The contract termination dispute between KARA’s Seungyeon, Nicole, and Jiyoung against DSP Media has escalated into a legal battle.
On February 14th, representatives of the three members filed a lawsuit against DSP Media, asking the Seoul Central District Court to confirm that their three exclusive contracts were invalid. They also claimed that their incomes were not distributed fairly.
Through their head representative, the three members of KARA stated, “Without prior compromise, the agency deducted promotional fees from our income without our consent, which is classified under embezzlement. From January through June of 2010, we brought in $410,000 USD in income, while the promotional expenses amounted to $390,000 USD. The expenses are abnormally excessive.”
They continued, “Even when ‘Lupin‘ was at its highest point in popularity, DSP Media only paid $860 USD per member for a total of six months. The $140 USD that we were paid a month is unfair compared to the income that we brought in.”
Landmark previously sent notice to DSP Media regarding the termination of the three contracts on January 19th. Although the members resumed their scheduled activities, the two parties were not able to come to an agreement during their repeated attempts at reconciliation over the course of 25 days.
The dispute’s escalation into a legal battle has caught both fans and industry representatives off guard, and many are speculating about what this could mean for KARA as a unit of five.
A representative of DSP Media spoke through Sports Today and stated, “We’re shocked. We met several times, but it is true that the dispute went back to first base with each discussion. But because of their ‘URAKARA‘ filming in Japan, we agreed to speak with their parents upon their return. Now that we found out that they filed a lawsuit, we’re just shocked. First of all, we will be having a meeting within our company first before releasing further statements.”
The representative also told Star News, “Their head representative claimed that the girls only received $860 USD per member for six months of their ‘Lupin’ promotions, but that is truly ridiculous. We deducted six months worth of their entire promotional expenses from the profits made off of their album sales. Thus, we did not deduct anything from their promotions in other areas such as CFs. Unlike what the three are claiming, we paid them a larger sum, but they’re claiming as if we’ve embezzled.
KARA’s Nicole, Seungyeon and Jiyoung filed a lawsuit against DSP Media earlier today, and it was revealed that they will be holding a press conference by February 15th at the earliest to state their stand.
A representative stated, “On the 15th or 16th, representatives of the three members will be holding a press conference and announce their positions in a more detailed fashion.”
The attendance of the three members has yet to be confirmed, as KARA is scheduled to leave for Japan on the 17th to continue their activities there.
Interestingly enough, industry representatives claim that during the time that they were in Korea, the three KARA members attended recording sessions for their new Japanese album with their other groupmates.
This attendance, however, was done under the agreement made with DSP Media on January 27th to fulfill all pre-scheduled activities prior to the dispute. This agreement also includes their Japanese activities, which explains why the group must return to Japan as complete unit in order to continue filming for their drama, ”URAKARA“.
Though KARA is scheduled to depart on the 17th, Jiyoung will be leaving a day earlier due to a personal schedule.
Source: OSEN, Star News via Nate
Source: Star News #1, #2, #3 and Sports Today via Nate
