Source: Sports Chosun
HYBE has announced their position over victim A (Yoo Eun-seo)'s bullying claims.
On the 20th, Le Sserafim's agency Source Music issued an official statement and claimed Kim Garam was a victim of A's bullying and physical assaults and declared a halt to all of Garam's activities.
▶ Below is the full text of HYBE/Source Music's position
Hello. This is HYBE/Source Music.
We would like to inform you of the facts and our position on the additional allegations regarding Le Sserafim member Kim Ga-ram.
First of all, we would like to apologize for causing concern to fans in connection with this allegation. We were concerned that the identity and sensitive personal information of minors, such as peers who are entangled in the case, as well as party claiming damage, will be disclosed if the facts were confirmed through the members themselves and multiple third-party statements are disclosed in detail. Until now, we have refrained from giving detailed explanations. However, as distorted claims are continuously raised on SNS and online communities as if Kim Garam was a one-sided perpetrator of school violence and physical violence over a long period of time, and only one side's position is being conveyed on the suspicions raised so far, we wanted to correct that.
Before giving a detailed explanation, the most important point of the allegations regarding the School Violence Committee (hereinafter "School Violence Committee") is as follows:
Yoo Eun-seo (A) took a photo of a friend wearing only underwear without permission and posted it publicly on SNS in the name of another friend (this is clearly stated in Daeryun's case summary). Outraged by this behavior, Kim Garam and her friends protested against Yoo Eun-seo, there was no verbal or physical violence in the process. Although Eun-seo admitted to her part in this, she didn't receive punishment for her actions. Rather, she referred her friends who protected her claiming to be perpetrators of the school bullying and she herself chose to transfer to another school. As a result, Kim Garam and one of her friends were subjected to school bullying.
Below are detailed explanations on the matters related to the member as follows:
Explanation on the contents related to the School Violence Committee
Kim Garam was summoned to the school violence committee while attending first year of middle school in 2018 and the case subjected to dismissal. We will explain the specific facts because the whole context can only be understood only if the situation and details are fully explained. This is a matter in which Kim Garam, who first committed a major mistake in a relationship with friends, took a stand on behalf of a friend that was injured by the perpetrator and was sent to the school violence committee.
Kim Garam and Yoo Eun-seo were friends for about two months from March to April 2018, the first year of middle school. However, at the school retreat at the beginning of the first year of middle school, Eun-seo found out that Garam and her friends were gossiping about her and they argued for about 3 hours. The argument was concluded after the two apologized to each other. However, Eun-seo relayed the incident to a close male student and Eun-seo and her close male friends found Kim Garam outside school, threatened and tried to physically assault her. Because of this, Garam and Eun-seo stopped hanging out.
Afterwards, Eun-seo took a picture of D, a close friend of Garam, wearing only her underwear while she was undressing at school and then uploaded the picture publicly on her SNS using another friend's account without permission. At the time, D was in shock mentally and a total of 5 friends, including Garam questioned Eun-seo for her wrong behavior on D's behalf. Garam and friends who were angry at illegal filming of D, met up with Eun-seo separately and swore at her. Eun-seo admitted to her own wrongdoing but this behavior and her bullying wasn't punished by the school.
In the process, Yoo Eun-seo demanded and convened of a case with the school violence committee saying that Garam and friends had bullied her, a minority.
However, before the school violence committee investigation, that Eun-seo had requested herself, was over, she voluntarily transferred to another school at D’s request. As a result, the school violence committee case was dismissed and a total of 2 people including Garam and B were designated for transfer as requested by Eun-seo.
One or two months later, Yoo Eun-seo transferred back to the school next door to Kim Garam.
She had many of her classmates with her that she did the bullying with at the time.
Regarding the school violence incident that was held in June 2018, in addition to A's claims, many of the people involved and classmates at the school know exactly what happened. Many of her classmates know how superficial and abusive she was and how she always claimed she was a "victim." They all know about Eun-seo's problematic behavior bullying others but claiming to be one harmed. There are many classmates, and some third parties, that can testify to this.
Kim Ga-ram was also a victim of school violence.
