SM, JYP Entertainment vow to combat false information on Riize, Stray Kids

Boy band Stray Kids' Hyunjin, left, and Riize's Eunseok [NEWS1]

K-pop agencies SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment vowed to take legal action against people spreading “false information” online regarding members of boy bands Riize and Stray Kids.

“False information, as well as personal attacks, insults and malicious slander, on Riize members has been spreading indiscriminately throughout social media and online communities,” SM Entertainment posted on Riize’s X page on Wednesday.

“The above-mentioned actions are indisputably criminal acts that damage the artists’ character and honor, […] on which the company is currently reviewing the related evidence.”

SM Entertainment vowed that they would sue perpetrators without compromise or leniency.

JYP Entertainment also uploaded a similar statement on its website and on Stray Kids’ X page on Thursday.

The company said it was “in the process of taking the available legal action with professional law firms” against those who posted “malicious slander, defamation and false information” about the company’s artists.

JYP Entertainment's statement comes after a user claiming to be internet personality Han Seo-hee said in a group chat that she had dated Stray Kids member Hyunjin, and insulted him. Screenshots of the conversation circulated on social media after first being posted on Monday.

Similarly, SM Entertainment's statement comes after a screenshot of a message from a woman claiming to have dated Riize member Eunseok, sent to another woman alleged to be Han, also went viral.

Han denied that she was the one behind the messages, and said she will take legal action against the person who impersonated her.

“I will sue all of the [people posting] stories that come out [about me] for spreading false information,” Han said Monday. “I did not write those messages, and articles that imply that I did were published without getting any confirmation from me.”

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]