Thursday, January 13, 2011

Yunho and Changmin's Statement

There were many rumors flying everywhere around the time the Temporary Contract Injunction was granted by the court, and YunHo and ChangMin released a couple pages of signed statements to the press on November 1, 2009.
The statements urged the 3 members to come back so all 5 can continue on as TVXQ, and explains their stance regarding the lawsuit.

Here's the link to the news article about the statements in Korean:
http://www.newsen.com/news_view.php?uid=200911021558411002

Here's the link to Allkpop. It is interesting that there wasn't a single reply on this article.
http://www.allkpop.com/2009/11/changmin_and_yunho_supports_sm

Here's the translation of the statement:

======================================================================

Hello, we are the members of TVXQ, Chung Yunho, and Shim Changmin.

The five members of TVXQ all signed the contract under identical terms, and for the past 5 years, we worked with the company under same conditions for our big dreams with mutual trust towards each other.

We have a lot that we want to say, but today, we would like to talk only about TVXQ.

First, we will keep the promises we made in the contract, and we will share the dreams and the future with the company.

TVXQ was created in SM Entertainment, and we will work as TVXQ with SM Entertainment.

SM Entertainment has been shaping TVXQ with best planning and management until now, and we believe TVXQ cannot exist anywhere else. The 3 members ought to know well that SM knows TVXQ the best and turned it into the best, and we have no intention to work as TVXQ anywhere else besides SM even just to keep the trust and promises we made.

We believe we need to start preparing for the Korean activities planned for next spring at least 6 months in advance before our big future becomes uncertain. We hope the 3 members can make a decision before it's too late if they truly want to continue as TVXQ.

* Second page

We are the members of TVXQ, Chung Yunho and Shim Changmin.

We were asked many questions how this situation was brought about after the 3 members filed the injunction.

Simply said, we believe everything started to change after the 3 started the cosmetics business.

We are not familiar with the real world, but everyone knows SM is our management company, and if the cosmetics business is normal and legit, it is a common sense to first consult with SM before doing business with TVXQ.

Members were approached individually without a single word with the company, and we could not get involved in a business with such a questionable business practice because we thought it was bound to create problems.

In addition to that, we did not want to ruin TVXQ's image and reputation that was achieved with our effort because of a cosmetics company with abnormal business practices.

We don't know what the three members were promised or told by the cosmetics company, and we don't know if huge profits were made or can be made from the business.

We cannot understand and accept that TVXQ, created together for five years by sharing our dreams, may collapse because of the unethical cosmetics company and its questionable business practice.

It's hard to believe that TVXQ can break like this, and this reality seems like a nightmare.

It's really regretful that the situation has come down to this just because of a cosmetics company, and we hope the 3 members can come back to the moment before they started the cosmetics business when we shared the same dream.

Nov 1, 2009 co-author of the statement, TVXQ Yunho, TVXQ Changmin

=======================================================================


I do not know how many international fans read the full translation of this statement, but as you can see, HoMin were clear that the trouble was caused by the cosmetics business. They even went as far as to call the business shady.
 
I believe they released the statement to clarify the rumors and state their position to the fans regarding the situation, but they were viciously attacked by the fans for siding with such an "evil" company and not leaving the company and joining CJS. Some fans who didn't want to believe that HoMin would side with SM claimed that Yunho's signature on the statement was forged by SM because there was a star on his signature and claimed no one puts a star on an official document. Others claimed that the two were forced by SM to release the statement. Simply, many fans didn't believe that the statement was from HoMin.  

It's almost fascinating that fans could be so extremely biased towards one side and totally ignored what HoMin had to say, and I'm guessing that it's much easier and comfortable to blame SM than to blame the members. Also, the fans didn't want to believe TVXQ split, so they somehow needed to find a way to tell themselves that TVXQ were still together.
 
On the other hand, it was impossible for the fans that sided with HoMin during that time to have their voices heard because they were ridiculed and attacked by others.
 
