Hive "Will Hold Those Responsible for Report Leak Accountable"
Chairman of the Literature Committee Criticizes "Is the National Assembly Easy to Intimidate?"
Hive, a leading domestic entertainment company, has been accused of creating an internal document that evaluated the appearances of underage idol group members.
On the 24th, Min Hyung-bae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, questioned Kim Tae-ho, Hive's Chief Operating Officer (COO), who appeared as a witness at the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee’s audit, regarding this issue.
According to the materials presented by Representative Min, Hive's internal 'Industry Trend Review Document' included phrases such as "debuting members all at an age when they are at their ugliest, so none of them have typical idol facial features," "the plastic surgery was too extreme," and "other members were shockingly ugly." However, it was not disclosed which artists these expressions referred to.
Representative Min criticized this, saying, "The appearance evaluations and low-quality expressions are about minors," and added, "The report contains a dehumanizing perception and attitude toward idols."
COO Kim Tae-ho responded to the document by saying, "As a company involved in K-pop, we carefully monitor the opinions of our fans and the industry regarding Hive artists and K-pop in general. The document you showed is one of those." Regarding the controversy over appearance evaluations targeting minors, he explained, "This is not Hive's opinion or official judgment," and added, "It is a compilation of many posts gathered from online."
In response to the controversy, Hive stated on its official website that day, "The monitoring report disclosed during the audit is a document that compiles various reactions and public opinions from fandoms and the industry," and clarified, "It was created by extracting community and SNS responses as they are to share internally with a small number of personnel for reference on industry trends and issues, and it does not represent Hive's position."
They further stated, "The report also includes content that an entertainment company should take seriously, as well as positive evaluations from fans," and emphasized, "We will hold accountable those who leaked only some provocative parts of the report externally to make it appear as if Hive created a document criticizing the artists."
However, during the ongoing audit, Jeon Jae-su, chairman of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, criticized Hive’s rebuttal, saying, "Issuing a statement while the audit is in progress and questioning is underway with a witness undermines the audit and the authority of the National Assembly. Is this acceptable?" He added, "Moreover, Hive is a leading company driving Korea’s K-content. How can they respond so irresponsibly? Do they think the National Assembly is easy to deal with?"
Meanwhile, Kim COO, who also serves as the CEO of Belief Lab, the agency of girl group Ailead, denied allegations of plagiarizing NewJeans’ concept, stating, "This is not true," and added, "We have filed civil and criminal lawsuits against former ADORE CEO Min Hee-jin, who raised this issue. We are awaiting the judiciary’s judgment and intend to present evidence through the court to prove that this is not true."
Kim COO continued, "I sincerely apologize for causing great fatigue to many people due to a series of events that happened this year," and said, "I believe the fundamental mission of an entertainment company is to bring joy to fans and the public, and it is true that there have been many regrets this year. We will ensure that such issues do not cause fatigue going forward."
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