Employee Who Posted Idol's Private Exposed Photos on Personal SNS... L'Occitane "Suspended from Duty, Awaiting Assignment"

Controversy Over Employee Who Filmed SEVENTEEN Mingyu's Advertisement Shoot
L'Occitane "Employee Removed from Duties"

L'Occitane Korea apologized for the unauthorized leak of unofficial photos of Seventeen's Mingyu, the group's Asia ambassador, by an employee. On the 3rd, they posted an apology statement on their official social media (SNS) account. L'Occitane Korea stated, "We have no excuse for the recent incident in which unofficial photos related to the L'Occitane Asia Ambassador campaign were posted without permission through an employee's SNS account, and we acknowledge full responsibility and offer our sincere apologies."

Seventeen's Mingyu appeared in a 30-second commercial for L'Occitane.
[Photo by L'Occitane Korea YouTube capture]

They added, "We take this matter very seriously and sincerely bow our heads in apology to the artist and fans who were hurt by this incident." They also revealed that the employee involved has been subject to personnel action.

The company said, "We have immediately removed the employee from all duties and implemented personnel measures (suspension). We will introduce regular training programs for all employees on the importance of copyright, portrait rights, publicity rights, and privacy protection of brand ambassador artists to prevent such incidents from recurring."

They emphasized, "We will ensure that all employees thoroughly understand and comply with these policies," and "We will carry out this entire process with a strong sense of responsibility."

Apology statement posted by L'Occitane Korea on the 3rd.
[Photo by L'Occitane Korea Instagram capture]

Earlier, an employee of L'Occitane Korea posted on their Instagram story dozens of photos of Mingyu with the caption, "Mingyu took up a large part of my photo album... I was too anxious to delete them, but maybe it's time to organize."

The photos were taken by the employee using a personal phone at the L'Occitane advertising shoot, including images of Mingyu shirtless, which sparked significant controversy.

Netizens criticized, saying, "It's surprising that there was no camera control during a shoot involving exposure," and "Why would someone post photos of another person's exposed images on SNS without permission?"

Meanwhile, L'Occitane appointed Mingyu as the brand ambassador for the entire Asia region in May and has been conducting advertising shoots since then.