The East Light’s Lee Seok-cheol during a press conference on October 19 said he was physical and verbally abused by Media Line Entertainment’s CEO Kim Chang-hwan and a producer, and vowed to take legal action.
The 18-year-old leader and drummer of the teenage boy band gave a full testimony with his legal representative by his side and informed the press that from 2015 through 2017, the members, including himself, had been assaulted or connived. The artist went on to give detailed descriptions of the abuse they received from the agency’s chairman Kim Chang-hwan and a resident producer, before and after the band formed in 2016.
He also mentioned that the decision to hold a press conference was “in hopes of eliminating child abuse and violation of human rights in the K-Pop industry”.
A year and four months ago, the agency released a statement regarding a similar incident that happened during their training but it was resolved with the members and their parents. However, the teenager claimed that the abuse was repeated a month later.
The group’s lawyer present at the conference said Lee Seok-cheol’s younger brother and the band’s bassist Lee Seung-hyun was forced to leave The East Light after he complained to the CEO about the producer’s return. He added that both brothers will take legal action against the company and will take precautions in discussing it with the other members as they are minors.
As for the anonymous producer, he took full responsibility and handed in his resignation.
Following the press conference, the label’s CEO claimed he had never been part of the abuse or assault throughout the last 30 years and “never encouraged or provided orders to abuse anyone”.
