PocketDol Studio has officially responded to allegations made by UNCORE, the agency managing “PROJECT 7” group CLOSE YOUR EYES, regarding contract violations.
Earlier, UNCORE announced plans to take legal action against a participating agency, accusing them of breaching the participation contract by scheduling activities for their artists outside of the project group.
On January 10, PocketDol Studio, representing CLOSE YOUR EYES members BAE173’s J-Min (Jeon Minwook) and Sakurada Kenshin, released the following statement addressing UNCORE’s announcement:
Hello. This is attorney Yang Tae Jung from Gwangya Law Firm, PocketDol Studio’s legal representative.
We express regret regarding UNCORE’s statement today, which indicated their intent to pursue legal action over alleged contract violations by an agency. BAE173—a group with five years of history—and ‘PROJECT 7’ had signed a prior contract that permits dual activities. PocketDol Studio finds it deeply concerning and disheartening that ‘PROJECT 7’ suddenly changed its stance upon the final debut lineup being selected.
UNCORE’s statement claimed: ‘All participants and their agencies of ‘PROJECT 7′ have been fully aware of that, upon signing the participation contract, they would not be allowed to engage in activities outside the project group without prior approval from UNCORE if they were selected as final members of the project group.’ It further accused an agency of ‘attempting to organize domestic and international events that go against the terms of the participation contract and of unilaterally claiming that their artists would engage in activities with a separate group alongside the CLOSE YOUR EYES project group, causing significant harm not only to the corresponding artists but also to the other members.’
This claim is factually inaccurate.
At the production team’s request, PocketDol Studio allowed its artists and trainees to participate in ‘PROJECT 7.’ Among them, BAE173’s J-Min (Jeon Minwook) and trainee Sakurada Kenshin were selected for the debut lineup. Upon the members’ participation, we signed a contract with the production team that explicitly allowed dual activities if selected for the final lineup.The ‘PROJECT 7’ participation contract specifically outlined exceptions for activities already agreed upon prior to signing, provided they were disclosed to the production team.
Additionally, the contract stated that participants must prioritize project group activities for 36 months, but if there were pre-existing contractual obligations, these must be disclosed to the management company, and schedules should be adjusted to avoid conflicts.
This arrangement was acknowledged by both the production team and the participating artists. Accordingly, we shared BAE173’s scheduled album releases and overseas tour plans with the production team to coordinate timelines.
However, after the final debut lineup was finalized, the production team sent a new management contract from UNCORE that prohibited dual activities. As the contract needed a lot of revisions, we were unable to sign the management contract, and J-Min and Kenshin proceeded with overseas schedules as members of the ‘PROJECT 7’ group without this agreement in place.
Amidst these developments, UNCORE cut off communication with us, blocked our access to the artists, and refused to disclose their dormitory location. Despite repeated attempts to confirm their whereabouts, our inquiries were continuously ignored. The situation escalated to the point where we filed a missing persons report for the two members on January 8 to make sure of their safety, especially since Kenshin is a minor and under our care, as we serve as his legal guardian in Korea.
When law enforcement intervened, UNCORE lied to the police by claiming that the two artists were with their parents. Only after the police contacted the parents to verify the claim did UNCORE admit the artists were at a practice room, further damaging trust.
In their statement, UNCORE declared, “We will not overlook the selfish actions of a particular agency and will take all necessary legal measures against their intentional interference with [CLOSE YOUR EYES] activities, which constitutes breach of contract, unfair competition, and illegal actions.”
We urge UNCORE to reconsider who is truly engaging in obstructive behavior. The one who changed their words was ‘PROJECT 7’: while ‘PROJECT 7’ initially encouraged participation with assurances of being allowed to do dual activities, they reversed their position once the debut lineup was finalized.
If this matter remains unresolved, we are prepared to disclose relevant contracts, correspondence, and emails to substantiate our claims.
We strongly condemn the actions of ‘PROJECT 7’ and UNCORE and will take all necessary legal measures to address this issue.
Thank you.
Source (1)