Ryu Hwa-young “No, Kim Woo-ri ‘Shampoo remarks’, clear defamation” (Full text) [Comprehensive]
Former T-ara member Ryu Hwa-young (stage name Hwa-young during her time in T-ara) has once again written a lengthy post regarding the ‘T-ara bullying incident’ (although it was controversial, I will write it as an incident since the parties involved referred to it as such) that caused a stir in 2012.
On the 18th, Ryu Hwa-young posted on her Instagram account, “I sincerely apologize for unintentionally causing fatigue to the public during the recent ‘T-ara bullying’ incident. For the past 12 years, my family and I have suffered through false information, countless speculations, excessive malicious comments, groundless blind criticism, threats, and bullying. I have watched this with heartache and held on, but I can no longer remain silent, so I ask for your understanding that I had no choice but to post my statement on Instagram,” she wrote.
Ryu Hwa-young said, “After posting my statement on Instagram last week, more than anything, I waited for their sincere apology. However, I have decided not to have any expectations from CEO Kim Kwang-soo and the T-ara members, who have not made any statement up until now.” “However, I will take comfort in the fact that my sister and I have been able to tell the truth at least now, and that we have been able to clear ourselves of numerous misunderstandings and false accusations.”
Ryu Hwa-young claimed, “Second, CEO Kim Kwang-soo already knew that I was being ‘bullied,’ but he turned a blind eye to it. Everyone refused to be my roommate, and I remember living in the living room without a room of my own, countless verbal abuse, criticism, and assaults - the ‘T-ara bullying incident’ still remains my biggest scar. The third is the ‘shampoo remark’ by T-ara stylist Kim Woo-ri, who is close with CEO Kim Kwang-soo. I want to correct the malicious comments that I am still suffering from. As if she was a staff member who was directly in charge of me and T-ara at the time, she slandered me by making up stories on a past entertainment show, as if she knew everything. Kim Woo-ri became a T-ara stylist because of her connection with CEO Kim Kwang-soo. However, she was not the stylist in charge of T-ara when I joined. I have never met or talked to Kim Woo-ri,” she said.
Ryu Hwa-young said, “Kim Woo-ri appeared on a TV show and said to a hair shop staff member, ‘Shampoo, let’s go,’ and mentioned that she had personality problems, and that she said, ‘A new member has no system and manners, I can tell you firmly about the T-ara revelations,’ and that T-ara did nothing wrong. Those statements are all false.” She continued, “If I tell you the truth, not only have I never been to the ‘shop’ that Kim Woo-ri mentioned, I have also never met the person interviewing me. I am a complete stranger.” This was a planned video, and this is also clear defamation.”
Ryu Hwa-young said, “After I revealed on Instagram that this was not true, Kim Woo-ri showed an irresponsible attitude by calling it the broadcasting company’s ‘devil’s editing’ and shifting her lies to the broadcasting company. Kim Woo-ri may be ‘or not,’, but I am still suffering from countless malicious comments after Kim Woo-ri’s ‘shampoo remarks.”
Ryu Hwa-young said, “I think bullying is no different from murder in our society. My sister and I have nothing more to wish for. We just want to forget about this. I don’t understand why CEO Kim Kwang-soo is making this story public again.” She added, “I just want to tell the truth to prevent any more speculation and malicious comments. For our sake, we will forgive and understand CEO Kim Kwang-soo and the members of T-ara, and we will work harder to recover from the wounds we have received. I will end my post by saying that I will take even stronger legal action against the spread of false information and malicious comments, including on YouTube, for the sake of my family and myself. Thank you for reading the long post.” He hinted at future legal action.
Earlier, Kim Kwang Soo, the CEO of Pocketdol Studio (the successor to GM Planning, Core Contents Media, and MBK Entertainment), appeared on MBN’s ‘Let’s Go’ that aired on the 9th and talked about the various rumors surrounding him. In particular, CEO Kim Kwang Soo claimed that there was discord in T-ara due to Ryu Hwa Young’s injury, and that he unconditionally terminated Ryu Hwa Young and Ryu Hyo Young’s contracts, but this led to the bullying rumors.
CEO Kim Kwang Soo said, “The parents of T-ara came to me and said that we should reveal the truth at a press conference. I died because I wondered what would happen to those friends (Ryu Hwa Young and Ryu Hyo Young)’s lives. In my opinion, the T-ara members did nothing wrong, so we pushed ahead with the broadcast. That was the most difficult time in my 40 years in entertainment. I still feel sorry to the members. It‘s already been over 10 years, but I think it’s still ongoing,“ he said, shedding tears.
