Omega X sheds light on harrowing claims of abuse, says it is an industry-wide issue

Boy band Omega X announced the termination of its exclusive contract with Spire Entertainment during a press conference held at the Seoul Bar Association’s Human Rights Room in southern Seoul on Wednesday. The boy band added it will take legal action against the agency for alleged verbal, physical and sexual abuse.

Omega X addressed recent allegations that members were verbally and physically abused by Kang Seong-hee, the wife of the former head of Spire Entertainment Hwang Sung-woo, who resigned after the accusations surfaced in October. The rumors began circulation after a fan claimed they witnessed Kang strike and verbally abuse members on the street after the band’s Los Angeles concert.

Omega X, which debuted in 2021, consists of members Jaehan, Hwichan, Sebin, Hangyeom, Taedong, Xen, Jehyun, Kevin, Junghoon, Hyuk, and Yechan. All of the members have had previous careers in the K-pop industry.

The eleven members attended the press conference with two of their legal counsels: Attorneys No Jong-eon and Seo Ju-yeon from Law Firm S. Dozens of fans gathered outside of the Seoul Bar Association building to show support, although they were not allowed inside the building.

“This isn’t just an issue that only Omega X has been through, but it’s about every young constituent of our society who is treated unfairly by those in power,” said attorney No. “The members are speaking up to make the change.”

“The reason that we just endured this kind of treatment was that this felt like our last opportunity in the entertainment industry,” said Jaehan.

“This was not the first debut for any of us, so we didn’t want to risk our careers because of this kind of incident. We thought we had to endure it for our fans, but we reached our breaking point. We want to muster up the courage and speak up for all the people who are being treated unfairly somewhere in our society.

“After practice, CEO Kang would force us to drink heavily with her,” Jaehan continued. “She always told us ‘You better bow down flat to me if you want to keep being Omega X,’ ‘I’m going to kill you,’ or ‘I’m going to kill myself.’ Members were very emotionally unstable due to this, and many are currently undergoing psychiatric treatment. We want to be respected as human beings, not treated like a product.”

Attorney Seo also alleged that CEO Kang would sexually harass the members. Seo claimed Kang was verbally inappropriate, would put her face close to the members’ and make them listen to her breath, and stroke their thighs.

“At first, we tried to trust her and follow her lead,” the group’s youngest member Yechan said. “But the more time passed, I realized she was having such a negative impact on our lives. She took away our time to practice; she would call out members and talked to them for hours, and I remember that the rest of the members would wait in the practice room until late into the night, waiting for Kang to let them go. When I finally realized that I was being gaslit, I felt like I was a fool.”

“When the older members were forced to drink heavily with Kang, I tried to join so I could be some kind of help,” continued Yechan. “I tried to laugh it off, but couldn’t take it anymore […] I don’t think this kind of stuff happened to only us. I’ve been reading the comments saying, ‘This kind of stuff happens in today’s day and age?’ It is currently happening in many corners of society — people being gaslit and abused by those who have power over them. I hope we can encourage those people, even in a small way.”

“When we tried to refuse the heavy drinking, she would intimidate us by saying that there will be no next album for Omega X,” said Sebin.

Attorney Seo claimed that this abuse and sexual harassment had been going on for the past year.

“Kang would swing between being kind to the members and then abusing them,” she said. “The members became unable to trust themselves. The sexual harassment by Kang shows how power imbalances crushes young people’s dreams. Our legal firm will do our best so that the members can continue being active, and so that this kind of abuse does not happen again.”

According to Attorney No, Law Firm S has applied for the copyright of the name “Omega X” and is planning to hand over the rights to the name when Omega X members find new management.

“We are planning to press charges against Kang for physical assault, threatening behavior, sexual harassment and financial exploitation,” said No.

“We never received a sincere apology from her, even after the news broke [last month],” said Junghoon. “In fact, after that, she continued threatening us about our [impending] mandatory military services and gave us financial statements of accounts that didn’t make sense. We realize that there would be no point in talking more.”

