Following Lee Soo Man’s departure from SM, Sunny, Kim Minjong and Kyuhyun leaves… What about BoA and Kangta?

On the 8th, SM announced the expiration of Sunny’s exclusive contract.

SM stated, “Sunny’s exclusive contract with our company has ended. We express our gratitude to Sunny, who showed wonderful activities while being with our company for a long time, and we ask for your support for her new path ahead.”

Earlier in February, there was a management dispute between Lee Soo Man, the founder and former general producer of SM, and the SM management team. In the midst of this dispute, Lee Soo Man left SM, and the attention was focused on the activities of artists who were close to him.

Subsequently, following Kim Minjong and Shin Dong Yeob, Super Junior’s Kyuhyun, Eunhyuk, Donghae, and Lee Soo Man’s niece, Girls’ Generation’s Sunny, have also left SM Entertainment.

It started with Kim Minjong. Kim Minjong’s contract with SM ended at the end of June. Particularly, Kim Minjong, who had a close relationship with Lee Soo Man, openly supported Lee during the management dispute. When SM’s Lee Sung Soo and Tak Young Joon announced the transition to a new management system without Lee Soo Man, Kim Minjong sent an email to former SM employees expressing his opposing opinion.

Kim Minjong publicly supported Lee Soo Man, saying, “Lee Sung Soo and Tak Young Joon, co-CEOs who claim to work for Lee Soo Man and the SM family, unilaterally made announcements and farewells without any communication or discussion with Lee Soo Man, who dedicated his whole life to the founding and development of SM. Please respect Producer Lee Soo Man.”

Alongside Kim Minjong, composer Yoo Young Jin, who publicly supported Lee Soo Man, is known to be preparing a new agency together with Lee Soo Man.

Yoo Young Jin stated, “SM without Producer Lee Soo Man’s producing is not the true SM. I will follow the intentions of Teacher Lee Soo Man. I conveyed the opinion that I cannot work together with CEO Lee Sung Soo in the current situation.”

Entertainer Shin Dong Yeob also left SM C&C after 11 years.

On the 14th of last month, SM C&C announced, “After the expiration of Shin Dong Yeob’s exclusive contract, we have decided not to renew the contract.” SM C&C is an affiliate of SM, with entertainers Kang Ho Dong, Lee Soo Geun, Jeon Hyun Moo, and Seo Jang Hoon under its umbrella.

On the same day, Super Junior’s Eunhyuk, Donghae, and Kyuhyun also ended their contracts with SM.

SM stated on the 14th, “Eunhyuk, Donghae, and Kyuhyun will be pursuing individual activities separately from SM. While supporting Eunhyuk, Donghae, and Kyuhyun’s new challenges, we will continue to communicate closely to create synergies through various group and unit activities for Super Junior in the future.”

Donghae and Eunhyuk are said to be preparing to establish their own labels. The two, who have been part of the Super Junior D&E unit, known for songs like “Oppa, Oppa,” are expected to independently pursue their own activities. Kyuhyun recently signed an exclusive contract with Antenna.

As artists who were particularly close to Lee Soo Man are leaving one after another, attention is now on the moves of singers BoA and Kangta.

BoA was directly scouted by Lee Soo Man in 1996 and began her trainee life at SM Entertainment from the 6th grade of elementary school. She once described her relationship with Lee Soo Man as “like Tom and Jerry. It feels like a father-daughter relationship. We speak openly.”

Kangta, who debuted as part of the group H.O.T. in 1996, also spent about 28 years with SM. In 2005, he was appointed as SM’s non-equity director. BoA is also a non-equity director at SM.