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On February 28, Pledis Entertainment released a new official statement to share their position on the allegations of school violence that were made against SEVENTEEN’s Mingyu.
After the first accusatory post on February 22, which Pledis Entertainment denied was true, a different post was shared online on February 26. In this post, the creator of the post wrote about a student with autism who was the victim of Mingyu’s alleged bullying. Another person posted on Instagram about a time when Mingyu and her friend had sexually harassed her at school.
Read the latest statement from Pledis Entertainment below.
Hello.
This is Pledis Entertainment.
We announced our position on the claims that were posted online about SEVENTEEN member Mingyu’s school days.
First, we apologize for not being able to share our position more quickly.
After recent claims were made, we checked with the artist himself and took additional procedures to verify the facts. In the process, we confirm that there is a discrepancy between what was posted and what we have verified with the artist.
As many issues are being raised socially regarding school violence, we decided it was of utmost importance to verify the exact facts of the matter and we are currently taking steps to verify each matter. We apologize for the delay in announcing our position due to this process.
As stated above, we use various ways to contact the person involved in the matter at the time to verify the exact facts and are currently in contact with them as well. We have consulted with the artist’s former classmates and other acquaintances about the circumstances at the time.
To first explain what has been confirmed so far, it was said that the artist harassed a student with a disability, but this is completely false.
The artist clearly remembers the person he refers to as the victim, so we were able to contact his mother after asking. He has confirmed to us that the person referred to as the victim had had a good relationship with the artist. The mother remembered the names of the students who bullied her son at school, so she was able to confirm this fact with us immediately.
The person referred to as a victim is currently living well in society and is burdened by the incidents of his past being known without his consent and in a way he did not want. Despite this, they have verified the facts with us for the good of the artist.
We are actively investigating other matters as well. However, it is difficult to identify the people who uploaded the posts online, and in some of the posts, the writer has expressed reluctance to be contacted, making it a situation where it is not only difficult to get in touch with them, but also one that requires discretion.
We respect the writer’s position of not wanting a direct confrontation. At the same time, if that is what the writer wants, we are open to meeting with the writer and confirming the facts at any time and in any way they prefer, and then we will take appropriate action.
We have no objections to the view that the issue of school violence throughout society should be considered from the perspective of the victim. However, in addition to the perspective of the victim, we determined that it was necessary to clearly verify the facts before taking the necessary measures.
The matters that were considered problematic were incidents that occurred in the past when the artist was in elementary and middle school, so we believe it is necessary to verify the facts and get as close as possible to what really happened in order to make a judgment.
The artist himself shared his apology for causing discomfort to fans due to this issue being raised. It has temporarily stopped its scheduled activities and has instructed the company to take the necessary measures to confirm the facts.
We also bow our heads in apology for causing discomfort with something related to our artist.
This announcement is not the end of this matter, and we will continue to confirm the facts and take appropriate action. However, we ask for your understanding, as this is not a straightforward process and will take some time.
It is very important to meet those who have stated that they were hurt, to verify the facts, and to help their mental wounds heal. In addition to this, we cannot make a quick decision about something that will affect an artist’s life without being sure of the facts, and we also ask for your understanding. Of course, once we have completed our fact check and found that there was clear guilt, we promise to take clear action accordingly.
Once again we share our apologies for causing an inconvenience with a matter related to our artist.
