HYBE has issued an apology regarding the recent controversy over its industry evaluation report.

On October 29th KST, HYBE CEO Lee Jae Sang posted an apology on the company’s official website, stating, “I sincerely apologize to the artists, industry colleagues, and fans regarding our monitoring document.”

Lee explained, “This document was created to collect various responses and opinions on industry trends and issues after the fact. It was meant to be shared with a limited number of leadership for the purpose of gauging market and fan sentiment; however, the content of the document was highly inappropriate.”

He further admitted fault, stating, “We fully acknowledge the fault in using provocative and overly critical language toward K-pop artists, allowing personal opinions and assessments of the document’s author to be included, and in retaining this content in a formal document. We deeply regret and feel responsible for the harm and misunderstandings caused to innocent artists and staff due to unfounded claims of reverse marketing in the report.”

Lee Jae Sang extended a formal apology, “We sincerely apologize to the external artists who were mentioned in the report and who suffered harm and distress as a result. We have reached out to the respective agencies to offer our direct apologies, and we also extend our heartfelt apologies to the HYBE Music Group artists who have been subjected to criticism due to the company’s actions.”

He added, “We have immediately ceased the creation of this monitoring document and will establish guidelines and strengthen internal oversight to ensure this issue does not recur.”

Meanwhile, as reported by the press on October 29th KST, the individual responsible for creating the so-called “HYBE internal report” containing provocative assessments of idol group members’ appearances has been removed from their position.

This internal report, distributed weekly to HYBE and the heads of its affiliate labels, gained attention when parts of it were publicly disclosed during a national audit session on the 24th by Democratic Party representative Min Hyung Bae.

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