For the rest of us who recognize the legitimacy of a signed document, it is clear HoMin thinks the trouble was caused by the cosmetics company, and they were certain enough to release a signed statement. It is obvious that SM and HoMin are on the same page, and that's certainly a good enough reason to look into the cosmetics business.
 
Next, I am going to translate HoMin’s fathers' statements.
 
Here's the scanned copy of HoMin’s statement, and its transcript for the google translator users.

 





안녕하세요 동방신기 멤버 정윤호, 심창민 입니다.
 
저희 동방신기 다섯명의 멤버는 모두 동일한 계약 조건으로 계약을 체결하였고 지난 5년동안 똑같은 조건으로 지난 5년동안 회사와 큰 꿈을 위해서 서로를 믿으며 활동해왔습니다.
 
여러가지 드릴 말씀이 너무나도 많지만 오늘은 동방신기에 대해서만 말씀드리고자 합니다.
 
첫번째로 저희는 무엇보다도 회사와의 신의와 꿈과 미래를 공유하며 함께한 계약이라는 약속을 지킬 것입니다.

동방신기는 에스엠 멘터테인먼트에서 만들어졌고 앞으로도 저희는 에스엠 엔터테인먼트에서 동방신기로서 활동할 것입니다.
 
또한 지금까지 최고의 기획과 매니지먼트로 동방신기를 만들어온 에스엠 엔터테인먼트 외에 다른 어디에서도 동방신기는 존재할 수 없을 거라고 생각합니다. 동방신기를 제일 잘 알고 최고로 만들어온 것이 에스엠이라는 것은 세명의 멤버도 잘 알고 있을 것이며 저희는 그 어떤 이유보다도 신의와 약속을 지키기 위해서라도 에스엠 외의 다른 곳에서 동방신기로서 활동할 생각은 없습니다.
 
저희는 동방신기의 더 큰 미래가 불투명해지기 전에 내년 봄부터 시작되는 한국활동을 위해서 늦어도 6개월 전부터는 준비를 해야 한다고 생각합니다. 세명의 멤버들이 동방신기로서의 활동을 진심으로 원한다면 더 늦기 전에 결정해 주기를 바랍니다.
 

Second page

동방신기 멤버 정 윤호, 심 창민입니다.
세명의 멤버들이 가처분 신청이라는 것을 제기한 이후 왜 이런일이 생기게 되었는지에 대해서 수많은 질문들을 받았습니다.

한마디로 세 명의 화장품 사업을 시작하고부터 모든 것이 변했던 것 같습니다.
 
저희는 세상을 잘 모르지만 상식적으로 생각해도 그 화장품 회사가 올바르고 정상적이라면 동방신기와 화장품 사업을 추진하기 위해서 누구나 다 알고 있는 소속사인 에스엠과 먼저 정식으로상의하는 것이 당연하다고 생각합니다.
 
그러나 소속사와는 단 한마디 상의도 없이 멤버들 개인에게 접근하여 편법적인 방법으로 사업을 진행하는 화장품 회사는 문제가 생길 수 밖에 없다고 생각하여 도저히 이러한 사업에 참가할 수 없었습니다.
 
또한 저희가 어렵게 노력하여 만들어온 동방신기의 명예와 이미지가 이렇게 비정상적으로 사업을 진행하는 화장품 회사로 인하여 무너지기를 원하지 않았습니다.
 
저희는 그 화장품 회사가 세명의 멤버들과 어떤 약속을 했는지 어떠한 이야기를 세명의 멤버들에게 했는지 그 화장품 사업으로 얼마나 큰 돈을 벌었는지 벌수 있을지 전혀 모릅니다. 하지만 5년동안 같은 꿈을 위해서 모두가 함께 만들어온 동방신기가 이러한 올바르지 않은 회장품 회사와 편법적인 화장품 사업으로 인해서 무너진다는 것을 저희는 납득하고 받아들일 수 없습니다.
 
