Source: 10 Asia
HYBE announced that Le Sserafim Garam will halt all activities due to "school violence controversy" and chose an all-out war with their statements. HYBE who had been consistent with their "no response" began to "actively explain" as if they had been poisoned.
Kim Garam's "school bullying" scandal broke out pre-debut however Source Music remained silent and pushed forward with their debut showcase and even released photocards. As Le Sserafim is a group produced by Chairman Bang Si-hyuk, HYBE issued a statement and stated that "victim A's claims were malicious attacks and that Garam was her victim."
With their sudden announcement to halt Garam's activities, Bang Si-hyuk's "no response" principle has been broken. Some critics say that HYBE's continued silence made the situation worse.
HYBE has shown a lukewarm attitude towards controversies surrounding their artists. Most recently, BTS new album 'Proof' was revealed to include a song composed by a s*x offender and molka criminal Bobby Chung and ARMY declared boycott over the album purchase, so Big Hit's attitude is ironic.
While on the phone with 10Asia, Big Hit kept silent and stated, "No comment" with regards to the controversial composer.
It's interpreted that HYBE and affiliated labels consistent "no response" came from Chairman Bang Si-hyuk who has refrained from commenting on criticisms toward him since his days as music producer.
In 2018, BTS was embroiled in controversy over working with Japanese right-wing lyricist and various media reported that Bang Si-hyuk "has continued music exchanges with a right wing lyricist and was attracted to his world views." However, Bang Si-hyuk remained silent.
In 2011, Bang Si-hyuk produced 'An obvious Love Song' for 'Homme' however when the song was embroiled in plagiarism controversy, Big Hit stated at the time, "as a result of internal monitoring, we did not find any issues. It's only the melody line that's similar" and did not comment further. This is an event that revealed Bang Si-hyuk's thoughts and philosophies.
An all-out war began with Kim Garam's halts of activities with HYBE as the sword. This is because they judged that any further silence would damage the reputation of their girl group Le Sserafim.
Opinions from both sides regarding Kim Garam have also emerged. It's not clear who's the perpetrator and who's the victim but the public is paying attention on how HYBE will protect its members and prove their claims.
Meanwhile, on the 20th, an official from the Ministry of Education confirmed Garam's crimes stating, "With regards to the school violence committee, its true there was a violent crime where Kim Garam was named the perpetrator. The intensity of measures taken by each school are different because each case has a strong autonomous nature and tendencies of experts in attendance is also different."
A lawyer B who participated in the 'School Violence Committee' tweeted on the 19th, "If A had only experienced a simple assault, this would've been dealt with under the 1st and 3rd paragraphs in the article but it's shocking that the 5th measures was taken. It amazing that even after being punished under the 5th action, she was selected as an idol trainee."
Additional source(s): YTN, Sports Kyunghyang