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| Former Wanna One member Lai Kuan Lin. Courtesy of Cube Entertainment |
By Dong Sun-hwa
Lai Kuan Lin, a Taiwanese member of defunct K-pop boy band Wanna One, has asked to end his contract with Cube Entertainment, according to the agency Saturday. The agency said it was unwilling to release him.
"We recently received a certification of contents demanding a contract termination, which was from a law firm claiming to represent Lai," the Korean record label said in an official statement. "But we have been faithfully carrying out our duties until now, and have no cause to end the contract."
Cube added: "Nevertheless, if a problem is raised against us, we will take legal action."
The statement came after a report from TV media outlet SPOTVNEWS earlier on Saturday. Citing an industry source, the outlet said Lai had been forging his career independently after sending the certification to Cube.
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| Boy band Wanna One disbanded in 2018. Courtesy of CJ ENM |
This is the second time a Wanna One member had a legal dispute with his agency. Kang Daniel filed a complaint against his former agency LM Entertainment, claiming it handed over the rights to an exclusive contract to a third party without Kang's approval. The Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of Kang in May, allowing the suspension of his contract with LM.
Lai, 17, finished seventh on Mnet's TV idol audition show "Produce 101 season 2" in 2017 and joined the 11-piece project group Wanna One. Members included Yoon Ji-sung, Ha Sung-woon, Hwang Min-hyun, Ong Seong-wu, Kim Jae-hwan, Kang Daniel, Park Ji-hoon, Park Woo-jin, Bae Jin-young, Lee Dae-hwi and Lai.
After releasing dozens of hits including "Energetic," the group disbanded in December 2018.
After the disbandment, Lai formed K-pop unit "Wooseok X Kuanlin" with Wooseok, a member of Cube's boy group Pentagon.
He also starred in a 28-episode Chinese teen romance series "A Little Thing Called First Love." The series is set to premiere this year on Chinese TV network Hunan Television and Chinese video platforms Mango TV and Tencent Video.
