Wake One Entertainment Faces Controversy Over 'Boys Planet 2' Participants

The 2019 Mnet show 'Produce X 101' ended in controversy with the disbandment of the group X1 due to vote manipulation. Now, six years later, another controversy has emerged. It has been officially revealed that Kim Gun-woo and Kang Woo-jin, who were introduced as individual participants on 'Boys Planet 2,' were actually trainees under Wake One Entertainment.

Wake One, a subsidiary of CJ ENM, announced on its official social media on the 21st, "Kim Gun-woo and Kang Woo-jin, currently appearing on 'Boys Planet 2' as individual participants, are trainees under Wake One."

Kim Gun-woo is the Planet K center for this season, and Kang Woo-jin gained attention with his performance of BoA's 'Atlantis Princess.' Both were introduced on the show as individual trainees without agency affiliation, but it has been revealed they were under contract with Wake One.

Wake One explained, "Kim Gun-woo had already applied and been evaluated for the program before signing a trainee contract with us. He had been preparing to appear as an individual trainee, so there were scheduling constraints in appearing with existing Wake One trainees."

Regarding Kang Woo-jin, Wake One stated, "He was a trainee aiming to become a singer-songwriter, with a different musical direction from trainees receiving idol training. As he had no professional idol training experience, it was deemed more appropriate for him to appear as an individual rather than as part of the Wake One team."

Wake One apologized, "We deeply apologize for causing confusion and concern to the production team, viewers, and fans," and announced that they have decided to terminate the trainee contracts with both individuals after discussions. Kim Gun-woo and Kang Woo-jin will continue to appear on the show as individual participants, as they did at the initial application stage.

However, regarding the recent allegations of trainee bullying involving Kim Gun-woo, Wake One stated, "Although the trainee contract has ended, we plan to actively respond to parts of the allegations that are not true," indicating their intention to support Kim Gun-woo to some extent.