On November 22, SM Entertainment announced that member Seunghan from the rookie group RIIZE would be taking an indefinite hiatus in response to the continuous spread of online rumors and distributions of private photo and video content. SM apologized for the situation and indicates that they will take legal action against the spreaders of the rumors.
Hello, this is SM Entertainment,
I would like to tell you about RIIZE member Seunghan.
Seunghan sincerely apologizes and reflects on the disappointment and confusion caused to the team and members as well as to the fans due to his privacy-related issues that have recently been illegally leaked and circulated through SNS and online communities.
Because of this, Seunghan feels a mental burden and responsibility.
After much deliberation, he has expressed intention to stop activities for the sake of team.
We also decided that it would be unreasonable to continue our activities in this situation, and we decided to suspend our activities indefinitely, respecting our opinion that we do not want to cause any more damage to the team and members.
Therefore, Rise will be active as 6 members except Seunghan from today (22nd).
Although it is a sudden situation, we ask for your understanding as it was decided through careful discussion with the artist himself, and we feel a great responsibility for the part that we neglected to manage the artist even before their debut. Once again, we deeply apologize to the fans.
However, the videos and photos that are currently being leaked and disseminated were taken during a private time as a trainee before their debut, and have been reproduced several times to cause misunderstandings through intentional secondary editing, such as using video with a specific source.
In addition, unauthorized leaks and distributions of the videos and photos continue serious defamation against artists by spreading fabricated and distorted information that is different from the facts by mobilizing malicious methods that generate non-existent messenger conversations and unfounded false information.
As soon as we were aware of the above facts, we monitored and collected a significant amount of evidence to identify unauthorized leakage and distribution, and we plan to file a complaint with the competent police station this afternoon.
In addition, we are further reviewing legal measures for specific people, including defamation of artists due to unauthorized leakage and distribution, as well as various illegal acts such as cybercrime and intimidation.
We are for artists and teams.
And for fans who love the team, we will not only sue, but also respond strongly to all secondary acts, such as creating, spreading, and reproducing indiscriminate rumors related to artists through additional posts.
In the meantime, RIIZE will promote as 6 members. Also, Seunghan content has been removed from the group's social media accounts.
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