Pledis Entertainment confirmed on May 24, Friday that their girl group PRISTIN is disbanding, after only two years from debut.
Members of the girl group and the agency held discussions and had ultimately decided on the unfortunate disbandment, with members Nayoung, Yuha, Roa, Eunwoo, Rena, Xiyeon and Kyla have terminated their contracts while Kyulkyung, Sungyeon and Yehana will stay with the agency.
PRISTIN was considered one of the most successful groups that are formed after the Produce 101 era, where seven members of PRISTIN appeared, with Kyulkyung and Nayoung becoming final members of project girl group I.O.I.
After IOI’s disbandment on the end of January 2017, the 10-member group debuted in March 2017 and has released two mini albums since then, excluding their sub-unit PRISTIN V that promoted as a unit group on May 2018 with five members. Their last comeback was almost two years ago.
Pledis Entertainment has trended on Korean social media platforms as well as on Twitter, with netizens showing their dismay on how the agency had mistreated the girl group since their debut.
The company has released their official statement, which you can read below:
Hello. This is Pledis Entertainment.
First, we sincerely thank fans who care for and love PRISTIN.
We are delivering the official statement regarding the disbandment of PRISTIN and the termination of contracts for members.
The company and the members had in-depth discussions for a long time and deliberated before coming to a mutual agreement. It has been decided that with the exclusion of members Kyulkyung, Yehana, Sungyeon; seven members (Nayoung, Roa, Yuha, Eunwoo, Rena, Xiyeon, and Kyla) will have their exclusive contracts terminated as of May 24, 2019.
We would like to first apologize to fans, who have always been supportive, for delivering this unfortunate news.
Because this is a decision that must be made carefully, a lot of time was given in thinking about this matter. At the end of discussions, we decided to respect the wishes of the PRISTIN members and came to the conclusion of disbandment and contract termination.
Members Kyulkyung, Yehana, and Sungyeon expressed their intent to stay with the company. We will actively support Kyulkyung, Yehana, and Sungyeon so that they can have stable individual activities. We will wholeheartedly support them so that they can be more active and have more diverse activities.
As for the PRISTIN members who will be leaving our agency, we would like to express our deep thanks to them and sincerely support them and their new paths even though their official contracts have ended.
Since this is an important and sensitive matter that required a careful decision, we sincerely apologize to fans for delivering this news late and worrying fans through this news. Lastly, we ask that fans show unchanging support for the seven PRISTIN members, Kyulkyung, Yehana, and Sungyeon as they embark on new beginnings.
Thank you.
Prior to the news of their disbandment coming up, some members of PRISTIN had already created their individual social media accounts, particularly on Instagram, which might have hinted the disbandment. -HallyuLife.com
