[Official] Cha Ga-won issues apology over unpaid wages incident... "I am ashamed"

*This content was translated by AI.

Cha Ga-won, chairman of Peak Group, has finally bowed his head.

On the 11th, Cha Ga-won's legal representative, lawyer Hyun Dong-yeop, conveyed Cha Ga-won's position via a personal YouTube channel.

On that day, Cha Ga-won said, "I deeply regret and sincerely apologize for the delay in paying the wages that should have been given to you. I have no face to show for failing to keep even the most basic promise to those who trusted the company and worked hard with us."

Cha Ga-won continued, "The company has been working to understand and resolve the internal situation, and as a result, we intend to pay the unpaid wages. We will provide detailed procedures through our legal representative, Hwagum Law Firm, and will make the payment as quickly as possible."

Cha Ga-won co-founded the One Hundred Label label with singer MC Mong in December 2023. Since then, the two have rapidly grown into a new powerhouse in the entertainment industry by successively acquiring and absorbing Big Planet Made Entertainment, Million Market, and INB100, which includes EXO EXO-CBX (Chen, Baekhyun, Xiumin), backed by formidable capital.

However, Cha Ga-won and MC Mong's bold moves began to falter in June last year when MC Mong was suddenly excluded from all business activities. Subsequently, circumstances emerged suggesting that hundreds of billions of won in abnormal funds had passed between Cha Ga-won, who is married, and MC Mong, along with allegations of an affair, triggering a fierce backlash.

However, both MC Mong and Cha Ga-won's side completely denied the affair allegations. In particular, they claimed that the conversation messages released by a certain media outlet that first raised the suspicion were fabricated, and the court has already issued an order to delete and prohibit the distribution of the article.

Recently, a controversy over the non-payment of a large settlement amount has erupted, leading to a mass exodus as key artists including Lee Mu-jin, The Boyz, Lee Seung-gi, VIVIZ (Eunha, Shin-bi, Umji) from Girl's Generation, and EXO-CBX have notified of termination of their exclusive contracts and filed for provisional injunctions.

Meanwhile, Cha Ga-won's side filed for a provisional injunction citing "serious infringement of portrait and voice rights" and "serious defamation through malicious distorted editing" after an MBC 'PD Notebook' preview covering issues related to Cha Ga-won was released, claiming the content was filmed without consent and edited maliciously. They demanded payment of 10 million won for each violation if the order is breached.

However, on the 2nd, the Seoul Western District Court rejected Cha Ga-won's application for a provisional injunction to prohibit the use of portrait rights and to stop the broadcast of 'PD Notebook,' and 'PD Notebook' aired as scheduled.

- Below is the full official statement from Cha Ga-won's side.

Hello. This is Cha Ga-won, CEO of Big Planet MeLee Deu-en-teo (CEO) Co., Ltd.

First, I deeply regret and sincerely apologize for the delay in paying the wages that should have been given to you.

I have no face to show for failing to keep even the most basic promise to those who trusted the company and worked hard with us.

The company has been working to understand and resolve the internal situation, and as a result, we intend to pay the unpaid wages.

We will provide detailed procedures through our legal representative, Hwagum Law Firm, and will make the payment as quickly as possible.

Once again, I sincerely apologize and will take full responsibility until the end.

Cha Ga-won, CEO of Big Planet Made Entertainment Co., Ltd.

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*This content was translated by AI.