The departure of former Riize member Seunghan from the K-pop group on Oct 13 has sent shockwaves across the K-pop community worldwide – leading to calls to boycott Riize’s agency SM Entertainment.
Seunghan’s departure came two days after he was reinstated as a member of Riize, following an 11-month-long hiatus. Past photos of Seunghan smoking and kissing a woman, before he debuted as an idol, had been leaked to the public in late 2023 which led to immense backlash from some fans.
At the time, Seunghan opted to pause his activities “for the sake of Riize”.
In October 2024, following the announcement that Seunghan would be returning to Riize, fans who were disgruntled by the news expressed their displeasure by sending protest trucks and funeral wreaths – bearing hateful messages and death threats to Seunghan – outside SM Entertainment’s headquarters.
As such, Seunghan elected to permanently leave Riize, saying: “I think it is better for everyone if I leave the team. I don’t want to cause any more confusion and hurt to the fans. I don’t want to cause any more damage to the members and I don’t want to cause any more damage to the company.”
