Introduction to the 6.25 meeting

I'm sure most readers already read my translation of the 6.25 voice file, and if you haven't read it yet, please read it before reading this post.
http://truetvxq.blogspot.com/2011/02/complete-translation-of-625-voice-file.html

Before I write my take on the meeting itself, I need to talk about how it was in Korea back then. I'm guessing most readers read my translation with today's perspective, but to truly understand what the meeting was about, you need to understand the background.

6.25 meeting was held on June 25, 2009.

That was when TVXQ was still together. Many long time fans should know that TVXQ struggled in Japan for the first 2 years or so, began to become famous in 2008, and really exploded in 2009. I believe they could have been much bigger than 2009 if they continued on as 5, and maybe even succeed in US, but it's unfortunate that things didn't turn out that way.

At that time, TVXQ fans weren't divided like they are today. Of course there were individual fans and couple fans, but they all supported TVXQ together, and there were no major fan wars between CJS and HoMin like today because the fans weren't divided. There was no lawsuit, no JYJ, no ChunJaeSu and HoMin, and no TVXQ comeback. There was only TVXQ.

It was no secret that CJS had opened cosmetics stores, and considering how close the fans were with the members and even with SM personnel, and also the fact there were many "stalker" fans who followed the members around 24/7, it is no surprise that some of the things the members were doing were pretty well known to the fans. There were rumors of certain members visiting law firms, and TVXQ's possible unit activities were also spread. Some fans were getting nervous thinking that the unit activities may lead to the group's breakup.

If you recall 6.25 translation and HoMin's parents' statement, they all talk about a meeting between 5 parents and the CEO of SM, Kim Young Min. Junsu's father specified the date to be June 6, and Yunho's father stated it was around May. The troubles started to brew after the meeting. According to HoMin's fathers' statement, one of the parent told them the 3 parents would stop working with SM, and everything started to break down after that meeting.
 
There were rumors of TVXQ's breakup once in a while, but nothing to note about. But the rumors of TVXQ's breakup started to build up around middle of June, and it exploded on June 26, 2009. The news about the rumors of TVXQ's breakup was all over the place on June 26.

I did a search on Korean portal site "Naver.com" with keywords "동방신기 해체" (TVXQ breakup), and found some articles. Check out the link yourself. There was one article in May 21 that talks about rumor but nothing else, but starting in June 26, many news articles about TVXQ's breakup started popping up. The articles are sorted by the date, so you can check out the news articles that were released before and after June 26, 2009, and you'll see that the number of news about TVXQ's breakup just exploded on June 26. Also note that there are articles about the cancellation of a photo session scheduled for June 25. The photo session was for the "Summer SMTown".

http://news.search.naver.com/search.naver?ie=utf8&se=0&mobile=0&tx=&where=news&query=%EB%8F%99%EB%B0%A9%EC%8B%A0%EA%B8%B0+%ED%95%B4%EC%B2%B4&sm=tab_pge&sort=2&photo=0&field=0&reporter_article=&pd=0&ds=&de=&sim=0&docid=&detail_and_query=&detail_not_query=&detail_or_query=&detail_udp_query=&nso=so:r,p:all,a:all&start=221

Here's the search I did on personal blogs. Check out the link. You can see that even on personal blogs, postings about TVXQ's breakup exploded on June 26 as well, caused by the release of news articles.

http://cafeblog.search.naver.com/search.naver?where=post&sm=tab_pge&query=%EB%8F%99%EB%B0%A9%EC%8B%A0%EA%B8%B0+%ED%95%B4%EC%B2%B4&st=date&date_option=6&date_from=20090520&date_to=20090720&dup_remove=1&post_blogid=&post_blogurl=&post_blogurl_without=&detail_and_query=&detail_not_query=&detail_or_query=&detail_udp_query=&srchby=all&nso=so%3Add%2Ca%3Aall%2Cp%3Afrom20090520to20090720&ie=utf8&start=341

Now, what many fans do not know is that CJS sent a content-certified mail to SM to void the exclusive contract on June 24, 2009. Junsu's father talks about that briefly in the meeting saying it was nothing too big. I don't know how voiding their contract was not something to worry about for TVXQ fans, but I guess it was nothing to him.

Here is the search link.

http://news.search.naver.com/search.naver?ie=utf8&se=0&mobile=0&tx=&where=news&query=%EB%8F%99%EB%B0%A9%EC%8B%A0%EA%B8%B0+6%EC%9B%94%EB%A7%90+%EB%82%B4%EC%9A%A9+%EC%A6%9D%EB%AA%85&sm=tab_pge&sort=0&photo=0&field=0&reporter_article=&pd=0&ds=&de=&sim=0&docid=&detail_and_query=&detail_not_query=&detail_or_query=&detail_udp_query=&start=11

The articles only say that the content certified mail was sent around end of June 2009, but according to the statement released by SM and the court testimony given by SM (will be covered when I talk about the lawsuits), the notice was sent on June 24. SM cannot lie about that since the notice is certified by the postal service.

Let's go over the events.

June 6, 2009 : 3 parents decided to stop working with SM after the meeting with CEO of SM
Middle of June: Words of TVXQ's breakup slowly started to spread
June 24, 2009: CJS sent Content certified mail to void the contract to SM
June 25, 2009: Cancellation of a scheduled photo session
June 25, 2009: Meeting with administrators of CJS fan cafes.
June 26, 2009: News of TVXQ's breakup blow up.

Coincidence? You be the judge.

Let's go back to 6.25 file.


Because some administrators of HoMin fansites and CJS fansites were friends - yes, there were such times - some HoMin fans knew there was going to be a meeting, they even knew what the meeting was about after it was held, but they couldn't fight back against the rumors caused by the meeting because everything happened so fast, and there were so few evidences available unlike today.

The information about 6.25 meeting was floating around, but CJS fans flat out denied the existence of the meeting. Details of the meeting were also known, but they were still rejected. I heard the file was already available to few people soon after the meeting, but it began to widely spread around the end of 2009 or beginning of 2010. Only when the file became widely available, CJS fans acknowledged the meeting took place.

I don't know exactly how the file leaked out, but it is obvious that the meeting was recorded by one of the participant who was one of the administrator of the CJS fan cafe, and it must have been one of them who released the file. So after the file became available, CJS fans started to discredit the voice file claiming that it is nothing, or by just magnifying the portions of the conversation that suits their purpose. They're still doing it today as you've all seen it yourself.

So that was a little history of the 6.25 voice file and what was going on around the time of the meeting.

The total length of the file I translated is 55minutes, and in the voice file, Junsu's father states that they got the place for one hour from 7 to 8, which means this is the full version. Listen to the files, and there's no evidence of editing. You can clearly hear people talking on the background throughout the recording.

Some also claim that the meeting is not much different than HoMin's parents' statements claiming that they're both trying to protect their sons, but that's simply ridiculous. HoMin's fathers' statements are signed statements officially released to the public. That means HoMin's fathers were taking full responsibility on what's written on the statements. Also, the statements were released AFTER the injunction judgment was given (November 2009) when the situation was looking bleak. Both HoMin and their parents didn't say anything until the situation really got out of hand, and only released the statements in the hopes of keeping TVXQ together.

On the other hand, 6.25 meeting was held secretly towards targeted audience, namely administrators of CJS fan cafes/fan pages, and the meeting was held BEFORE the lawsuit was filed when there were only rumors of the breakup. Publicly released signed statements vs. secret meeting with personal fan club admins? Not even close.

On my next post, I'll write about my take on the 6.25 meeting itself.