Pledis Releases Statement On Further Allegations Surrounding SEVENTEEN’s Mingyu + Mingyu Pauses Activities

[My Everything]

On February 28, Pledis Entertainment released a new official statement to share their position on the school violence accusations that were made against SEVENTEEN’s Mingyu.

Following the first accusatory post on February 22, which Pledis Entertainment denied was true, a different post was shared online on February 26. In this post, the post creator wrote about a student with autism who was a victim of Mingyu’s alleged bullying. Another person posted on Instagram about a time Mingyu and his friend had sexually harassed her in school.

Read Pledis Entertainment’s latest statement below.

Hello.

This is Pledis Entertainment.

We announce our position on the claims that were posted online regarding SEVENTEEN member Mingyu’s school days.

First, we apologize for not being able to share our position more promptly.

After recent claims were made, we had checked with the artist himself and taken additional procedures to verify the facts. In the process, we confirmed that there is a discrepancy between what was posted and what we have checked with the artist.

As there are many issues being raised socially regarding school violence, we decided it was foremost in importance to check the exact facts of the matter and are currently carrying out steps to verify every matter. We apologize that we are late in announcing our position due to this process.

As stated above, we used various ways to contact the person involved in the matter at the time in order to verify the exact facts and are currently in touch with them as well. We have checked with the artist’s former classmates and other acquaintances about the circumstances at the time.

To first explain what has been confirmed so far, it was said that the artist bullied a student with disabilities, but this is completely false.

The artist clearly remembers the person who is being referred to as the victim, so we were able to contact their mother after asking around. She has confirmed to us that the person being referred to as the victim had in fact been on good terms with the artist. The mother remembered the names of the students who bullied her child at school, so she was able to confirm this fact with us immediately.

The person who was referred to as the victim is currently living well in society and feels burdened about the incidents of their past being known without their consent and in a way that they did not wish for. Despite this, they have verified the facts with us for the sake of the artist.

We are actively looking into the other matters as well. However, it is difficult to identify the people who uploaded the posts online, and in some of the posts, the writer has expressed their reluctance to be reached out to, making it a situation in which it is not only difficult to get into contact with them, but also one that requires discretion.

We respect the writer’s position of not wanting a direct confrontation. At the same time, if it’s what the writer wants, we are open to meeting with the writer and confirming the facts at any time and in the way they prefer, and we will take measures accordingly after that.

We have no objections about the opinion that the society-wide issue of school violence must be considered from the victim’s perspective. However, in addition to the victim’s perspective, we determined that it was necessary to clearly verify the facts before taking any necessary measures.

The matters that were deemed problematic were incidents that took place in the past when the artist was in elementary school and middle school, so we believe that it is necessary to verify the facts and get as close as possible to what really happened in order to make a judgement.

The artist himself shared his apology for causing discomfort to fans due to this issue being raised. He has temporarily halted his scheduled activities and entrusted the company to take the necessary measures to confirm the facts.

We also bow our heads in apology for causing discomfort with something related to our artist.

This announcement is not the end of this matter, and we will continue to confirm the facts and take measures accordingly. However, we ask for your understanding as this is not a simple process and will take some time.

It is most important to meet those who have stated they were harmed, verify the facts, and help their mental wounds heal. In addition to this, we cannot make a swift decision about something that will impact an artist’s life without making sure of the facts, and we ask for your understanding on this as well. Of course, after we have completed our fact-checking and find that there was clear culpability, we promise to take clear measures accordingly.

We once again share our apology for causing an inconvenience with a matter related to our artist.

Source

Edited February 28, 2021 by My Everything

[rowanokke]

Can't say im not surprised. 

Upset for the rest of the svt members. they were having an amazing year

[himi]

Quote

 

Hello. This is Pledis Entertainment.

We would like to announce our position on the recent claims made online regarding the school days of SEVENTEEN member Mingyu.

First of all, we would like to apologize for not letting you know our position sooner.

