Unsatisfied with their treatment under their managing company, members of Korean superstar boyband Dong Bang Shin Ki, namely Xiah Junsu, Youngwoong Jaejoong and Micky Yoochun have brought their case to court. However, once the hearing is held and if the members lose their case, a compensation sum of approximately 10.6 billion TWD will have to be paid, tantamount to forcing them into a tight corner. At the beginning of this month, news of the three members being dissatisfied with SM Entertainment and wanting to leave had begun to surface. In return, SM declared publicly that there was no such thing, and even professed that if they wanted to leave, then they would have to pay to do so. Once the news of this got out, the 800 thousand strong fan base of Dong Bang Shin Ki almost immediately took action, firstly by using the cancellation of the SM Town Concert to start a boycott of SM products as a form of support for their idols. SM Entertainment has also seemingly not cared much about all of these measures fans have been taking. Instead, SM has been registering the names of their popular groups such as Super Junior and So Nyeo Shi Dae (Girls’ Generation) as well as Dong Bang Shin Ki, in order to prevent Dong Bang Shin Ki from starting over elsewhere. According to news reports, a seminar where media experts and scholars came together to discuss this problem all stood on DBSK’s side, saying that SM has used DBSK merely for profit, and the amount that they are paid every year, five miliion TWD, is ridiculous. Now that DBSK wants their freedom back, the price that they have to pay is far too much, and purely a device to back them into a corner that they cannot retreat out of. The “Dong Bang Shin Ki Seminar”, co-held by fans, scholars and media experts, was held in order to examine what would happen in the case if the three members lost the case: the end result would be to pay the 10.6 billion TWD compensation sum. Thus, fans have denounced SM as a bloodsucking company, and they wish to voice out for their idols via the SM boycott. A/N: 10 600 000 000 Taiwan dollars = 401.778473 billion South Korean won 10 600 000 000 Taiwan dollars = 321.02100 million U.S. dollars Source: Yahoo! News Translated by: hazel @ http://asianfanatics.net
