SEOUL, Oct 16 — South Korea's SM Entertainment agency has officially terminated its contract with former NCT member Taeil.
The outfit today released a statement stating that its exclusive contract with Taeil had been terminated as of yesterday, October 15.
“Taeil is currently under investigation by the prosecution for a criminal case. This not only constitutes grounds for termination under our contract but also makes it impossible to maintain trust in him as an artist. As a result, both parties have mutually agreed to terminate the contract.
“We sincerely apologize once again for any concern caused by Taeil, who was previously one of our artists.”
The 30-year-old idol was reportedly questioned at the Bangbae Police Station in Seoul on charges of aggravated quasi-rape, before subsequently handed over to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office last month.
In August, SM Entertainment had announced that they had removed Taeil from NCT and its sub-unit NCT 127 due to unspecified sexual crimes after Bangbae Police Station revealed that an investigation had been launched for the same,.
Taeil debuted in April 2016 as part of the boy group NCT U, a subunit of SM Entertainment's NCT, and gained significant popularity, particularly in Japan and China.
He later joined the group’s other subunit, NCT 127.
Despite the investigation, Taeil continued to appear in public events, including the NCT 127 eighth anniversary fan meeting in Seoul’s Jamsil Indoor Stadium on August 3 and 4, and also participated in the group’s recently released full-length album.