Since the time the claims were posted, we have been working on verifying the details through the necessary procedures, including checking with Mingyu himself. During the process, we have discovered that there are differences between what was posted and what we verified through Mingyu.
Currently, there are many social issues related to school violence, and we believe that verification of the issues takes precedence, and we are proceeding with the verification process on all of the claims. We apologize for the delay in expressing our position during this process.

As we stated before, we have contacted the individual involved in the incident through various channels to attempt to clarify what happened, and we are still in contact with them. We have also checked the circumstances relating to the incident with Mingyu’s school alumni. We can explain what has been confirmed so far, and that is the story that Mingyu bullied a disabled student is not true at all.

Mingyu clearly remembered the person who was identified as the victim in the disabled student bullying case, so he was able to contact the individual’s mother after asking around. As a result of the verification process, the individual identified as the victim confirmed they were on good terms with Mingyu. The mother remembered the names of the students who did bully the individual at school, so she was able to verify right away.
Currently, the individual is doing well in society, and feels burdened by the fact that the things from the past are being revealed without their consent. Nevertheless, this individual confirmed the details to help Mingyu.

We are actively looking into the rest of the issues. It is, however, difficult to identify who posted these online, and some posts state that they don’t want to be contacted. Hence, it is difficult to contact some of them, plus we are taking a cautious approach.

We respect the decision of the person(s) who posted the accusations not wanting to meet face to face, and we will meet whenever they want so we can confirm the facts and take action accordingly.

We do not disagree that the issue of school violence, which is also a social problem, should be considered from the victim’s point of view. We have decided, however, that the necessary measures should be taken only after confirming the facts clearly alongside the victim’s point of view.
The current problem now is that the incidents happened in the past when Mingyu was in elementary and middle school, so we believe it is necessary to approach and judge the situation by fact checking as much as we can.

Mingyu himself expressed his sincerest apologies for this incident causing an inconvenience to his fans, and he has temporarily halted all schedules while the agency handles the verification process.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused by our artist.

This announcement does not mean the issue is over, and we will continue to check the facts and take action accordingly. However, please understand that this process is not simple and will take time.

The most important thing is to meet the people who stated they were hurt by Mingyu, check the facts, and heal their wounds. In addition, we ask for your understanding that we can not easily determine what happened in our artist’s past without attempting to confirm the details. Of course, we promise that if we find any wrong-doings after verifying the details, we will take separate measures accordingly.

Once again, we apologize for any inconvenience you may have felt due to our artist.

— Pledis Entertainment

 

source: https://www.koreaboo.com/news/pledis-entertainment-shares-updated-statement-regarding-seventeen-mingyus-school-bullying-accusations/

Edited February 28, 2021 by himi

[himi]

i don't know what to believe anymore.

[starsocks]

if they're denying it so strongly then maybe they're going to come out with counter evidence or something

[gam3 bo1]

glad one accusation has been clarified and debunked but i hope everyone remembers that there were multiple so you can't say he's completely innocent yet, just stay neutral

Edited February 28, 2021 by haseul

[LiterallyMadethistocomment]

47 minutes ago, My Everything said:

Rough trans:

Hello 
This is Pledis Entertainment. 

I would like to announce our position on the claims posted online regarding the recent school days of Seventeen member Mingyu.

First of all, I apologize for not letting you know our position sooner.

Since these claims were posted, we have proceeded with the artist's own verification and necessary incidental verification procedures. In the process, we found that there was a difference between what was posted and what we checked with the artist.

Currently, there are many social issues related to school violence, and we believe that a clear confirmation of this issue should take precedence and are proceeding with the confirmation process on all issues. I apologize for the delay in expressing my position in the process.

As I said before, we have contacted the person involved in the incident in various ways to verify the facts, and we are still in contact with them, and we have checked the circumstances of the incident from the artists' alumni and other people. 

First of all, to explain what has been confirmed so far, there was a story that the artist bullied disabled students, which is not true at all. 

The artist himself clearly remembered the person who was identified as the victim, so he was able to contact the person's mother after questioning. As a result of checking, the person identified as the victim was confirmed to have been on good terms with the artist. My mother remembered the names of the students who bullied her at school, so she could check this right away. 

