SEOUL, Oct 15 — K-pop group Riize recently announced their member Seunghan would return after his long hiatus, with even his fellow Riize member Wonbin weighing in on his return.
Unfortunately, due to a backlash from fans who did not want him to return, Seunghan has now said that for the good of his members and fans, he will exit the group.
While the Seunghan antis were thrilled, after having spent money to put up hundreds of “condolence wreaths” outside SM and trucks with messages decrying his return, fans who had lobbied for his return are now upset.
On the surface it seems that the voices calling for Seunghan’s return are primarily from international fans and that local Korean fans are against Seunghan coming back.
SM stocks have also been affected by the crisis, which might have prompted Wizard Production (the division under SM Entertainment handling Riize) to put up a letter on Sunday, October 13, apologising for the announcement of Seunghan’s return, saying, “we realised that our decision had actually hurt fans more and caused them greater confusion instead.”
K-pop idols often face immense scrutiny for their actions often getting criticism for dating, smoking or clubbing.
Most recently Karina from the group Aespa apologised to fans after her dates with Lee Jae-wook were outed in tabloids.
Seunghan’s supporters are now calling for a boycott of the group and their agency SM Entertainment.
It is too early to see if the boycott will have an impact as previous attempts to boycott the group until SM announced Seunghan’s return did not seem to have much of an impact.
Seunghan’s hiatus was due to an unknown person leaking photos of Seunghan pre-debut, showing him dating and smoking, both activities being frowned upon for idols.
