Baekhyun, Chen, and Xiumin, the 'SM Slave Contract' situation has surfaced again... What about EXO's comeback?

EXO's Baekhyun, Chen, and Xiumin notified their agency SM Entertainment (hereinafter referred to as 'SM') to terminate their exclusive contracts. It was a situation ahead of group activities this year. As much as they took legal action against SM, their comeback became unclear.

On the 1st, Lawyer Lee Jae-hak of Lin Law Firm, who was in charge of legal representation for Baekhyun, Xiumin, and Chen, gave an official position on this matter.

Lin, the law firm, said, "From March 21st to the present, we sent a content certification to SM seven times, and through this, we repeatedly requested copies of the transparent settlement data and settlement basis." We maintained our position that we could not provide it.”

"After SM had previously signed long-term contracts of 12 to 13 years or more with artists, and this period was not enough, they had them sign the follow-up exclusive contracts again, so that the long-term contract period of at least 17 or 18 years was not enough. They are repeatedly committing extremely unfair tyranny, such as making claims.”

They added, "As SM failed to fulfill its obligation to provide data, grounds for termination of the existing exclusive contracts arose.

In response, on the same day, SM said in a statement, "Take advantage of a period when we are concentrating our capabilities to prepare for a new leap forward, approach our artists, deliver false information/wrong legal assessments, and disregard our exclusive contracts. We are seeing outside forces making unreasonable offers, saying that it would be okay to sign a contract with them."

In addition, "Those outside forces, despite not having any genuine thought for the artist, are illegally enticing our company's artists to make wrong judgments and violate exclusive contracts or sign double contracts through groundless rumors, slander, and coaxing, etc. It is committing an act,” he dismissed.

This is not the only case of exclusive contract disputes with SM celebrities. In 2009, TVXQ members Kim Jaejoong, Park Yoochun, and Kim Junsu filed a lawsuit to cancel the contract, saying, "SM Entertainment's exclusive contract is a slave contract."

They claimed that they suffered damage from SM's unfair contract, including a 13-year long-term contract and compensation of 3 times their annual income upon withdrawal. The two sides concluded the case through voluntary mediation through court disputes for about 3 years and 4 months.

Until recently, EXO has been working hard on preparing for a group album comeback. In April, they held a fan meeting and showed their will to be active. However, things have changed. The uncomfortable relationship between SM and some members of EXO, which had not been revealed so far, broke out. Normal comeback activities cannot be guaranteed unless an accurate explanation of the controversy and the sealing of the relationship between the two sides are made.

Reporter Yoon Jun-ho, Ten Asia delo410@tenasia.co.kr