Currently, the parties are doing well in society and are burdened by the fact that things in the past are known in an unwanted way without their consent. Nevertheless, you confirmed the facts for the artist.

We are actively checking the rest of the issues. However, it is difficult to specify who posted these issues online, and some posts indicate that the publisher does not want to contact them, so it is difficult to contact them as well as to be cautious. 

We respect the position that the person who posted the article said he/she does not want to meet face to face, and at the same time, we will meet whenever you want to, confirm the facts and take action accordingly. 

We have no disagreement that the issue of school violence, which is a social problem, should be considered from the perspective of the victim. However, it was decided that necessary measures should be taken after confirmation of the clear facts along with the victim's point of view.

The problem now is that it happened in the past when an artist was in elementary and middle school, so I think it is necessary to approach and judge what really happened as much as possible by checking the facts.

The artist himself expressed his sincere apology for causing inconvenience to fans just because of this incident, and has stopped his schedule activities for a while and left all measures to the company to check the facts. 

We apologize for the inconvenience we have caused to our artists.

This announcement is not the end of this issue, and we will continue to check the facts and take action accordingly. However, please understand that this process is not simple and will take time. 

It is most important to meet the people who said they were damaged, check the facts, and let their hearts heal. In addition, we ask for your understanding that we cannot easily determine the problem of an artist's life without confirming the facts. Of course, we promise that if we find any obvious faults after checking the facts, we will clarify the actions accordingly.

Once again, I would like to apologize for the inconvenience caused by the issues related to our artist.

This is what you call due process, fair to both parties. While the alleged victims have the very right to voice out their concerns, Mingyu should be protected by his right to claim innocence until proven that he is indeed guilty.

Hoping for the truth from all of them. Still looking forward to GoSe next week though, I hope they dont cancel that

[starsocks]

if they have a testimonial then we need to physically see it somehow

[juniordud]

53 minutes ago, My Everything said:

Currently, the parties are doing well in society and are burdened by the fact that things in the past are known in an unwanted way without their consent. Nevertheless, you confirmed the facts for the artist.

So someone thought it was cute to out someone else story and experience without their consent and didn't care if they'd agree or not to share their experiences.

[Mrs. Morale]

 

I have something to say but I know would be neg to hell...especially with the issues concerning my own bias. So I'm going go leave at this~

 

 

Edit:

Lol, I haven't even said nothing & people still neg.

