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| Jung Da-kyung performs in 'Ms. Trot' on TV Chosun. Screen capture from TV Chosun |
By Ko Dong-hwan
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| Jung Da-kyung. Courtesy of Pocket Doll Studio |
J Entertainment President Lee Sung-hoon said Jung, 25, sent a legal petition form to the agency without any advance notice requesting an immediate termination of her contract with the agency.
Lee said he found her petition shocking. He first encountered the news when he contacted her to pay off her financial balance after her music career soared following her boost from her appearance on TV Chosun's "Ms. Trot" talent competition show. The show ended in May, accruing TV ratings of whopping 18 percent, and the star came in fourth place.
Lee said Jung told him she "doesn't need the payment, only her contract's termination."
In the legal petition from Jung to the agency, she reportedly reasoned that the agency didn't pay her 500,000 won ($424) in transportation costs the company was supposed to cover for her, that the agency was negligent in training and managing her, and that the agency moved her management to its subsidiary agency called SO Factory without her consent.
Lee, who signed Jung in 2017, said she had already known about working for SO Factory. He added Jung even offered him 30 million won to terminate her contract with J Entertainment.
Lee said he will not compromise with Jung and take the fight to court.
Jung Da-seon, who claimed she composed songs for Jung Da-kyung during her stint on "Ms. Trot," defended the star, saying she wants to leave Lee's company because of his wife who is in charge of SO Factory.
Da-seon said it was unfair that Lee asked the star for 120 million won for breach of contract "after all the money he must have earned (using Da-kyung) following the show's success." She said Lee kept sending the star to public events for business purposes while deliberately delaying termination of the contract.
"It is improper of him to destroy her future just because he cannot keep her under his management," Da-seon said in her statement after the star's conflict with J Entertainment surfaced in local media on Tuesday.
