Update: Former T-ara Member Ryu Hwayoung Releases New Statement About Past Controversy + Lee Areum Also Shares Her Perspective

Updated November 18 KST:

Former T-ara member Lee Areum has also shared a post on her Instagram regarding the past controversy.

On November 18, Lee Areum shared the following statement:

I don’t have anything official to say about the incident, but since I keep receiving DMs, I’ll leave a short message for just one day.
When I joined T-ara, I had to memorize all the existing songs in both Japanese and Korean, learn all the dances, and memorize the choreography. I was busy adapting and trying to fit in, constantly trying to read the room and match the atmosphere.
So practicing hard was everything to me, but suddenly, the situation with the members’ Twitter incident was very difficult for me to take in as I watched it unfold.
There is one thing I constantly spoke about after leaving the group but was particularly overlooked.
Perhaps because she understood my feelings well as a new member, but Hwayoung took special care of me and cherished me a lot. I was always grateful and followed her closely.
However, after the injury incident and the ensuing events among the members, I was walking on eggshells, busy trying to constantly read the room here and there. From that point on, I had nowhere to rely on. At a young age, every day felt like walking on thorns.
I didn’t have the time or mental capacity for things like instigating conflict.
It was due to misunderstandings that arose in the middle, and it is true that I received an apology from Hyoyoung later on.
If I were in her shoes, I think that was the only thing she could do for her sister at that time, and since I didn’t hold onto it deeply, we resolved it well.
For me, T-ara remains just as a wound. It was nothing more or less than that. I left it as just a period of memories from a time when I lived my life most diligently.
How about if everyone leaves [T-ara] as the protagonists of the nostalgic memories of the good songs from that time? What good would it do to ask me about this and that? I think everyone involved, including myself, regrets, feels sorry, and has suffered and struggled because of our immature actions when we were young. It’s just that some people might have had a harder time than others. I don’t think there was anyone who didn’t have a hard time.
A long time has passed, and every time I appeared on a broadcast after leaving the group, the broadcasters would attach the label of T-ara, even though I didn’t want it. I always just wanted to live quietly as myself. I still do, and I want to live the most ordinary life in the future.
I just hope that everyone can forget the wounds from that time and live peacefully from now on.

 

Original Article:

Former T-ara member Ryu Hwayoung has once again voiced her thoughts about past controversy.

Earlier in November, sisters Ryu Hwayoung and Ryu Hyoyoung took to Instagram to refute their former CEO and MBK Entertainment founder Kim Kwang Soo’s remarks about the past T-ara controversy from over 10 years ago.

On November 18, Ryu Hwayoung made an additional post to further share her stance regarding the controversy:

This is former T-ara member Hwayoung.

I sincerely apologize to the public for unintentionally causing fatigue with the “T-ara bullying” incident that has caused commotion recently.

For the past 12 years, my family and I have endured false information, numerous speculations, excessive malicious comments, baseless blind criticism, threats, and harassment. We have watched and endured this with heavy hearts, but I can no longer remain silent. I had no choice but to post my statement on Instagram, and I ask for your understanding.

After posting my statement on Instagram last week, I waited for their sincere apology more than anything. However, I have decided not to expect anything from CEO Kim Kwang Soo and the T-ara members, who have not made any statements so far.

However, I find solace in the fact that my sister and I were able to speak the truth and free ourselves from numerous misunderstandings and false accusations.

Regarding this, I have decided to post a long explanation as I believe additional clarification is necessary.

First, the reason my sister sent a text message to Areum was that, at that time, I cherished and took care of the new member Areum like a younger sister. However, I was hurt by various instances of the T-ara members and Areum instigating conflict, and I contacted my sister telling her that I was upset. My sister then sent a message to Areum. Although my sister and Areum personally apologized to each other and reconciled years ago, CEO Kim Kwang Soo publicly broadcasted my sister’s text message without accurately confirming the facts, using it maliciously for personal gain, causing mental harm to me, my sister, and Areum once again. This is defamation based on facts.

Second, CEO Kim Kwang Soo neglected the fact that I was already an outcast. I remember living in the living room without a room in the dorm because everyone refused to be my roommate, and the T-ara bullying incident, including numerous amounts of verbal abuse, criticism, and assault, remains my biggest wound.

Third, the shampoo comment by T-ara stylist Kim Woo Ri, who is close to CEO Kim Kwang Soo.

I want to correct the content of the malicious comments I am still suffering from.

At that time, Kim Woo Ri appeared on a past entertainment show, pretending to know everything as if he was a staff member directly in charge of T-ara and fabricated stories to slander me. Kim Woo Ri was in charge of T-ara’s styling due to his connection with CEO Kim Kwang Soo. However, when I joined, he was not the stylist in charge of T-ara. I have never met or spoken to Kim Woo Ri. His appearance on an entertainment show, where he mentioned that I said, “Shampoo~ Let’s go,” to a hair salon staff, implying I had a personality problem, and his statement that “the new member has no manners or discipline, and I can firmly speak about the T-ara [controversy]” are all lies.

To accurately convey the facts, I have never been to the hair salon Kim Woo Ri mentioned, nor do I know the person he interviewed. It was a scripted video, and this is also clear defamation.

After I clarified on Instagram that this was not true, Kim Woo Ri irresponsibly shifted the blame for his lies onto the broadcasting company’s “evil editing.” While Kim Woo Ri might think “if not, then never mind,” I am still receiving pain and suffering from numerous malicious comments due to his “shampoo comment.”

I believe bullying is no different from murder in our society.

My sister and I do not wish for anything more. We just want to forget this incident. I do not know why CEO Kim Kwang Soo is bringing this issue to public attention again. I only want to convey the truth to prevent further speculation and malicious comments.

Even if it’s for our sake, we will forgive and understand CEO Kim Kwang Soo and the T-ara members and live with more effort to recover from the wounds we received.

For the sake of my family and myself, I will take more resolute legal action against the spread of false information and malicious comments, including on YouTube.

Thank you for reading this long post.

 

 

source: Soompi