Hero Jaejoong, Micky Yoochun and Xiah Junsu of boyband Dong Bang Shin Ki, have been sued for a total of 2.2 billion won, equivalent to nearly two million dollars, by major talent house SM Entertainment.
SM, in charge of discovering and managing the five-member band, had taken legal action against the three singers on Monday, filing an objection against a court's decision ordering provisional disposition of their working contracts as well as a lawsuit reclaiming their validity.
"We are demanding compensation for damages the agency and the remaining two members have suffered from the cosmetics business the three have undertaken and their cancelling a concert in Shenzhen," SM stated in its complaint.
SM went onto explain that the conflict between the two parties arose from the cosmetics business the three singers invested in last year, after the agency claimed the singers would be violating their exclusive contract by using the group's name and portrait rights for the business.
"That is when they denied the validity of their working contract and filed for provisional disposition. They then one-sidedly decided to cancel on their schedules following the court ruling, inflicting immense damages to the remaining two members," SM claimed.
The trio had asked a court in late July last year to nullify their 13 year exclusive contract with SM to which the court ruled that the agency will not interfere in their individual activities.
Dong Bang Shin Ki had since stopped working as a group in Korea, although they carried on their activities in Japan, making TV and magazine appearances as well as releasing albums, until announcing on April 3rd that the group would no longer pursue a singing career together.
