HYBE Announces LE SSERAFIM Kim Garam's Contract Termination

K-pop girl group LE SSERAFIM's management agency, HYBE/SOURCE MUSIC, announced that the agency has decided to terminate the exclusive contract of the group's member, Kim Garam.

On July 20, HYBE shared an official statement regarding the agency's decision to terminate their contract with Kim Garam.
The agency's full statement reads as follows:

Hello, this is HYBE/SOURCE MUSIC.

We would like to provide you with information on the decision made in regards to LE SSERAFIM member Kim Garam and plans for the future activities of LE SSERAFIM.

Our company has decided to terminate the exclusive contract with Kim Garam.

We extend our sincerest apologies to our fans and to those who have shown love and support to the group for causing you concern over the controversy involving the member.

LE SSERAFIM will continue their activities as a five-member group, and we will spare no effort to support the group to grow further as artists through their music and performance. Thank you.
Even before LE SSERAFIM's official debut on May 2, 2022, several social media users who are claiming to be former classmates of Kim Garam took to online communities and raised school bullying accusations against the member.

Along with the photos and screenshots of Kim Garam and her past social media posts, they claimed that Kim Garam was famous at her neighborhood for smoking, underage drinking, and threatening/bullying other classmates.

At the time, LE SSERAFIM's agency SOURCE MUSIC firmly denied the accusations and stated that the agency will take strong legal actions against the spread of false information and rumors regarding Kim Garam.

As the controversy continues to snowball online, SOURCE MUSIC announced that Kim Garam will sit back from LE SSERAFIM's group activities for the time being.

(Credit= HYBE/SOURCE MUSIC, SBS Entertainment News)

(SBS Star)