MBK Entertainment Founder Kim Kwang Soo, who produced T-ARA, broke his silence about their bullying scandal after a decade.
On November 9, MBN's "Let's Go" will have PD Kim as its guest. Ahead of the show, the former CEO of Core Contents Media (hereinafter MBK Ent) shared anecdotes about his artists before the company became defunct.
Among them, he particularly dished on T-ARA and Ryu twins, Hwayoung and Hyoyoung, who became controversial figures in South Korea in 2012 after the siblings accused the group of bullying them back when Hwayoung was still on the team.
At the time, she was an additional member, and after abruptly leaving in July of the same year, multiple allegations surfaced that she was mistreated by the original members backed by spliced videos showing how she was alienated while promoting.
T-ARA denied this accusation, but the Ryu twins already earned the public's sympathy. The group's career reached rock bottom for five years until they were able to prove their innocence in 2017 when MBK's staff finally took the courage to reveal that it was actually the Ryu twins who bullied the team.
In the recent show then, PD Kim revealed that prior to the allegation, he already terminated the twins' contracts after doing violations but the internet was quick to come up with speculations about bullying.
Since the members were young, their parents asked the company to hold a press conference and expose what the twins did to T-ARA, but since he was also thinking about the flak the Ryus would suffer, he decided to remain silent.
READ ALSO: T-ara Members Reveal How They Managed to Reunite despite Being under Different Agencies
After about 12 years, Kim Kwang Soo finally faced the reality and clarified for the first time:
"T-ARA members did nothing wrong, so we pushed ahead with their activities. But the public had negative views about it and said, 'How much power does Kim Kwang Soo have in the entertainment industry to push ahead with their activities?'
At that time, my perspective was, 'I don't care if I get cursed at. If you (T-ARA) stop, you'll never be able to recover. I'll shoulder it all. You just have to keep going.'"
In the same show, Kim stated that he was still close with the members; thus, he always regrets that things would have been different if he made another decision back then.
RELATED ARTICLE: Where Are Hwayoung & Hyoyoung Now? Status of 'Ryu Twins' After T-ara Bullying Scandal
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Written by Eunice Dela Cruz