After the broadcast, Ryu Hwa-young, who felt uncomfortable with the broadcast, wrote a long post completely refuting CEO Kim Kwang-soo‘s words.
On the 10th, Ryu Hwa-young posted on her Instagram account, ”First of all, I apologize for worrying you with an uncomfortable story. Yesterday (the 9th), I saw a TV entertainment program broadcast in which my former agency CEO Kim Kwang Soo spoke about the ‘T-ara bullying incident’, and after thinking about it 100, 1000 times, I have decided to write this with difficulty.” As a person involved in the so-called ‘T-ara bullying incident’ in 2012, I have felt a lot of self-reproach regardless of right or wrong as I watched the various social controversies and the disbandment of the group T-ara, which was the foundation of me. I have always felt sorry towards all the fans who loved T-ara and towards the members who parted ways due to the words ‘bullying’ and ‘discord.” It is also true that for 12 years, I have lived with a scarlet letter as a person involved in the ‘T-ara bullying’ incident, without responding to various false rumors. Although it was a noisy breakup, because of T-ara, the current Hwayoung exists, so I have kept silent even though I have many traumas and grievances,” she said. “However, after hearing CEO Kim Kwang Soo’s comments on a variety show, I don’t understand why he would make biased and distorted comments about an incident from 12 years ago, so I have to correct my mistakes and tell the truth with difficulty.”
Ryu Hwayoung said, “First, the part about being ‘buled’ is true. It is false that I ’cosplayed as a victim’, claiming that I was bullied when I was in T-ara. As a new member of T-ara, I tried to blend in with the members with the obsession of not causing any harm to the existing members. However, the existing members of T-ara assaulted me and verbally abused me countless times. The reason I held on was because I thought that if I worked harder, I would get better. Second, I apologized to the members several times after I injured my ankle. Even when I couldn’t perform on stage in Japan because my ankle was sprained, I asked the CEO to let me perform at least one song. I felt sorry for the members who suffered several times because of me, so I thought I had to sing at least one song,“ she explained.
Ryu Hwa-young said, ”It‘s true that I received nail care at a hotel for the third time. However, T-ara usually invited a nail care professional to the hotel whenever they had promotions in Japan. My nail care was in the same context. I feel like it was an unfounded insult to me that they talked about my nail care as if I had it fixed before the stage because my fingernail was broken.“
She then said, ”When my contract with T-ara was terminated, I had a lot of evidence to prove that I was bullied, so I tried to express my position through a press conference, but CEO Kim Kwang-soo suggested that if I kept quiet without a press conference, he would also terminate the contract of my older sister, who was in the same agency at the time. I was only 20 years old, so I thought that was the best option. In the end, I left the group without even receiving an apology, and I have kept quiet for 12 years. Since then, the T-ara members have appeared on various entertainment shows and put an end to the bullying incident among themselves by stating a position that is different from the truth, saying that they have never bullied anyone. My parents and I, who were watching that show, shed tears because we were helpless and couldn’t do anything.“
Ryu Hwa-young said, ”I want to ask CEO Kim Kwang-soo a sincere question. What on earth was my intention in appearing on a show, mentioning real names, and making such completely distorted statements about a story that happened 12 years ago?“ and ”I am currently alone without an agency. I also know that I cannot fight against the CEO who has been consistently influential in the entertainment industry for over 40 years. However, I can say this because I have the confidence to reveal the truth about that time.”
After that, her twin sister Ryu Hyo-young (former member of Co-ed School and Five Dolls, briefly used the name Jung Woo-yeon as an actress) also spoke up.
On the 11th, Ryu Hyo-young posted on her Instagram account, “First of all, I am very sorry for worrying many people. The reason I am writing this is to talk about my younger sister’s (Ryu Hwa-young) bullying incident and my text message incident.” She continued, “At the time, we were about 20 years old. My younger sister and I left our hometown and came to Seoul alone. We thought there were no adults we could rely on around us, so my sisters and I were each other’s only support.”
