Pledis Entertainment has released a second statement, further detailing the label's stance in regard to one online user's sexual assault accusation toward NU'EST member and 'Produce 101' season 2 trainee Baekho (Kang Dong Ho).
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The statement is as follows:
"Hello, this is Pledis Entertainment. We would like to announce an official position regrading the false statements relating to our label's artist Kang Dong Ho.
First, all posts being circulated online are completely false. We plan on taking strict legal actions, without any exceptions, against false online posts currently circulating recklessly, as we mentioned before. And to prove Kang Dong Ho's innocence, we are currently processing legal charges on the basis of privacy violation, circulation of false content, creation of initial false posts and spreading them, and more.
In order to protect our artist's privacy rights, we did not mention any specific content regarding the false rumors in our previous statement. But because distorted information has been spread continuously, we intend to correct the matter.
The side claiming these false rumors is an acquaintance of Kang Dong Ho (the younger sibling of a former friend from his hometown), whose families also know one another. Once Kang Dong Ho responded to a KakaoTalk message from his acquaintance, the opposing side put forth a startling claim that she had been sexually assaulted, and Kang Dong Ho then asked for a voice call. The opposing side rejected the voice call inquiry, and Kang Dong Ho then contacted the label about the situation. Because Kang Dong Ho is an individual who receives the attention of a lot of people, we prevented him from further contact with his acquaintance until we had better assessment of the situation, thinking that each and every word would be cause for serious consequences. This is why [Kang Dong Ho] rejected any more contact attempts from the opposing side.
Afterward, Kang Dong Ho received a call from another phone number he did not know, and taken back after realizing that the call was from the acquaintance, he was careful about anything he would say, thus being unable to convey much more than that he would contact her later, and ending the call. Regardless of whom the other person on the line is, in a situation where one pours one-sided claims one after another in conversation, Kang Dong Ho could only become more flustered, and gave the simplest responses before hanging up. Despite that, just because he answered one call, false information has been circulating as if the footage containing the acquaintance's one-sided claims provide proof of the incident.
We would also like to stress that we plan on taking legal actions and demanding that the involved parties take full responsibilities for all illegalities in relation to the false rumors. Thank you."
The online user has yet to make any additional posts since the initial claims.
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