Pledis Releases Statement On Further Allegations Surrounding SEVENTEEN's Mingyu + Mingyu Pauses Activities

On February 28, Pledis Entertainment released a new official statement to share their position on the school violence accusations that were made against SEVENTEEN’s Mingyu.

Following 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 post creator wrote about a student with autism who was a victim of Mingyu’s alleged bullying. Another person posted on Instagram about a time Mingyu and his friend had sexually harassed her in school.

Read Pledis Entertainment’s latest statement below.

Hello.

This is Pledis Entertainment.

We announce our position on the claims that were posted online regarding SEVENTEEN member Mingyu’s school days.

First, we apologize for not being able to share our position more promptly.

After recent claims were made, we had checked with the artist himself and taken additional procedures to verify the facts. In the process, we confirmed that there is a discrepancy between what was posted and what we have checked with the artist.

As there are many issues being raised socially regarding school violence, we decided it was foremost in importance to check the exact facts of the matter and are currently carrying out steps to verify every matter. We apologize that we are late in announcing our position due to this process.

As stated above, we used various ways to contact the person involved in the matter at the time in order to verify the exact facts and are currently in touch with them as well. We have checked 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 bullied a student with disabilities, but this is completely false.

The artist clearly remembers the person who is being referred to as the victim, so we were able to contact their mother after asking around. She has confirmed to us that the person being referred to as the victim had in fact been on good terms with the artist. The mother remembered the names of the students who bullied her child at school, so she was able to confirm this fact with us immediately.

The person who was referred to as the victim is currently living well in society and feels burdened about the incidents of their past being known without their consent and in a way that they did not wish for. Despite this, they have verified the facts with us for the sake of the artist.

We are actively looking into the 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 their reluctance to be reached out to, making it a situation in which it is not only difficult to get into contact 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 it’s what the writer wants, we are open to meeting with the writer and confirming the facts at any time and in the way they prefer, and we will take measures accordingly after that.

We have no objections about the opinion that the society-wide issue of school violence must be considered from the victim’s perspective. However, in addition to the victim’s perspective, we determined that it was necessary to clearly verify the facts before taking any necessary measures.

The matters that were deemed problematic were incidents that took place in the past when the artist was in elementary school and middle school, so we believe that it is necessary to verify the facts and get as close as possible to what really happened in order to make a judgement.

The artist himself shared his apology for causing discomfort to fans due to this issue being raised. He has temporarily halted his scheduled activities and entrusted 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 measures accordingly. However, we ask for your understanding as this is not a simple process and will take some time.

It is most important to meet those who have stated they were harmed, verify the facts, and help their mental wounds heal. In addition to this, we cannot make a swift decision about something that will impact an artist’s life without making sure of the facts, and we ask for your understanding on this as well. Of course, after we have completed our fact-checking and find that there was clear culpability, we promise to take clear measures accordingly.

We once again share our apology for causing an inconvenience with a matter related to our artist.

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