Ryu Hyo-young said, “In that situation, I heard shocking words from my younger sister. Along with the content that she was being bullied by the T-ara members, she said things like, “It‘s so hard” and “I miss my sister.” The result of trying to stop my sister from bullying is the text message incident,“ and added, ”I think that sending that text message was ’foolish‘ and I still regret it.“
Ryu Hyo-young said, ”I apologized to Areum before about the text message, but I still feel sorry,“ and added, ”However, there was nothing I could do at only 20 years old. I was afraid that my sister would make a bad choice if I just sat back and did nothing. I think you all know that it was the best I could do when I was young and lacking in order to protect my precious family.“
Ryu Hwa-young joined T-ara in 2010. At the time Ryu Hwa-young joined, T-ara was already a girl group with many hit songs. After Ryu Hwayoung joined, the group enjoyed steady growth, but in 2012, due to the so-called ‘T-ara bullying incident’, Ryu Hwayoung left the team and pursued the path of acting. T-ara also became shunned by the public in the aftermath of the incident, and the members eventually dispersed and are either pursuing individual activities or have halted their activities.
● Below is the full text of Ryu Hwayoung’s second SNS post regarding the ‘T-ara bullying incident’
This is former T-ara member Hwayoung.
I sincerely apologize for unintentionally causing fatigue to the public during the recent “T-ara bullying” incident.
For the past 12 years, my family and I have suffered through false information, countless speculations, excessive malicious comments, groundless, blind criticism, threats, and bullying. I have watched this with a heavy heart and held on, but I could no longer remain silent, so I had no choice but to post my position on Instagram. Please understand.
After posting my position on Instagram last week, what I waited for more than anything was their sincere apology. However, I have decided not to have any expectations from CEO Kim Kwang Soo and the T-ara members, who have not made any statement up until now.
However, I would like to take comfort in the fact that my sister and I were able to tell the truth now, and that we were able to avoid numerous misunderstandings and false accusations.
Regarding this, I decided that additional explanation of my position is necessary, so I am posting a long post.
First. The reason my sister sent a text message to Areum is that, although I cared for and cherished the new member Areum like a younger sister at the time, I was hurt by the various strife between Areum and the T-ara members, so I contacted my sister to let her know that I was upset, and my sister sent a message to Areum in response. In relation to this, my sister and Areum had privately apologized and reconciled several years ago and had their hearts broken,
but CEO Kim Kwang Soo appeared on a broadcast without accurately confirming the parties involved and publicly spread my sister‘s text messages to the public, maliciously using them for his own personal gain, once again causing mental harm to me, my sister, and Areum, and this is defamation of character.
Second. CEO Kim Kwang Soo knew that I was already being bullied, but he turned a blind eye. Everyone refused to be my roommate, so I remember living in the living room without a room of their own, and the countless verbal abuse, criticism, and assaults that occurred as a result of the T-ara bullying incident still remain my greatest wound.
Third. This is a shampoo statement from Kim Woori, a stylist for T-ara who is close with CEO Kim Kwang Soo.
I would like to correct the malicious comments that I am still suffering from.
At that time, she was a staff member who was directly in charge of me and T-ara, and she slandered me by making up stories on a past entertainment show as if she knew everything. Kim Woori was in charge of T-ara’s stylist because of her connection with CEO Kim Kwang Soo. However, she was not the stylist in charge of T-ara when I joined. I have never met or talked to Kim Woori. Kim Woo-ri appeared on a TV show and said that I told the hair shop staff member, “Shampoo, let’s go,” and that I had personality problems. Her statement that “a new member has no system and manners, I can tell you firmly about the T-ara exposure war” and that T-ara did nothing wrong is all a lie.
To tell the truth, I have never been to the “shop” that Kim Woo-ri mentioned, and I have never met the person being interviewed. This was a planned video and this is also clear defamation.
Later, when I revealed on Instagram that this was not true, Kim Woo-ri showed an irresponsible attitude by shifting the blame for her lies to the broadcasting company, saying it was the broadcasting company’s “devil’s editing.” Kim Woo-ri may be “or not,” but I am still suffering from countless malicious comments after Kim Woo-ri’s “shampoo remark.”
I think bullying is no different from murder in our society.
My sister and I have no more wishes. We just want to forget about this. I don’t understand why CEO Kim Gwang-soo is bringing this up again. I just want to tell the truth, if only to prevent further speculation and malicious comments.
For our sake, I will forgive and understand CEO Kim Kwang Soo and the members of T-ara, and I will work harder to recover from the wounds we have received.
I will end this post by telling you that I will take stronger legal action against the spread of false information and malicious comments, including on YouTube, for the sake of myself and my family.
Thank you for reading the long post.
Hong Se-young, Donga.com Reporter projecthong@donga.com
