The Rose has released a statement regarding their conflict with their agency.

Recently, it was revealed that The Rose had sent a certification of contents requesting the termination of their contracts with their agency J & STAR Company. The company has also already sent in a certification of contents refuting the contents detailed by The Rose.

While The Rose stated that the agency enforced an unreasonable schedule and that there were many problems regarding payment, J & STAR Company released a statement denying their claims, stating that they would be taking legal action.

On March 3, all members of The Rose posted photos of a statement titled “The Rose’s stance on the termination of the exclusive contract with the agency” on each of their Instagram accounts. The statement, written by their law firm, also includes photos from The Rose’s exclusive contracts as further evidence of their claims. The statement is provided below:

LIWU law firm (Lawyers in charge: Jung Kyung Seok, Heo Sung Hoon, Kang Soo Kyung), as legal representatives of the members of The Rose, would like to reveal our stance on the termination of The Rose’s exclusive contract.

First, we would like to send words of consolation to The Rose’s fan club Black Rose, who are worrying more than anyone else due to this situation.

After The Rose debuted in August 2017, they promoted actively as celebrities by releasing five albums in three years, having a world tour of at least 50 concerts in 20 countries, featuring in various broadcasts including JTBC’s “Super Band” and KBS’s “Immortal Songs,” holding solo concerts in Seoul and Busan, and featuring in advertisements (SK Telecom, FLO), and releasing OSTs (for dramas “Strangers From Hell,” “Itaewon Class,” and more).

The Rose received their balance statement from their agency J & STAR Company on January 31, 2020. Despite the fact that the exclusive contract states that payment should occur every month, the first balance statement was distributed on March 27, 2019. At the time, there were no earnings to be distributed, and enough profits to be distributed were earned at last in 2019. However, even then, one member had a negative balance and had no profits to be distributed to him.

The law firm, as representatives of The Rose, sent a written notice on February 6, 2020 to request documentary evidence of the calculation of payment within 10 days, but J & STAR Company provided no response. Since there was no answer within the two weeks of the correction period as stated by the exclusive contract, we sent a notice of termination on February 21, 2020, and J & STAR Company had no response despite receiving [the notice] on February 24, 2020.

The Rose was not aware in the slightest of about the conditions J & STAR Company had set while signing contracts for The Rose’s concerts held domestically and abroad. The Rose was unilaterally notified of their schedule of the first half of 2020 without having the members’ physical and mental readiness and condition taken into consideration . Law firm LIWU requested related documents and correction, but J & STAR Company made claims as if everything had been agreed upon beforehand and showed no intent to change, adding another reason for the contract termination.

Although J & STAR Company had sent a reply on February 27, 2020, there were no documents regarding evidence of calculation of payment as requested by The Rose, and along with excuses that there were no profits, the company only warned and threatened The Rose with civil and criminal legal action worth billions of won (millions of dollars).

In order to receive confirmation of the termination of the exclusive contract legally, The Rose will request to confirm the non-existence of the exclusive contract with the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, and we have filed for injunction to the Seoul Central District Court on March 2, 2020 in order to put a stop to the effectiveness of the exclusive contract until the decision is revealed.

What The Rose has requested from the agency constitutes the minimal rights of celebrities as defined by the standard exclusive contract, and as [the company] had not accepted even that request, there were no other choices than to terminate the contract. Law firm LIWU will pray that this case is quickly resolved so that The Rose can meet their fans as soon as possible, and we will do our best in order to protect the rights of The Rose.