CLOSE YOUR EYES' Agency Issues New Statement Regarding Conflict With PocketDol Studio

UNCORE, the agency managing “PROJECT 7” group CLOSE YOUR EYES, has released a rebuttal in response to PocketDol Studio’s recent claims.

The conflict began when UNCORE announced plans to take legal action against a participating agency, accusing them of breaching the participation contract by scheduling activities for their artists outside of the project group. In response, PocketDol Studio, which represents CLOSE YOUR EYES members BAE173’s J-Min (Jeon Minwook) and Sakurada Kenshin, countered with a statement claiming that their prior contract with the production team explicitly allowed for dual activities. They further claimed that the PROJECT 7 team had “suddenly changed its stance upon the final debut lineup being selected.”

UNCORE has now firmly refuted these allegations with a new statement:

According to the contract for <PROJECT 7> signed by PocketDol Studio, the artists selected for the final debut group are required to sign a management contract with UNCORE, the management company for the project group ‘CLOSE YOUR EYES,’ and are obligated to engage in activities for 36 months.

Additionally, it was guaranteed at the time of the contract that the artists had no other contracts conflicting with the project group’s activities and that they would not enter into any such contracts in the future. This contract was uniformly applied to all 200 participants of <PROJECT 7> without exception, under the same terms and conditions.

However, PocketDol Studio claims that the artists either notified <PROJECT 7> production company or they reached an agreement with, asserting their individual activities were permitted. The relevant clause in the contract was put in place to allow artists to appear on the program if they had unavoidable prior contracts, with the consent of the production team, ensuring that no harm would come to the artists. This clause does not mean that artists can independently pursue other activities during <PROJECT 7> or after the final debut as a group, which would be a clear breach of contract.

Furthermore, PocketDol Studio has not notified <PROJECT 7> production company in advance of the artists’ individual schedules nor communicated with the production team regarding any such matters. Even if there was a unilateral request from PocketDol Studio, there was no indication from the production company that they would approve it.

Individual activities of the artists that conflict with the ‘CLOSE YOUR EYES’ project will violate the contract, and UNCORE will have no choice but to hold PocketDol Studio accountable, including through claims for damages.

In particular, it is crucial to maintain fairness in such open audition, and any separate demands from PocketDol Studio that differ from the original terms would undermine the fairness of the process, causing both direct and indirect harm to the other 198 participants, their families, and related parties.

Given PocketDol Studio’s extensive experience in producing audition programs and managing artists, we believe PocketDol Studio fully understands the immense effort and time required for ‘CLOSE YOUR EYES’ to reach debut status. They are also well aware of how individual activities by the artists could significantly impact on the future activities of ‘CLOSE YOUR EYES.’

We urge PocketDol Studio to listen to the artists, their parents, and their fans, who desire to continue their successful careers as part of ‘CLOSE YOUR EYES’ and dedicate themselves fully to the group’s activities. As it is also in the interest of PocketDol Studio, which receives a revenue share from this project, we once again request that PocketDol Studio actively cooperate in ensuring the artists focus solely on their activities on ‘CLOSE YOUR EYES.’

Source (1)