YG Entertainment has revealed that Nam Taehyun will be leaving the group. The group will continue on without him.

In breaking news, it has been revealed that Nam Taehyun is permanently leaving WINNER. This comes as a shocking surprise to the entire K-Pop industry.

Below is the fully translated message by YG Entertainment:

WINNER who had many things planned for them this year had put all their activities on hold unfortunately due to Taehyun’s mental health issues.

YG and the other members have put Taehyun’s mental health as the main priority and decided to wait for his recovery. However, due to the fact that the mental issue was one that has been present ever since his childhood, it is impossible to predict when he will recover and when he will be able to return to activities.

After much discussions with Taehyun, we have decided that it is not possible for him to continue activities as a part of WINNER and as of November 18th the exclusive contract between YG and Nam Tae Hyun has been terminated.

This is mainly due to the fact that Taehyun felt responsible for the fact that the team was put on halt because of him and that WINNER, who is only two years into their debut, can no longer wait to continue their activities.

Although Taehyun will no longer be with WINNER we hope that they will continue to support each other in their musical careers.

YG plans to continue promoting WINNER as a 4 member group with no addition of new members. Please show WINNER and Taehyun much support and love as they stand on the start line again.

2NE1 also revealed in breaking news that they would be OFFICIALLY disbanding.

Stay tuned for more details as this story develops.

Source: YG Entertainment