“Omega X will not give up, since we’ve come such a long way,” said Jaehan. “We want to protect all 11 of our members, and we want to perform on stage together again. That is our plan for the future.”

The members elaborated on the extent of the alleged abuse during the press conference.

“Not just Kang, but also employees and managers yelled insults at us and gaslit us,” Jaehan said. “And during the recent world tour, we were physically assaulted by them too.”

“On the last day, we were physically and verbally assaulted at a restaurant,” said Yechan, referring to the moment witnessed by a fan in October. “Afterward, the 11 of us locked ourselves inside a hotel room and hid.”

The members claimed that this incident was far from the first of its kind; they alleged Kang yelled and kicked on doors on a number of occasions when members hid from her abuse.

Member Hangyeom spoke about his mental health.

“I really tried to endure it,” he said. “Since this was my second debut, I didn’t want to make fans hear the word ‘disband.’ So I just picked up the phone whenever Kang, drunk, would call me all the time; during our schedules and even late at night after work. Whenever I got home, I became anxious that Kang would call any minute. I eventually couldn’t take it anymore and started going to a psychiatric clinic. In fact, even now, when I hear a phone ring or vibrate, or anything remotely like an alarm, I panic.”

“Even before starting psychiatric treatment, I had many occasions when I couldn’t breathe because of her endless calling and verbal abuse,” Hangyeom said. “Once, when another panic attack happened, I told Kang that I couldn’t breathe. She mocked me saying, ‘Oh, are we going to see articles that say ‘Omega X becomes a 10-member band’ because ‘Hangyeom has the panic disorder?’ I was shocked by that.”

“Another high-up at our agency told us ‘Die’ in the group chat, while we were touring South America,” Yechan said.

According to Jaehan, the members got together after returning to Korea from their world tour and decided to seek legal help.

Members shared their past experiences before debuting as Omega X, pointing out that this incident is not unique to Omega X or Spire Entertainment.

“I know not every agency is like that, but I think a lot of K-pop trainees and even current idols are being treated unfairly,” Taedong said. “In my previous agency, I practiced 15 to 17 hours a day without a single day off. They confiscated my phone and forced me to share my passwords.”

“Verbal and physical abuse were frequent in my previous agency as well,” Taedong said, before he broke down in tears.

“I’ve been trying my best for my dream to be a singer. I am so sad why these bad things keep happening to us.”

“There was abuse in my old agency, too,” said Hangyeom. “I wasn’t beaten but other members were, at the office or even during tours.”

Members say that they have many pieces of video evidence to prove the verbal, physical and sexual abuse they say they’ve endured.

“Being an artist means you’re signed exclusively to one company, which leads to a closed-off environment for us, more so than other jobs,” said Yechan. “Without a conference like this, there’s no opportunity for us to open our hearts like today. I hope that these things can be reflected in the necessary changes to contracts. I hope there are committees or related government bodies that can protect people like us, who suffer from this kind of unfair treatment.”

The boy band opened a new Instagram account with the handle omega_x__for_x in an attempt to communicate with fans during the upcoming lawsuit.

“We won’t give up,” said Jaehan through tears. “We will keep making music and performing on stage for our fans.”

The allegations of Spire Entertainment’s abuse toward Omega X first surfaced mainly among fans on Twitter when a file was uploaded in October.

The file features a female voice, which is presumed to be Kang.
The female voice is heard yelling in Korean, “Who do you think you are?” and “You, stand up.”

A male voice also says, “We’re one step away from collapsing.”

A thud can be heard, followed by someone crying.

The recording was allegedly taken by a fan of Omega X, who claims to have witnessed the incident. She added that a woman, presumed to be Kang, pushed and struck the members.

The agency responded with a statement in October but did not respond to the allegations of physical altercations.

CEO Hwang resigned last week but did not address the allegations of abuse.

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]