지금 동방신기가 이렇게 허물어질 수 있다라는 현실이 너무나도 꿈만 갖고 믿겨지지 않습니다.

왜 이런 화장품 회사 하나 때문에 이렇게까지 되었는지 너무나 안타까우며 세 명의 멤버가 지금이라도 화장품 사업을 시작하기 전 똑같은 꿈을 가지고 있었던 그때로 돌아올 수 있기를 바랍니다.
 
2009년 11월 1일 공동작성자 동방신기 유노, 동방신기 창민


30 comments:

  1. precious,

    (r u watching Music Bank too now? ^^)
    tks again for working on this!
    this's the first time i read Full statement!
    'Each member was approached individually...' means not only CJS, but Yunho&Changmin too?

    ReplyDelete
  2. You should post links to this all around the internet. As the boycott is still going on and fans are still biased towards JYJ , they need to see all this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, I'm new to this whole mess, and if the cosmetics company truly was the sole reason for the law suit, then that is just really unfortunate. I may not be able to respect JYJ, but I'll still like their music, nonetheless. Thanks for translating all of this for us. Looking forward to reading more!

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  4. Thanks for translation.)

    Just want to ask, are you going to translate Yunho's father's statement? Because after that statement he became second big evil in dbsk fandom.

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  5. Oh I've never read this...(maybe b/c it was during finals and I avoided kpop to be relax)

    AHA!!! I knew all along that all this ordeal was b/c of the cosmetic business! Hmm...but I'm sorry Yun, I highly doubt they (JYJ) will ever comeback to SM :-( specially with huge fandom backing them up. I guess will have to wait and see...

    There's a question that has been nagging me, what happens if JYJ lost the case? What happens then? Not that I'm expecting that outcome but hey! Who knows?

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  6. @Precious
    Ahh again, thank you for this. Wow. This translation has a few very key things in it that I never read anywhere else. Particularly the part about that company approaching all the members separately. I remember reading... Changmin's fathers? statement saying that JCS' parents all urged him to join in, saying they'd make big bucks... or something along those lines... will wait to see what you post up next.

    I was curious at your reply to one of my previous questions - about SM's power/influence over having JYJ blocked out - that SM was actually just a mid-sized company. Did some research, and apparently SM has netted roughly 4mil USD in both 2008 and 2009. ???? Is that even... what? I was so in disbelief at what a (relatively) paltry number that was, I kept re-checking the conversion, the original figure in won, tried to look up different sources... And then I looked up companies like LG and Samsung (ok I know that's not a fair comparison at all - but LG ~60milUSD in their 2nd QT of 2009 alone), and then I looked up figures for SBS/KBS/MBS... (net profit ~150mil USD combined)... and just, what?? LOL. I'm sorry, I'm just so surprised at how... relatively small fry SM is that... well, I guess I wanted to ask you for confirmation. Even though I've already confirmed it myself about 3x over.

    CONGRATULATIONS HOMIN ON MUBANK WIN!!!! HOMIN FIGHTING TVXQ FIGHTINGGG!!!!

    lol. ^^

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  7. @ adrenalinss

    I haven't watched Music Bank yet. I'm in US. :)

    I don't know if HoMin was approached directly by the cosmetics company, but I know they were asked to join the business as you can tell by the statement.

    @ pichyasa

    I will eventually translate YunHo's father's statement, but I'm going to work on Changmin's father's statement first since it talks about the business.

    @ blathanatos

    Yes, SM is the biggest entertainment company, but not a huge company like everyone thinks it is. I didn't check the exact numbers, but your figures look reasonable. SM is a publicly traded company, so anyone can check their finances.

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  8. @ Jennystar19

    I highly doubt JYJ will re-unite as TVXQ either.

    As for the size of the fandom, I think the difference between the two fandom is greatly exaggerated. I do agree CJS have more fans (3 vs 2 + popularity), but when you look at the album sales which is highly dependent on the number of the fans, it doesn't look like there's a huge difference. If I had to make a wild guess, 30:70 maybe?

