On April 13, HIGHLIGHT's Lee Gi Kwang's agency, Around Us Entertainment, filed a complaint against Kim Geun Tae at the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office. This was after Kim, a political candidate under The People's Party's Youth Proportional Representatives, spread false information about implementing underhanded marketing techniques with a marketing company, doing "chart manipulation," involving some K-pop idols including Lee Gi Kwang.
According to the original reports by the Korean press, Kim Geun Tae held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Center, claiming that through their research that lasted for five months, they have identified a marketing company called CREATIVER, which is said to be manipulating charts using Daum and Melon IDs of ordinary Korean netizens of all age and genders through hacking.
The K-pop idols were Ko Seung Hyung, Song Ha Ye, So Hyang, Lee Gi Kwang, GSWN, BadKiz, Bol4, Young Tak, Ali, and YOYOMI.
Shortly after the press conference, the agencies of the said artists vehemently denied the accusation, which is said to be groundless and without receipts. In addition to the agencies' statement, they announced, "We will continue to take strong legal action against spreading false information or defaming our artists."
Meanwhile, Around Us agency criticized Kim Geun Tae for spreading false information and declaring their artist's name, Lee Gi Kwang, involved in the "chart manipulation' without confirming it to the agency first.
Also, they released an official statement saying, "Once again, we believe that there is no illegal hoarding or chart manipulation regarding our artists."
The company added, "If we are investigated in this case, we will comply with all the necessary data as well as we will cooperate. In the future, we will take all measures, including criminal charges and civil damages, as well as spreading false information with the aim of slandering our artists."
Furthermore, a source from Melon, the largest music site in Korea, denied the allegation of hacking as well, announcing that they have never experienced those problems, contrary to Kim Geun Tae's statement at the press conference.
According to Edaily's report, Melon's source spoke, "It is not true that Melon encountered hacking of IDs, as we have a monitoring system and defense, to avoid any case of artificial chart manipulation."
Moreover, the head of the marketing company, CREATIVER, launched under N Star Company, cleared that there are no chart manipulation requests received from any artists mentioned. It was reported previously that N Star was accused of sajaegi (chart intervention) for Song Ha Ye and Young Tak.
However, the company revealed that after establishing CREATIVER, they had used the songs of Song Ha Ye and Young Tak to monitor a new digital music platform as they were acquainted with the artists' agency causing misunderstanding.
N Star also claimed that if The People's Party confirmed that accusation first to them before spreading a false rumor, the controversy would not get bigger.
On the other hand, the company apologized to the agencies and artists that were involved in the false information spread.
