VCHA‘S KG has announced her departure from the group and also announced that she will be filing a lawsuit against it JYP Entertainment for abuse and mistreatment.

In an Instagram story, she describes how employees have led to a deterioration in their mental health, an environment that she says led to one employee attempting suicide.

Yesterday I filed a lawsuit because I decided to terminate my contract with JYP Entertainment and leave VCHA following incidents of abuse and mistreatment by certain employees. I feel like it wasn’t a good environment for my mental health and I apologize if my vacation disappointed any of you.
I do not support the working and living conditions that led a member to attempt suicide. I also do not support an environment that promotes eating disorders and has resulted in members self-harming.
I made this decision back in May and am still waiting to be released from my contract. I’m worried about the girls who stay in VCHA, my friends who I really love and care about. I also realized that if I stay with JYP Entertainment, I won’t be able to become the artist I want to be as I really enjoy songwriting and production. I have accumulated enormous corporate debt while being paid very little for the intense work and extreme restrictions on our personal life. Although there were such incidents, there were also beautiful moments.

Finally, she thanks Park Jin Young and others, but blames the K-pop industry as a whole for the conditions.

I would like to thank JY Park, the company’s leaders and employees for believing in me and the exceptional training. I don’t blame anyone for the treatment they endured, but I believe this is a problem that is deeply rooted in the K-Pop industry. I am grateful for the friendships I have made and for the incredible opportunity to perform in front of a global audience. Thank you, V-lights, for your love and support, and I ask that you continue to show your support to VCHA, regardless of my absence. I developed a love for Korean culture and K-pop music. I will continue to make music in this genre in the future, but not under these circumstances.
I hope my vacation can encourage the K-pop system to make changes for the better in hopes of protecting the idols and trainees who remain in the hands of these companies.

It subsequently emerged that the lawsuit was 77 pages long, but was condensed into four pages. In it, KG describes that members were injured, that they were forced to sing despite being sick, that they were insulted by staff, that they were denied water and food, that they were monitored around the clock, that they were forced to stay there despite contractual entitlements to stay, and that they had a formal, intensive schedule of eight hours a day But the pressure of working up to 14 hours a day, lack of sleep, a wage below minimum wage and 500,000 in debt US dollars (and more as I continue to sift through them). Additionally, one member allegedly attempted suicide by consuming 42 Nyquil tablets. When this was brought to JYPE’s attention, they dismissed it, saying eating disorders were common, and kept the attempt a secret.

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While this story is certainly about VCHA, KG and JYP Entertainment, as KG himself says, unfortunately much of what is described could only apply to the K-pop industry. Everything described is horrific, but what struck me was the staff’s reaction to an attempted murder by a member. Even if they didn’t see it that way, dismissing an eating disorder as just another day in the life of a K-pop company employee should make you realize how normal all of these things are.

And that’s kind of a trend in the entire K-pop world, right? Every time these lawsuits are filed, fans and internet users are effectively debating the appropriate level of abuse by a company against young men and women that ultimately makes them money, and because these norms are so intertwined with the industry and our expectations – and because things used to be even worse in the first and second generations – people tend to lose sight of the person at the center.

Anyway, I wish KG and VCHA the best of luck, but part of me thinks they’ll just conclude that foreigners aren’t willing to work that hard or something like that.