Pledis Entertainment announced its position on its official SNS account on the afternoon of the 28th. The agency said that they have been in contact with the person involved in the incident through various routes to confirm the facts, and are still in contact. ŌĆ£We have confirmed the circumstances of the incident from many acquaintances, including fellow students of the artist,ŌĆØ it revealed. Pledis Ent. said that it would like to explain what has been confirmed and checked so far. ŌĆ£While there was a story that the artist bullied disabled students, this is not true at all,ŌĆØ it explained. The company also considers it important to get as close to the facts and determine what happened, as this is what happened in the artistŌĆÖs elementary and middle school. ŌĆ£The artist himself expressed his sincere apology for causing such inconvenience to fans because of the incident, and now has halted his scheduled activities and handed the issue over to the company so we can check the facts.ŌĆØ Pledis Ent. also asked for everyoneŌĆÖs understanding as the process of confirming with facts and taking actions accordingly will take some time, as complicated as they are. The following is the full text of the agencyŌĆÖs statement. Hello. This is Pledis Entertainment. We would like to make our position on the claims recently made regarding the school days of SEVENTEENŌĆÖs Mingyu. First, we would like to say sorry for not being able to make our statement earlier. Since these claims were posted, we have proceeded with the artistŌĆÖs own confirmation and followed necessary procedures for further verifications. In such a process, we found that there was a difference between what was posted, and what we checked with the artist. Whilst there are many social issues related to school violence in the present, we believe that a clear confirmation of this issue should take precedence. Hence we are proceeding with everything with a confirmation step. We apologize for the delay in our statement due to this process. As mentioned, we have contacted the individual involved in the incident in various ways to verify the facts, and we are still in contact with them. We also have checked the circumstances of the incident from the artistŌĆÖs fellow students and others. First of all, to explain what has been confirmed so far, the story that the artist bullied disabled students is not true at all. The artist himself clearly remembered the person who was pointed as the victim, so he was able to contact the individualŌĆÖs mother after inquiring around. As a result, it has been confirmed that the person identified as the victim actually has had a good relationship with the artist. Their mother was able to check this right away as she remembered the names of the students who bullied her child at school. Currently, the individual is told to be doing well in society but is burdened by the fact that things in the past have been made public in an unwanted way without their consent. Nevertheless, they have confirmed the facts for the artist. We are actively checking the rest of the issues. However, it is difficult to specify who made these posts online, and some posts indicate that the original poster does not want to be contacted, so it is difficult to contact them. [Redacted] We do not disagree that the matter of school violence, which is a social problem, should be considered from the victimŌĆÖs perspective. However, we decided that measures should be taken only after clear confirmation of facts, along with victimsŌĆÖ perspectives. [Redacted] It is most essential to meet the people who said they were affected, check the facts, and take action so that their hearts can heal. Furthermore, we ask for everyoneŌĆÖs understanding that we cannot easily determine the problem which risks an artistŌĆÖs life without checking the facts. Of course, we promise that if we find any obvious faults after confirming the facts, we will surely take action accordingly. Once again, we would like to apologize for the inconvenience caused by the issues related to our artist. ┬Ā Source (1)
