HYBE Issues Additional Statement After Getting Berated At The Audit For Its First And Now-Deleted Statement
On October 24, 2024 (KST), HYBE‘s COO and Belift Lab CEO Kim Tae Ho was questioned at the South Korean National Assembly audit, where some of the most shocking revelations about HYBE’s business operations were made.
Leaked Internal Documents From HYBE Lead To Suspicions That They Sabotaged RIIZE
National Assembly member Min Hyung Bae was unforgiving in his questioning, as Kim Tae Ho struggled to provide clear-cut answers.
"방시혁 의장이 이거.. 편집장한테 작성해서 보고하라고 한 거 아니에요?"
"..그건 제 관할이 아니라서 잘.."
"그래서 방시혁을 불렀는데 대신 나오신 거 아닙니까!! 그런데 이런식으로 말하시면 어떡합니까!" pic.twitter.com/LMli0PMzwr
— mhj아카이브 (@Daepunimarchive) October 24, 2024
Min Hyung Bae: Isn’t it true that Bang Si Hyuk asked [Kang Myung Seo, the editor-in-chief of Weverse Magazine] to draft and submit this report?
Kim Tae Ho: It’s hard for me to say because that’s not within the scope of my work…
Min Hyung Bae: Which is why we asked Bang Si Hyuk to attend today. Did you not come to this audit on his behalf? Yet, you can’t answer these questions clearly?
But it was HYBE’s official statement, now-deleted, that really infuriated Min Hyung Bae and the Ministry of Sports, Culture, and Tourism. In the statement, released in the middle of the audit, HYBE threatened to “see to it that whoever [publicized the documents] takes full responsibility.”
This is HYBE’s official statement. On October 24, the company documents used for monitoring at the audit by the Ministry of Sports, Culture, and Tourism were publicized, leading to various reactions by fandoms and industries, as well as articles from the press.
The contents (industry direction and issues) were only shared with a small portion of internal staff for reference and simply reflected the reactions from social media platforms and online communities verbatim, and does not constitute HYBE’s official stance.
The report in question also contains positive reviews from fans and things that people in the entertainment industry should take note of.
Provocative parts of the report were cherry-picked and leaked externally to make it seem as if HYBE had criticized other artists in our documents. We will see to it that whoever conducted this activity takes full responsibility.
— HYBE
When the National Assembly was made aware of the statement, Kim Tae Ho was berated on behalf of HYBE for “responding in an inappropriate manner.” National Assembly member Jeon Jae Soo, also the head of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee leading the audit, openly criticized HYBE for “not taking the National Assembly seriously.”
국감 중에 버르장머리 없게
자극적인 내용들만 짜깁기해 하이브가 아티스트들을 비판한 자료를 만든 것처럼 유출한 "세력"에게 끝까지 책임 묻겠다고 공식입장낸 하이브에 개빡친 문체부위원장ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 아 개통쾌ㅋㅋㅋ
"국회가 그렇게 만만해요??"ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ pic.twitter.com/DKZaIz0rjZ— Fy (네이버 불매🤏) (@roro95) October 24, 2024
Jeon Jae Soo: This National Assembly audit is being conducted lawfully under the South Korean Constitution. You have come here as a witness and have ample opportunity to speak. Therefore, it is very inappropriate for the company to respond in such a manner regarding the inquiries and responses between the committee members and the witness while the audit is ongoing. As head of the committee, I must express how inappropriate that was and that you should apologize. How can HYBE issue a statement like that while the audit is in progress?
Kim Tae Ho: I’m terribly sorry, but I have not been able to see the said statement yet.
Jeon Jae Soo: Member Min Hyung Bae read it to you.
Kim Tae Ho: Was that the whole statement? I don’t have any information on it, so…
Jeon Jae Soo: It doesn’t matter if that was the whole statement or not. You were chosen as a witness by the committee and the committee is currently engaged in a Q&A session. For the company to issue a statement in any way while the audit is being conducted makes the audit seem meaningless and undermines the authority of the National Assembly. Is that acceptable? Is HYBE not taking the National Assembly seriously?
Kim Tae Ho then was asked to stay through the audit to be given another chance to speak about the statement itself (decided through a unanimous vote from both political parties) . That’s when Kim Tae Ho explained that it was in response to the rapidly growing backlash online, but admitted that HYBE was wrong to release such a statement mid-audit.
We released the statement because, during today’s National Assembly audit, there were numerous media inquiries regarding our stance on the topics related to us, to the extent that it was difficult to respond to each one individually.
Additionally, we assessed that content not addressed in the National Assembly audit, as well as content that was shown blurred during the audit, were being distorted and spread online at a significant speed.
Thus, we decided to post the statement to promptly respond to media inquiries and prevent the amplification of incorrect information.
As I mentioned earlier, we certainly did not intend to disrespect the National Assembly. We hereby acknowledge that issuing the statement during the National Assembly audit was a clear mistake on our part.
— Kim Tae Ho