    As for what will happen if JYJ loses the lawsuit, there are many scenarios. Pay the penalty and leave SM, stay with SM and just do individual activities (YC act, JS musicans, JJ solo?), or SM can have another company manage them, anything can happen.

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  9. @ adrenalinss, biathanatos

    JFYI, I changed "Each member was approached..." part to "Members were approached..." because I felt the latter expressed the nuance of the original statement better. I don't think the overall meaning of the sentence changed much.

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  10. i just read their statement now. wow. so it has everything to do with the cosmetics company. and yes. i would really like to know what yunho's dad said. i heard a while back that a lot of cassies are bashing him. :(

    and just curious. when you said the fans were 30:70. it means 30% homin and 70% jyj?

    oh and last. did you hear about tvxq being top 4 in the United World Chart? LOL. im so happy for them. :)

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  11. @ cinderellaboy10

    About the number of fans, that was just a wild guess on my part so I may be totally wrong. Don't take the number seriously. I just figured it would be 40:60 if the fans were equally divided per members, and just added 10 more to JYJ side since it appears there are more JYJ fans than HoMin fans. I may be wrong because JYJ fans are usually louder than HoMin fans, so it could be that they just appear to outnumber HoMin/TVXQ fans. Looking at the album sales, it appears that HoMin fans are almost as strong as JYJ fans.

    I heard about the chart.

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  12. http://twitter.com/#!/DCtvxq_gall

    jyj personal stans are out to spread misinformation once more

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  13. well, im glad someone actually frontal enough to write this.
    Ever since the beginning I didnt feel right about JYJ's decision and how fans are mostly biased about the situation, and let fangirlism blinded their eyes from seeing things... and ignorant enough to care about how a company works.

    when it's a happy news about bubbles and flowers they repeating it over and over.
    when it's a painful /bad news they said: "please take with a pinch of salt"
    This is real life and not astrology, and every news was released officially... -_-;;

    I dont understand how some fans shamefully bash SM when they've fed themselves with their products for years....
    Lashing critics is okay, but these blinded fans have acted too much.
    Everything is SM. Sungmin and friends answered Junsu's tweet bec SM told them. Eunyuk visited TVXQ bec SM wants to hurt JYJ. Next, I bet they'll say North Korea attacked South Korea because of SM too. It's getting silly.

    As if its 'only' the five members sweat that makes them they are now.

    Sorry to say, but I'd prefer Homin to have a "fighting, get over it, and show why we're TVXQ" state of mind, rather than "I will always wait the day when JYJ decide to return".

    JYJ have let them go. "our intention is to leave the company and not our members" is a big nonsense.

    When you let go a precious thing in life, it can't just easily comeback to you. If can, why was it called precious?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes your right. If not for SM Jyj would not even exist.

      Delete
  14. @lapis.lazuli LOL@North Korea attacked South Korea because of SM too!

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  15. @ lapis.lazuli

    Well said. The "fangirlism" is preventing some people to notice the obvious, and making them look for excuses to cover up for their boys and create their own fantasies instead of seeing the reality.

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  16. How come i didn't read this before =.=
    Now i really wanna read HoMin's fathers' statements. Thank you so much for this translation

    @lapis.lazuli "North Korea attacked South Korea because of SM too" haha is really getting silly, I think many fans now hate the suju members who answered Junsu's tweet... u.u

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  17. @Precious : Ah, sorry. It was an old news, it's my fault when didn't read carefully, the one who said that not SM =.=

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  18. @ trucnhi1510

    That's cool. Sometimes I get xtra cautious because there are many who spreads false rumors on purpose. I deleted your post and mine.