After Kim Garam was swept up in the unfortunate school violence incident, absurd rumors about her spread throughout the school. While attending middle school, Garam suffered from malicious and false rumors that "she hit a friend with a flowerpot and was forced to transfer" and later received an apology from the classmate who spread the false rumors through an intervention with a school teacher.
In addition, some classmates forcibly invited Kim Garam and her friends to a group katalk and made fun and swore at them. She was harassed for not reading or saying any words in the group chat. If Garam left the chat, she was invited again and forced to read messages. At the time, not only classmates, but several students that weren't Garam's acquaintances, from surrounding schools, joined the group chat and verbally abused Kim Garam and friends. Unable to bear the bullying, Garam and her friend even turned to the school teacher for help.
Kim Ga-ram has suffered from false information until recently.
Kim Garam has been suffering from all kinds of rumors since her debut and we want to make it clear that the following statements raised by some are not true at all.
1. The claims that "Kim Ga-ram was forced to transfer out" are not true.
Garam spent kindergarten through 2nd grade in Seoul, and had to move around due to her father's job and spent remaining years of elementary in Gwangju. When she entered middle school, she returned to Seoul and went to the middle school where she lived and is currently attending high school. There is absolutely zero truth in claims she left because she was forced to transfer out.
2. Rumors "she hit a friend's head with a flowerpot" and "split open a classmate's head with a brick" are not true.
These rumors are all false. Garam suffered damage from the rumors even when she was in middle school. She even received an apology directly from a classmate who admitted to spreading the false rumors at a gathering of several friends in an intervention with a school teacher.
3. It is also not true that "she was escorted to school in a police car, and had fights or assaulted other students."
Garam Kim never assaulted or quarreled with other students, nor was she ever escorted to school in a police car. These are all malicious falsehoods.
4. Rumors she "drank and smoked" are also not true.
Garam has never smoked nor drank alcohol before. Rather, when she was a first year in middle school, some of her classmates submitted a fake report as a joke saying Garam was suffering because of all the smoking. After meeting with the homeroom teacher, Garam took a nicotine test with her parents that was submitted to the teacher and the injustice was cleared up.
5. Claims "She gossiped about other artists" is also not true.
Rumors that Garam used rude and vulgar expressions about other artists are also maliciously false. Garam never said she was a fan of any particular male artist and she never had any negative feelings or ratings of her fellow group members or other girl group members.
6. "She was a trainee in another agency but was kicked out from debut group" etc. are groundless.
Garam said she never worked as a trainee in any other agency before Source Music. In addition, the malicious rumors that she was a member of a group set to debut in another agency and had her contract terminated due to her past conduct and personality issues are groundless.
We have previously stated that we plan to take legal action without settling or lenience against those who spread malicious allegations or false facts that attempt to harm artists who are about to debut. Among the above false facts, the company already started taking legal action such as filing complaints for the cases where evidence has been secured.
We apologize to all of you and ask for your understanding.
Since a large number of minors are involved in the controversial issue with Kim Garam, we tried to resolve the issue without disclosing the details of the facts to the public. However, at the time of her debut, baseless information about Garam circulated widely and the content related to the school violence were also made public through a law firm. We're sorry about that.
Also, we would like to apologize for Kim Garam's wrong words and actions in the past. It was a quarrel that took place on behalf of a friend who suffered damage, but Garam has admitted to her mistakes and is deeply reflecting for swearing and acting in a way that made the other person feel threatened.
Kim Garam became a victim of school violence such as cyberbullying after her first year of middle school but has been steadily working towards her dream and future. Then during her debut, she was attacked with all kinds of rumors that caused her psychological damage. Therefore, we discussed with Garam and decided to halt her activities for a while and focus on healing her broken heart. Until her return after Kim Garam's recovery, Le Sserafim plans to continue on as a 5-member group for the time being.
She happened to have a complicated background when she was a first year in middle school but Garam herself is looking back at her immature behavior and is deeply reflecting. She asks for your understanding.
Finally, she apologizes for the fact that she had no choice but to reveal the exact situation and details related to her private life and inconvenienced others. In particular, she would like to sincerely apologize for causing concern to fans who support Le Sserafim.
Thank you.
