The possibility that LOONA, a group that virtually suspended its activities as a singer due to a dispute with the agency, will be active in Japan rather than Korea has been raised.



According to entertainment industry officials on the 2nd, Japan's Universal Japan has begun a movement to directly exercise exclusive rights over the members of LOONA, whose full group activities have been postponed indefinitely due to an exclusive contract dispute with the agency Blockberry Creative.

Universal Japan is an investment company for LOONA and is in charge of management in Japan.



It has been reported that Universal Japan is in the process of materializing plans for Japan activities for all 12 Loona members.



If Universal Japan issues exclusive rights to LOONA by replacing Blockberry Creative, which has been red flagged for team activities, at least 3 years, including album release and fan meeting, taking into account the period of suspension due to COVID-19 It is expected to move the base to Japan and demand intensive activities.



Activities as a full group in Japan include Chuu, who started his own activities early on.



The Japanese agency said they decided to rectify the conflict between Loona and Blockberry Creative by providing the members directly, and expressed their will to show Japan's top record company.



However, it was reported that they took the position that if the members reject the activities proposed by the Japanese agency without any convincing reason, legal disputes in Japan should proceed in order.



In September 2019, in the exclusive contract signed by all members with Universal Japan, 'Even if the contractual relationship with Blockberry Creative expires, the members must fulfill the exclusive contract, and if they do not comply, compensation for damages will be made according to Japanese law. It is known that the clause explicitly contains a clause that says, "You must have an obligation to do



Blockberry Creative requested mediation from Yeonmaehyeop (Korea Entertainment Management Association) in December of last year for Chuu, and members Heejin, Choiri, Kim Lip, and Jinsoul, who were recently cited through a lawsuit for suspension of the exclusive contract, were also notified in relation to their activities. He is said to have filed a complaint.



Against this backdrop, it can be interpreted that the purpose was to defend in advance against a lawsuit filed by the Japanese side as Blockberry Creative was in danger of effectively handing over the exclusive rights to Loona to a Japanese agency.


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Previously, even after the contract in Korea was terminated, some girl groups still had the period of the exclusive contract signed with the Japanese agency, so in fact, there were cases where they went to Japan and performed the remaining activities even after the team activity ended.



Meanwhile, LOONA consisted of 11 Koreans and 1 Hong Konger, but in November of last year, the agency expelled Chuu for abuse of power against the manager and was reorganized into an 11-member group.



Previously, Chuu had won a lawsuit against his agency for a temporary injunction to suspend the validity of his exclusive contract and had been conducting independent activities.

On the other hand, Haseul, Yeojin, Eve, Olivia Hye, and Go Won lost the lawsuit and stayed with the company.





(Reporter Kang Kyung-yoon of SBS Entertainment News)