The 15 Most Surprising Member Exits From K-Pop Groups

At the peak of TVXQ!’s career, when the boy band was leading a new generation of K-pop stars, members Kim Junsu, Park Yoochun and Kim Jaejoong requested to terminate their contracts with SM Entertainment in mid-2009. The trio cited unfair wages, that contract terms were altered without their knowledge and that being locked into a 13-year contract was excessively long, and submitted an application to the Seoul Central District Court to determine the validity of the contract. Lawyers for the singers said the termination penalty under their contract would cost the stars twice the profit the group was estimated to earn for SM Entertainment over the rest of the contract period, which could have another seven years to run under the proposed terms.

The legal war lasted over three years, with TVXQ! officially splitting in 2010, leaving its remaining two members (U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin) to continue as a duo with SM Entertainment, while Junsu, Yoochun and Jaejoong began releasing music as the trio JYJ. In 2012, SM and JYJ mutually agreed to terminate the contracts, and to no longer interfere with one another’s work.

The impact of the exit sent waves through the industry, with South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission adopting a rule in 2010 limiting entertainment agency contracts to a maximum of seven years, a standard that has since become the norm in K-pop.

While Wonder Girls were making new history on the charts as the first K-pop act to enter the Billboard Hot 100 with “Nobody” in 2009, JYP Entertainment announced in February 2010 that Sunmi would be withdrawing from the band after completing a 50-city U.S. tour to focus on her studies — with a new member, Lim, replacing her.

Sunmi later revealed that the busy schedule and losing her spark for performing were the real reasons behind her break, but the shock of one of K-pop’s first overseas breakouts losing a member led to heavy speculation and curiosity about what went into the Wonder Girls’ American hustle.

In 2013, EXO‘s debut full-length album, XOXO, became Korea’s first million-selling album in 12 years, establishing a rapid global fanbase and sending all of its members into superstardom.

But just a week after EXO released the EP Overdose (which became its first entry on the Billboard 200 at No. 129), Canadian-Chinese member Kris Wu filed a lawsuit against the group’s agency SM Entertainment and halted work with EXO, putting the Korean-Chinese group’s future into question. Within the next 15 months, members Luhan and Tao also filed lawsuits against the company, with the three pursuing careers in China after leaving the K-pop scene.

The moment recalled SM’s past struggle with TVXQ!, but was now heightened by K-pop’s growing global popularity, with speculation that artists could afford to break contracts and pay fees with their success in other countries — making K-pop recruiting all the more complicated for globally focused agencies like SM Entertainment.

As one of the main vocalists in K-pop’s reigning female act at the time, Jessica Jung‘s shock dismissal from the group surprised fans, as well as the singer herself.

While traveling for a Girls’ Generation fan event in China, Jung posted a message on Weibo on Sept. 30, 2014: “I was excited about our upcoming fan events only to shockingly be informed by my company and 8 others that as of today, I’m no longer a member,” she wrote on the Chinese social media platform. “I’m devastated — my priority and love is to serve as a member of GG, but for no justifiable reason, I am being forced out.”

Girls’ Generation’s agency, SM Entertainment, later confirmed the exit and said Jung would no longer be a member of Girls’ Generation, but would remain under contract with the company. Things got more heated when Jung released a statement of her own through her newly launched fashion company, Blanc Group, explaining that she had been asked to leave Girls’ Generation by the agency and the other members of the group in a one-sided decision.

It still remains one of K-pop’s greatest mysteries what truly happened, given the quick nature of the decision. While Girls’ Generation attempted to move forward as eight, different material featuring Jung or her vocals was still released or leaked in the coming months, pointing to the quick nature of the decision.

Despite 2NE1 breaking down multiple international barriers for K-pop artists on the Billboard charts in media recognition and through live touring, the group’s time was remarkably short, being the most active between 2009 and 2014. After the group spent more than a year on hiatus, 2NE1’s agency, YG Entertainment, announced in April 2016 that Minzy was leaving the group after seven years under the agency.

In 2018, Minzy opened up exclusively to Billboard about her decision to leave the group, revealing that she was dealing with extreme depression and had grown impatient with different delays for the group and her solo career. “I needed some time to deal with my depression, find my own way and decide if this was something I really wanted to do,” the K-pop star said. “It was something I was doing for so long, but it was so hard to maintain. I had to find my own direction, and the only way to do that was by leaving the group and fighting for my own will. I was wondering, ‘What is my life about?’”

2NE1 leader CL later shared that she wrote the group’s final single “Goodbye” as a letter to Minzy.

