Happyface Entertainment and YG Entertainment faced off in court.

After the end of JTBC and YG Entertainment’s survival show “MIXNINE” in January, YG Entertainment announced that the nine finalists would not be debuting as previously announced. The show had received much lower ratings than many had expected. YG Entertainment stated that the group would not be debuting due to issues with coming to an agreement with the members’ individual agencies over their contracts.

One of the finalists was Happyface Entertainment’s Woo Jin Young, and the agency filed a lawsuit in June against YG Entertainment for 10 million won (approximately $8,854) in damages. A source from Happyface Entertainment said at the time, “More than to be compensated for all the damages we have received, this is a symbolic amount filed in our hopes that Korean popular culture, the home of Hallyu, will progress healthily without the overuse of power by large companies.”

November 28 was the date for argument for the lawsuit filed against YG Entertainment by Happyface Entertainment for damages, and proceedings were held at the Seoul Central District Court.

During the proceedings, a representative of Happyface Entertainment brought up YG Entertainment’s newest survival show “YG Treasure Box.” The show includes YG trainees vying for a spot in a new boy group that the agency is planning to debut.

The representative said, “I want to ask about the similarly-formatted YG audition program ‘YG Treasure Box’ and whether they have an obligation to debut [the group] if the show doesn’t do well.”

In response, a source from the defendant YG Entertainment replied, “I think that there’s a different intention behind saying something like this. This isn’t an issue, and it’s a situation that can be decided upon based on the contract. It has no relation to this issue.”

The court decided that it would proceed with the lawsuit and hold the next date of argument on January 16, 2019.

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