The Boyz former member Ju Hak-nyeon raises legal challenge over contract termination

Singer Ju Hak-nyeon of boy band The Boyz on Aug. 27, 2024 [NEWS1]

 
Ju Hak-nyeon, a former member of boy band The Boyz, on Sunday denied allegations of soliciting prostitution and said he will sue his former agency One Hundred Label.
  
Ju shared a statement on his social media account on Sunday detailing the termination of his contract and allegations about his private life. 
 

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The incident stems from a report from Japanese tabloid Shukan Bunshun, which said last month that Ju had been spotted with model and influencer Asuka Kirara, who has worked as an adult film actor in the past. 
 
Ju said that One Hundred Label demanded that he sign a termination agreement that included paying over 2 billion won ($1.4 million) in damages after the report came to light. 
  
“They asked me to pay a penalty I wasn’t even contractually liable for and said there was no room for negotiation,” he said.
  
When Ju refused to sign the agreement on June 17, the agency announced his departure from the group the following day.
  
“I had not yet been mentioned in Shukan Bunshun, but right afterward, headlines about meeting an adult video actor began to appear, and eventually stories about prostitution were published,” Ju said.
  
Ju claimed that the entire sequence of events — from contract talks to tabloid reports to criminal accusations — happened within two days, making him suspect the agency orchestrated a reason to terminate his contract.
  
One Hundred Label, however, refuted that Ju violated Article 6, Clause 3 of his contract, which covers conduct that damages the dignity of a public figure, and that this justified termination.
  
But Ju pushed back on this interpretation. 
 
“The clause the agency cited is too vague and open to arbitrary interpretation,” he said. “The contract specifies that the clause refers to acts such as drunk driving, drug use, gambling, prostitution, assault, sexual assault and fraud. I have not committed any such crime.”
  
He also said the agency failed to follow the termination procedure outlined in Clause 15 of the contract.
  
“If I give up my life without revealing the truth, I will be remembered forever as a sex criminal,” Ju said. Prostitution is ostensibly illegal in Japan and Korea.
 
One Hundred Label announced on June 16 that Ju would stop his activities for personal reasons and said on June 18 that it had terminated his contract for issues related to his private life.  
 

From left: The Boyz’s Eric, Kevin, Sangyeon, Sunwoo, Hyunjae, Younghoon, Juyeon, Ju?Haknyeon, Q, Jacob and New pose at the Billboard K Power 100 event held at the Shilla Hotel’s State Banquet Hall in central Seoul on Aug. 27, 2024. [NEWS1]

 
Reports emerged also on June 18 that Ju had privately met with Asuka Kirara, a Japanese influencer and model who prior to 2020 was also an actor including roles in some adult films. Ju has denied the prostitution allegations and vowed legal action against reporters and One Hundred Label. 
 
With the allegations surrounding Ju, Shukan Bunshun published a picture of Ju hugging Kirara on a street in Tokyo on Saturday. He wore a cap and mask, while Kirara appeared in a white dress and sunglasses.
 
Kirara also shared a statement on her social media on Friday, saying that she “never received money in exchange for sex,” and another woman who was with her and Ju took the photo, which ended being sold to Shukan Bunshun.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]