[NEWS] 090821 SM "We've Lost 15 Billion Won+ In Image Damage Because Of This Trial"

SM Entertainment (SME) stated that they were the only ones who received damages because of the request for the suspension of TVXQ's exclusive contract.

On the 21st at 10:20 am, the first hearing for the lawsuit between SM Entertainment and the three members of TVXQ's Youngwoong Jaejoon, Micky Yoochun and Xiah Junsu, began.

During this hearing, SME's lawyer stated, "In the case of the three members of TVXQ, they don't have any dissatisfied feelings towards this lawsuit as it got them out of concerts and advertisements that they did not want to participate in," and "But in the case of SME, they had to pay compensation for said canceled events and future scheduled events with 8 billion Won to pay domestically and 15 billion Won to pay if overseas activities are calculated. Not only will SME suffer monetary loss, the image of SME has also been hit because of this trial."

SME's lawyer stated that the focus of this lawsuit was not the period of the exclusive contract or the unfair income division, but the cosmetic company that the three members were involved with. He explained that the only two reasons SME asked the three members not to participate in such a venture were because such a venture went against their exclusive contract and because the venture could hit TVXQ's image in a negative way.

SME's lawyer also said, "In reference to the length of their exclusive contract, the special quality of the entertainment business needs to be considered," and "Even in the recommended exclusive contract guidelines released recently, there are exceptions when it comes to singers."

He also said, "The three members claim that they never were told of exactly how much they earned but SME revealed this amount to the members every six months and the members even signed these income documents."

On a side note, the three members of TVXQ filed for an Exclusive Contract Validity Suspension and Provisional Disposition Request against their agency SM Entertainment on July 31st. They also filed for a Preservation of Evidence request to be able to calculate the exact amount of TVXQ's income.

The three members asked for a cancellation of their contract due to the unlawful clauses in said contract but SM Entertainment stated that the three members were filing this lawsuit because of the cosmetic company they were associated with; both sides show no signs of backing down. TVXQ's leader U-Know Yunho and youngest leader Choikang Changmin did not participate in this lawsuit.