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  19. hello~~ can i give you a suggestion??
    you should make a tumblr account and post this article there, so everyone can reblog it read it ^^

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  20. Before I read this article today, I am in a conclusion that Yunho and Changmin decided to stay because they want to honor their contract and seriously, I'm a bit proud of myself because it's really the truth.haha

    When the lawsuit thing happened like 2 years ago, I decided to stop reading news about it because it's too noisy for me though at that time I'm more on HoMin's side simply because Yunho is my bias. I felt that if I defended Yunho that time, I might have phobia in expressing my thouhgts(you know what I mean.lol But now, I huess I'm ready to know the truth or if it's not really the truth, I think I'm ready to know more about the issue.

    Thanks for your efforts and hard work! :)

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  21. @ yunho2

    Honoring the contract? What? Are you kidding me? (j/k)

    I mean, it's really a simple concept that some people simply cannot grasp. You signed the contract, then you honor it. If you want to break it, then you pay the penalty. It's that simple. Of course, CJS' fans think their "oppas" should be allowed to walk away freely w/o restriction since they're so "special".

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  22. It's funny all the excuses the fans come up with. Where does it come from? Is it really that hard to accept the truth...

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  23. @lapis.lazuli: don't bother too much about them (JYJ stans). "A fanatic is the one who won't change his mind and won't change his subject" - Winston Churchill.
    @Preciuos: according to some websites & fansites in my country, it was Crebeau president Kang Sukwon who said that Homin's statement was wtitten by SM according to their (Homin) thoughts. Everyone, especially JYJ stans, believed it right away. How funny it was! :))

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  25. @precious, are you still there? I want to share my thoughts. First, it is divided 3:2, and majority is always winning. That's why they say the 2 are traitor, since the 'truth' are the 3, the majority!
    and I always thought that SM is kind of good company to those who are loyal to them. Heechul, before he enters the military, he wants to solo, and get into TV with fellow chocoball members, and he really got it! Next Leeteuk who is doing his WGM-before-army too... And I thought that HanGeng probably is trying to boost his popularity, but it drops fast, so he is thinking of rejoining again by dropping the lawsuit, even before reading your blog! I hope you do not feel tired updating us!

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    Replies
    1. I'm still alive. :) Just been extremely busy with work.

      I just look at SM as a business, neither good nor bad, but I think they do treat their artists fairly and support them fully. When JJ had a DUI, the news didn't blow up like it would have for other artists (it could potentially ruin an artist's career), and I suspect SM did their best to manage the incident. As a result, it faded away without much noise, and JJ's career was not affected at all.

      Whether it was to protect the company's product/investment or from good will, we'd never know (it could be both), but I do think SM goes to great length to protect their artists so in that respect, SM is a great company.

      As for 3:2, if it weren't for the lies spread from the 6.25 meeting, I don't think YH & CM would've been labeled as "traitors" and treated so badly by the fans.

      Delete
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  27. I think that it's very simple because everyone wants profits
    and jyj found that cosmetics company make them better and that's true
    but this doesn't mean that they hate the other 2 members or prefer money on them
    but it's just business is business and sm is really bad and unfair with them (from jyj's point of view)
    or at least jyj has more dreams and ambitions .

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  28. Yes maybe thats right. But to be honest... nobody knows the truth! Maybe SM destroyed them mentally with their contracts. Maybe JYJ are just assholes who waited til they got the fame and left TVXQ and their agency alone. Maybe HOMIN and JYJ didtn get along with eachother anymore. Maybe HOMIN left JYJ alone. Just the five of them and the agency kniw what happened back than. To bash on HOMIN or on JYJ id NOT right. Im a CASSIE and i will supprit them to the end ALL FIVE of them. When JYJ will say they hate HOMIN or when HOMIN would saye they hate JYJ i would still support all five id them. If you want you can interpretate EVERYTHING likevyou want. You can even bash on theur familys. Or say sm is innocent. But in the end... we dont kniw anything. We have the choice. Will we wait? Will we wait for their reunite? Or will we take sides? The vow i spoked when ibcame into this fandom was "i. Support all five stars of cassiopeia no matter what happens til the very end" WE PROMISED. and they told us to wait right? I will not disappoint my boys!

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