If it reach 10 negs I'll post what I actually have to say~

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by loveablejoy

[Mrs. Morale]

~~~

[satoori]

as expected, the company wants to fact check everything. this will take time.

 

[wonderluust]

44 minutes ago, satoori said:

as expected, the company wants to fact check everything. this will take time.

 

More like they need time to threaten/bribe people into shutting up do people actually think these companies are going at this from an angle of investigating the truth and holding their artists accountable? LOL their only goal is to have this scandal die out without losing a popular member, lbr 

this statement is like copy and paste from that jyp one. pledis been taking notes

[satoori]

6 minutes ago, wonderluust said:

More like they need time to threaten/bribe people into shutting up do people actually think these companies are going at this from an angle of investigating the truth and holding their artists accountable? LOL their only goal is to have this scandal die out without losing a popular member, lbr 

this statement is like copy and paste from that jyp one. pledis been taking notes

i disagree.

[wonderluust]

1 hour ago, satoori said:

i disagree.

I know you do queen of consistency tbh

I hate to call people naive but how can I not when kpop fans really out here thinking these companies don’t have the primary goal of burying scandals and keeping members’ images intact lol 

yall rly think they out here playing Sherlock Holmes trying to investigate the truth and hold people accountable lmao if they’re doing any digging it’s to find out how to best manipulate the facts and these people to get out of this with the least damage to the group. If they write a letter to one of the accusers and they reply yes mingyu bullied me, pledis would absolutely not put out a statement next day “hi yes we have confirmed mingyu bullied people our condolences to the victim”  they will NEVER admit to anything they don’t have to. so please for the love of god, don't take these statements as the gospel truth lol 

That kid prob had a laundry list 5 miles long of shitty middle school bullies, what if they just forgot? what if they just never told their mom? what if the mom needs some cash and pledis came through lol. what about all the other accusations? why do they need to "confirm the facts" with the victims, they already spoke their truth. Look at the way cube wants to meet with soojin's accusers "to get the facts straight" without soojin ... literally what for if ur not coming to apologize LOL 

btw this is for the people giving me clown reaccs 

Edited February 28, 2021 by wonderluust
.

[Aphrodisiac]

@loveablejoy

[Mrs. Morale]

6 minutes ago, Aphrodisiac said:

@loveablejoy

I know. I'll soon take a break soon

I have just been a mess with everything lately. I'm surprised by the things am say tbh. It doesn't really sound like me

 

I can't believe I let this boy drive me to point I don't speak nor sound like myself...it probably won't change but when it comes to Huunjin it's just another thing~...

I'm sorry ☹

Edited February 28, 2021 by loveablejoy

[satoori]

23 minutes ago, wonderluust said:

I know you do queen of consistency tbh

true.

 

 

[avocadhoe]

Personally, I think it’d be extremely stupid for Pledis to falsify the testimonies of both the victim AND his mother since it’d be so easy for someone to come out and say they’re lying, which would put them in so much hot water. If there’s bribery involved it wouldn’t just be the victim and their family, it would have to involve pretty much everyone in their class, not to mention other potential witnesses at the school. I doubt that a company would risk their reputation and ability to put out a new group just for one artist. Of course, proof of their testimonials would be the best case scenario.

Also this is prolly the most thorough statement that I’ve seen about a scandal (Pledis? who would’ve thought), and should be the standard. They’ve been the only ones to acknowledge that 1. the situation should be considered foremost from the victim’s point of view, 2. that school violence is a societal issue, and 3. that someone’s reputation and livelihood is on the line so thorough fact checking must be done. The sincerity of the statement can be debatable but it’s definitely well written. 

In the end, there are still other allegations being checked so Mingyu’s not in the clear and it’s best to remain neutral. “Listen, but verify. Trust, but confirm.”

[lighterxx]

Spoiler

 

My apologies I didn't saw the English translation pledis shared

Hello, @My Everything Soompi translated it,please take a looka t that if it's possible, I found it much more accurate. 

https://www.soompi.com/article/1456789wpp/pledis-releases-statement-on-further-allegations-surrounding-seventeens-mingyu-mingyu-pauses-activities

 

 

Overall I hope people stop with bribing accusations. It's insulting to victims and artists, and you cannot assume bribing in every news. It's simply not possible, if that was the case, we wouldnt have a single non criminal person in whole world. In this situation you are not even 3rd party, Kms away from the issue, let people who are in the topic to express their opinon, you have no right to say these without knowing victim. 

To continue, I will be waiting for Pledis to end their investigation, and Mingyu to clarify what happened later. I hope victim can come through as well considering they repeatedly noted down they don't want apology and just want to share these, however this situation can harm too many people at once, so I hope victim can change their idea for a sec and at least contact via email. Otherwise about chats, their owners are murky and probably harder to reach as well, but I hope they can contact pledis, even if its to demand apology as allegations are much too serious to stay without opinion. 

Edited February 28, 2021 by lighterxx

[Aphrodisiac]

32 minutes ago, loveablejoy said:

I'll soon take a break soon

[avocadhoe]

@lighterxx there’s an official statement by pledis in english

 

[lighterxx]

2 minutes ago, kimjongwaee said:

@lighterxx there’s an official statement by pledis in english

 

Thank you, I just woke up and saw Soompi one was more accurate than the ones going around so I linked it 

[Y U A]

As expected.

[hynapia]

5 hours ago, satoori said:

as expected, the company wants to fact check everything. this will take time.

 

yeah, at least they're bothering to check out the evidence. Other companies not even that tbh.