Attrakt to launch audition show for new girl group

Attrakt, K-pop agency home to girl group Fifty Fifty, to start a new girl group debut project [ATTRAKT]

Fifty Fifty agency Attrakt will air an audition program to debut a new girl group within the first half of next year, the K-pop company said Monday.

Details of the audition program have not been disclosed yet, such as when the show will air or the number of members they will be recruiting through the show.

Famed girl group audition programs include cable channel Mnet's "Produce 101" series, which gave off project girl groups I.O.I and IZ*ONE, and the recently-wrapped "R U Next?" organized by JTBC and HYBE, through which girl group I'LL-IT will debut.

"I feel a strong sense of commitment to making new content for the investors who believed in the company, every staff working hard on the scene and for the future of the company," Attrakt CEO Oscar Jun said in a press release.

"We will keep on taking our steps into the future with various projects, including the new girl group."

The news comes a week after a Seoul court sided with Attrakt, not the K-pop quartet, in a dismissal of the group's plea to have its exclusive contract with the agency nullified on Aug. 28.

The four-member girl group filed for an injunction on its contracts with Attrakt on June 19, arguing that the company had treated the members unfairly.

The court found that although Attrakt did fail to notify Fifty Fifty of data related to income distribution, it was not often enough to break the exclusive contract between the two parties.

The company also did not neglect members' health or force them to perform despite their health conditions, the court said.

Attrakt signed a deal with Evergreen Group Holdings, a Singaporean investment company, on Aug. 25, which promised to draw in a 10 billion won ($7.57 million) investment for Attrakt before the end of September, three days before the ruling came.

Having made the investment agreement even before the court's decision means that the investor valued Oscar Jun's capabilities rather than the girl group members, according to Attrakt's press release.

Through the deal, Evergreen will gather a group of investors to invest 10 billion won in the K-pop agency by the end of this month.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]