Why RIIZE’s Seunghan Deserves Justice
As RIIZE gears up for a new comeback and their first tour, Seunghan continues to be excluded from group activities.
Six months ago, private photos of RIIZE’s vocalist Seunghan were leaked. The photos were nothing out of the ordinary for a teenager. Seunghan, who is now twenty years old, was depicted smoking and hanging out with a girl who many fans presumed to be his girlfriend. In normal circumstances, photos like this would have never even warranted a thread on a fandom message board. But in K-Pop these photos can ruin a career. For Seunghan in particular, the leak couldn’t have come at a more vulnerable time: He had debuted only two months prior.
SM Entertainment, the company that manages RIIZE, immediately turned to a familiar strategy: Seunghan was placed on hiatus. SM has navigated several scandals, some small and some great, with this tactic. Their most high-profile scandals included accusations that Red Velvet’s Irene is a bully and that NCT’s Lucas was a cheater. For each scandal, an idol must share a handwritten letter and then immediately recede from public view. But Seunghan’s scandal was different because he did nothing wrong.
“Seunghan sincerely regrets disappointing the team, the members and fans with the issues surrounding his private life that have been spreading across online communities,” a statement from SM read in November. “He has expressed his wishes to halt group activities because of the mental burden and a sense of responsibility for the team. We agreed that it would be difficult to continue under the current circumstances and decided to indefinitely stop his group activities.”
SM emphasized that it was Seunghan’s decision to pause group activities, reinforced by the singer’s own handwritten apology. “I am well aware that my past thoughtless actions are causing a lot of harm to many people now. I truly regret and reflect on my behavior. I want to express my deepest apologies to the fans who have supported me and the members of RIIZE,” he wrote. “I deeply regret that I have caused so much damage during a time when I should be working harder and striving for self-improvement.”
However in the following months, Seunghan has been excluded from a presence on RIIZE merchandise. He is never mentioned on RIIZE’s social media. Perhaps most troublingly, this week SM released “Siren”, a popular pre-debut track that once featured Seunghan. He has been erased from the newest version. Seunghan is also not featured in a comeback trailer for the group’s new EP “RIIZING” or in promos for the group’s fan con tour which will stop in Los Angeles in May.
But in the time since Seunghan’s departure, RIIZE has been targeted with several leaks that threatened to upend the group. Similar to Seunghan’s controversy, members Eunseok and Anton were targeted with accusations that broke a cardinal rule of K-Pop: That they are dating. In Anton’s case, the leak was a photo of him holding hands with a friend. In response, his friend publicly defended Anton and denied that they are in a relationship. “Anton and I have been friends since we were young, and as seen in the rest of these photos, we were in a group setting with other close friends of ours, and continued to hang out in group settings throughout the day,” she wrote in an Instagram Story.
While SM released a statement that they would take legal action against the leakers, Anton, looking visibly upset, apologized for how his actions “upset and confused” fans on a Weverse Live. Eunseok, also looking stricken, offered an apology
It deeply confuses and concerns me that RIIZE must apologize when they’ve done nothing wrong. This age-old strategy to apologize is not that different from the problematic adage “the customer is always right”, and in this case, the customer is K-Pop consumers. But these apologies have consequences largely in the form of emboldening more criminals to leak private information and photos about idols.
But it’s not just an idol’s career that is ruined, it is also their mental health. Idols work for years to finally debut, and the effects of losing everything at such a young age can be devastating. Many young idols like Seunghan, Anton, and Eunseok are barely adults, which impacts their ability to process trauma. I wonder who looked after Anton and Eunseok after they apologized on Weverse Live. I wonder, too, who reminded Seunghan that he did nothing wrong after he finished writing two apology letters. I hope that they know none of this is their fault. But above all, I hope they are surrounded by people who care about them and who make them feel safe..
SM has released no plans for whether Seunghan will return to the group. If previous hiatuses are any indication, if he does, it likely won’t be until well after a year from when he first left. If he does return, the cost of his comeback will have been steep. The industry must do better protecting its idols, and in standing up for them. But fans also play a part in this: We must demand for better treatment and protection for our idols.
