Following former EXO member Luhan's filing of lawsuit against SM Entertainment last October, the Seoul Central District Court revealed some details of the case on November 25.
According to the court, as reported by allkpop, it was decided on October 10 that the Chinese singer's lawsuit claiming the lack of validity of his exclusive contract with the record label will be brought to a court-referred mediation. This means that Luhan and SM Entertainment's respective parties will have to compromise to reach an amicable resolution through a settlement.
The former EXO member claimed that the record label discriminated against him and other members of EXO-M (the Chinese language subunit of EXO) by giving more opportunities to the other sub-group EXO-K, which all members are Korean.
In the lawsuit, Luhan said, "SM treated EXO-K, filled with Korean members, differently from how they treated the EXO-M members with Chinese members. From the beginning of our debut, EXO-K received support from SM and actively did promotions, but EXO-M had no promotions, received no financial backing, and endured a difficult time."
After the news broke in October, SM Entertainment released an official statement, a part of which reads, "Just as in the case with Kris (Wu Yifan), Luhan filed for a lawsuit with the same law firm in the same way without reason makes us think that after gaining popularity with the group, he is now prioritizing his own personal benefit with disregard for those affected by the termination of his contract."
Jpop Asia noted that if Luhan and SM Entertainment will not be able to come to a mutually agreed upon resolution, both parties will have to enter the courtroom to see whether the artist's contract may be terminated or not.
Former EXO member, Kris, who left the group in May, entered mediation with SM Entertainment but the two parties did not come to a mutual resolution, according to Jpop Asia.
Join the Conversation