the other hand, the cosmetic company’s representative, President Kang Suk-won had expressed towards the accusation of SM Entertainment attributing the main cause of the TVXQ’s lawsuit with the members’ cosmetics business that “The police investigation has already shown that the reason behind the TVXQ’s lawsuit has nothing to do with the cosmetics. However, SM Entertainment once again entangled with it. Therefore, our company will propose a reputation damage lawsuit again for the third time”.
President Kang Suk-won claimed that “The reasons why TVXQ’s 3 members had filed a lawsuit towards SM Entertainment are because of the unfair contractual relationship and unjust distribution of income distribution. This fact has been ruling in the injunction application and it was confirmed. However, such behaviour seems to have become a kind of inertia for SM Entertainment in order to rescue its company reputation”.
Wisyaplus had already filed the reputation damage and impede business lawsuit towards SM Entertainment twice in August and November last year. Seoul Gangnam Police Department investigation ended in February and make the decision of without detention and transfer investigation towards SM Entertainment representative, Kim Youngmin. At that point of time, the police had already made a judgement that “The lawsuit of ending the long term exclusive contracts requested by TVXQ’s 3 members had nothing to do with the cosmetics investment”.
*(T/N: This is the rough translation of the company name as I can’t find the English name for it)
=========================================================================
Here's the summary of the article above.
The first part of the article talks about the SM's claim that the cosmetics company is the cause of TVXQ's trouble. Then without even a break in the paragraph, the article shifts toward the lawsuit between "Wishop Plus" (Wisyaplus in the article, mother company of Crebeau, the company the CJS is involved with) and another Chinese company, Beijing Kowloon Station Inc. The Kowloon Company sued Wishop Plus for fraud related to the promotion activities of TVXQ (the 3 members), but the China Court has rejected the lawsuit. The reporter uses this fact to prove that TVXQ is not related to the cosmetics company's promotion. Then the article shifts to the interview of the president of Wishop Plus to emphasize his company is not related to the lawsuit between the 3 members and SM.
Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? A Chinese company sued Wishop Plus for reasons related to the 3 members' promotional activities, but the court rejected it; therefore, the 3 members must not be related to the Cosmetics company. But the article omits a critical part of the China court's decision. Here's the scanned copy of the decision. The article above references this document too, so you've probably seen it. I don't know Chinese, so I had to rely on my friends to translate it, and I verified with other Chinese friends too. I ask the readers to do the same and verify the content of the document below with someone who knows Chinese.
In summary, the court dropped the case because the warranty period specified in the contract between the two companies has expired, and Wishop Plus is relieved of any responsibilities from the contract because the lawsuit was filed after the warranty period is over. The China court didn't rule on TVXQ's relationship with the cosmetics company at all, but it just dropped the case on technicality and the laws related to the contract itself, not because of TVXQ's relationship with the company or lack thereof. The author of the article cleverly mixed this ruling with the SM and CJS's case, and reached a conclusion the way he see fits.
The part about the president of Wishop Plus will be covered in the future when I talk about the company, and also his statement regarding the injunction will be covered when I post about the lawsuits. The injunction didn't rule the contract was unfair, period. Again, there wouldn't be a pending lawsuit if the contract were ruled unfair at that time.
The article also mentions about the lawsuit filed by Wishop Plus against SM for defamation and interfering with the business. I'll talk about the result of that lawsuit on another post. They totally shot themselves in the foot with that one.
The above article was translated from the original article written by a Korean reporter named "Kim Bum Tae". Remember that name because I am going to make a post about him too. Here's the link to the original article from the Korean newspaper.
http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/view/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0001364989
Geez, after I post one article, it leads to 3 more articles that I need to write. This whole situation is full of drama and twists.
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