Breaking: RIIZE's Seunghan To Permanently Leave The Group

Update: Seunghan Explains His Decision To Leave RIIZE In New Letter

RIIZE’s Seunghan is permanently leaving the group.

On October 13, just two days after announcing that Seunghan would be returning from his hiatus, Wizard Production—the SM Entertainment division in charge of managing RIIZE—followed up by announcing the news of Seunghan’s departure.

According to Wizard Production, Seunghan has personally expressed his desire to leave RIIZE for the sake of both the other members and the group’s fans. The directors stated, “Seunghan has consistently expressed his desire to leave the group for the sake of the members and the fans. Out of respect for the artist’s decision, we are announcing Seunghan’s departure from RIIZE.”

Seunghan originally debuted as a member of RIIZE in September of last year before halting all activities just two months later.

Their full statement is as follows:

Hello, this is Wizard Production.

First, we sincerely apologize for hurting BRIIZE [RIIZE’s fandom] and causing confusion through our announcement of Seunghan’s return on October 11.

We feel particularly apologetic for prioritizing Wizard Production’s position, instead of making our top priorities the growth achieved by the six RIIZE members while working their hardest; the support of BRIIZE, who have been RIIZE’s greatest source of strength during that journey; and the preciousness of the times that RIIZE and BRIIZE have spent together.

We made this decision after debating it for a long time because we thought that if Seunghan returned after reflecting on his past wrongdoings and RIIZE showed another level of growth as a group, we would be able to give the artist and the fans greater joy.

However, the announcement of his return, we ruminated carefully on each and every one of the opinions and responses sent in by fans, and we realized that our decision had actually hurt fans more and caused them greater confusion instead.

At the same time, Seunghan has consistently expressed his desire to leave the group for the sake of the members and the fans.

Out of respect for the artist’s decision, we are announcing Seunghan’s departure from RIIZE, instead of his joining the group.
We will support Seunghan in the future so that he can showcase his talents and follow his dreams.

Above all else, we also sincerely apologize for creating hardships and confusion for the six members who have, ever since their debut, always given their all while thinking of the fans and who made the RIIZE of today possible by thinking and working harder than anyone else in each and every moment.
We will continue to do our utmost to support the RIIZE members so that they can grow even further in the future as well.

Wizard Production will be careful and cautious in all matters in the future, and we will work hard so that RIIZE and BRIIZE can be happy together for a long time.

– Wizard Production directors Kim Hyeong Guk, Lee Sang Min