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The T-ara Incident Isn’t Over Yet: Three Points Yet to be Addressed

The outcast rumors surrounding T-ara first arose from the tweets the members left after the group’s Budokan concert.

The debates magnified, and finally culminated into an announcement by Core Contents Media’s CEO Kim Kwang Soo that the agency would cancel its contract with Hwa Young, the member at the center of the outcast rumors, and have her leave the group.

The controversy only worsened, however, and seeing this, CEO Kim Kwang Soo revealed that Hwa Young had acted out, and that he had chosen not to talk about the dozens of incidents related to his decision to make Hwa Young leave the group “for Hwa Young.” If he expected this reveal to pacify the public, he was wrong, as a café named Tijinyo (We Want the Truth from T-ara) was even set up, gathering 320,000 members who demanded the truth from the agency.



The situation took ugly turn after ugly turn as police started investigating a post that allegedly impersonated T-ara’s choreographer and another that impersonated a trainee from the agency, Core Contents Media started to warn media outlets that it would take legal measures for defamation, T-ara was forced to leave their modeling contracts behind and the group even cancelled its future schedules.

Hwa Young, who had stayed quiet ever since she had tweeted ‘facts with no truth’ after Kim Kwang Soo’s first announcement had broke, finally stepped forth to put an end to the issue by asking everyone to ‘please stop’.

All of this happened in just six days since T-ara’s Budokan concert came to a close on July 26, but the issue is still far from over. We put together a list of points that still haven’t been addressed in the T-ara controversy.

Where will T-ara go next?

With this incident, T-ara’s image has taken a deep, unrecoverable plunge. The team, which was taken as an idol by those in their teens and 20s, and as cute little sisters by those in their 30s and 40s, watched on as its image was mangled beyond repair. The public is still demanding explanations from T-ara and its agency, and are pushing to make the team leave all of its modeling posts by vowing to boycott all T-ara advertised products.

Viewer boards of the members’ upcoming dramas, Eun Jung’s Five Fingers on SBS, So Yeon’s Haeundae Lovers on KBS2 and Hyo Min’s One Thousandth Man on MBC, are being bombarded with requests to pull the T-ara members from their cast.

The group’s agency, however, has shown that it wills the members to continue with their individual activities. The drama’s producers are also against making the members leave the dramas.

The question now is how it will this continue to affect T-ara’s upcoming activities.



Where will Hwa Young go next?

Core Contents Media officially stated about Hwa Young that it ‘has decided to allow [Hwa Young’s] contract to be cancelled without condition’ and to let her go as a free agent. The announcement was followed with considerable mudslinging reports, but Hwa Young was the one who cleaned up with an apology, saying, ‘Now, please stop and look forward to a more mature and updated image’ and ‘I also want to apologize to the Core Contents Media family.’

The question now is where the free agent Hwa Young will settle. After being practically forced to leave T-ara, Hwa Young was set at the center of a conflict with her former agency. Which other agency will hold out its hand to the girl, despite the high probability that it would from then on hold a strained relationship with the powerful CEO Kim Kwang Soo?

Where will Tijinyo go next?

Even after Hwa Young told everyone to stop, the members of Tijinyo, a café which gathered more than 320,000 members just three days after it opened its doors, are still demanding the truth. They are asserting that Hwa Young was forced to leave the tweet telling them to stop, and that they refuse to do so until the truth is revealed.

Hwa Young’s new tweet and her apology toward her agency somewhat makes it look as if she’s acknowledging the agency’s words, and this shakes the ground on which Tijinyo operates on. The 320,000 members of Tijinyo, however, are still standing strong in their demands for the truth, and their will is expected to continue to cause strife with T-ara and its agency.

Many look on as those who say they wish to stomp out bullying in society and the agency that plans to continue with T-ara’s promotions clash toward a conclusion.

Photo credit: Hea Jung Min, Ryu Hwa Young’s Twitter, Tijinyo



Reporter : Park, HyunMin (gato@cj.net)
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