JYP Entertainment released a statement to TWICE's official fan cafe announcing that member Jeongyeon will not be joining the group for the "2020 SORIBADA Best K-Music Awards" to focus on her health.
Their statement reads
"Hello. This is JYP Entertainment.
We would like to announce that member Jeongyeon will be unable to participate in the '2020 SORIBADA BEST K-MUST AWARDS' on August 13, Thursday. We ask fans for their kind understanding.
We will do our best to help Jeongyeon have a speedy recovery.
Thank you."
This news comes following TWICE's recent online concert "Beyond LIVE - TWICE: World in a Day". On August 6, JYP Entertainment announced that though Jeongyeon would be participating in the concert, she would be unable to dance. Instead, she performed while sitting in a chair.
At the time, JYP Entertainment did not disclose what health issues or injuries Jeongyeon sustained to cause her to sit in a chair and instead asked for fans for their understanding, as Jeongyeon herself had chosen to perform. In their update fo the Soribada event, they still did not disclose what health issues or injuries Jeongyeon is enduring.
However, fans believe it might be because of her neck. In June 2020, Jeongyeon revealed in a live broadcast that she has a herniated disc in her neck. During the live broadcast, she revealed that she found out while they were filming the music video for "MORE & MORE", as she felt a numbness that went all the way up to her ear. She found out a week before the comeback and had to stay in the hospital, so she could barely practice for their performances. She went on to reveal that because of her herniated disc, she had asked the networks of the music shows TWICE appeared on to not record any fan cams of her.
However, at the time, Jeongyeon had said she was doing better. She asked fans not to worry about her as she was making sure she could recover.
We hope she gets well soon!
Jeongyeon was first introduced to the public as a pre-debut member for a JYP Entertainment girl group called 6MIX and had walked fashion shows with her supposed group members, which include current TWICE members Jihyo, Nayeon, and Sana. However, due to numerous line-up changes, the group was eventually scrapped. She appeared as a contestant in the JYP Entertainment survival show "SIXTEEN", a show where sixteen girls competed for a chance to debut in the company's next girl group. In the finale, she was selected as one of the nine members that would make TWICE.
Jeongyeon officially debuted with TWICE in 2015. In 2016, both she and her sister co-hosted the music show "Inkigayo" from July 2016 and January 2017, where the sister duo won the Newcomer Award at the SBS Entertainment Awards. In 2018, Jeongyeon and her sister recorded the OST for the short film "My Dream Class" with "Like a Star". Jeongyeon's sister, Gong Seung Yeon, had acted in the film as Jeong Seok.
As a member of TWICE, Jeongyeon has participated in writing lyrics for the group. She has written lyrics for "Love Line", "Sweet Talker", "LaLaLa", "21:29", and "Sweet Summer Day".
From 2016 to 2019, Jeongyeon has ranked in the top 20 in the most popular idols in South Korea list for Gallup's annual music poll.