Just two years into ONF’s careers, the group saw one of its core members vanish from the entertainment industry entirely, a move that still baffles K-pop fans today.

Just as promotions for the upcoming release Go Live began — including revealing the EP’s first music video trailer — ONF’s agency, WM Entertainment, announced on Aug. 23, 2019, that Laun had terminated his contract with the label for personal reasons and would “halt all promotions in the entertainment industry.”

Fans have long wondered what happened on that day in August, as two ONF members had been holding a livestream just hours prior, with seemingly no indication that major news was about to hit the group. Laun’s departure also forced the boy band to rewrite and edit its ongoing cinematic lore and visuals to now reflect six members instead of seven.

In October 2019, Stray Kids was still developing into the chart-topping K-pop force the group would soon become with just over a year and a half under its belts. But on Oct. 28, JYP Entertainment announced that the eldest member, Woojin, would depart the band, citing “personal circumstances,” and that his exclusive contract with the K-pop super-label would be terminated.

The news appeared to be quite sudden, as their scheduled EP, Clé: Levanter, had to be delayed by two weeks so the group could re-record songs, reorganize choreography and edit already-shot visuals.

While speculation has followed Woojin around the reason for Woojin’s departure, JYP Entertainment founder J.Y. Park shared that the agency has a philosophy for not revealing the circumstances around artist exits. “We want them to be successful outside of our company,” he told Forbes in 2020. “If they really did do something wrong, we will never say it — that’s our policy. We truly want them to succeed when they leave. If we publicly reveal what they did when they leave, that will hurt them. That’s not what we want. We definitely take the [complaints from fans] seriously, but sometimes it’s really painful for us when we cannot explain why something happened.”

In 2019, the K-pop industry was rocked by controversies involving wannabe idol Han Seo Hee after she spread rumors and accusations about various celebrities throughout the year. While Han had already made headlines for her arrest and drug use, her romantic involvement with TV personality Jung Da Eun led her to bring a series of Jung’s accusations against then-Monsta X member Wonho to the mainstream, including of alleged drug use and him owing Jung money.

As investigations were ongoing, Wonho shared his decision to exit the group in October 2019 as he said he wanted “to make sure the recent chain of events doesn’t distract from all the exciting things that are happening for Monsta X now and what lies ahead in the future.”

In December 2019, Han accused Jung Da Eun of assault, posting text messages alleging her partner had attempted to kill her by choking, and posted photos of an alleged physical assault. And by March 2020, Wonho was cleared of the drug allegations after an investigation by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agenc proved the former couple’s rumors were false. Wonho officially returned to the spotlight as a soloist under a label within Monsta X’s agency, Starship Entertainment, where he remains active today.

Considered a standout member from debut, Jini’s sudden departure from NMIXX still remains a mystery to fans. While the singer was actively performing with the group in the days prior as it promoted a new Christmas single, JYP Entertainment announced that Jinni’s contract had been terminated due to “personal reasons,” leaving NMIXX with six members.

Similar to the Stray Kids situation, the reason for her dismissal will likely never come to light, due to JYP’s policy.

In 2023, Fifty Fifty was one of the year’s breakout pop acts after securing the world’s attention with their whimsical, viral hit “Cupid” that reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on the Billboard Global 200 charts. With a debut EP from 2022 largely overlooked, Fifty Fifty looked as if it was about to have its own Cinderella story, with a new single on the Barbie movie soundtrack, a label deal with Warner Records and U.S. festival appearances all on the way. But in June 2023, the four members all filed an injunction to suspend their exclusive contracts with their Korean label, Attrakt, citing violations of contractual obligations, lack of financial transparency and medical negligence.

By October, one of the members, Keena, withdrew her lawsuit against Attrakt and returned to the group, where she remains a member of Fifty Fifty today with four new band mates. The courts initially sided with Attrakt to uphold the members’ contracts. Original members Saena, Aran and Sio — who now work together under the name ablume — continued to fight in court, with the situation remaining sad and shocking for all involved.

In one of the more confusing member exits in K-pop, Seunghan originally debuted as one of seven members of RIIZE, helping the group find instant success with its first single, “Get a Guitar.” Following leaks of photos and moments from his private life, the then-20-year-old began an indefinite hiatus in November 2023 from the band, with fans uncertain about if and when he’d return, and a sect of the fandom chanting his name during RIIZE concerts.

Seunghan rejoined RIIZE in October 2024, only to withdraw two days later after backlash from a subset of fans, making the nearly year-long break all the more surprising.

But Seunghan remains under RIIZE’s label SM Entertainment, ultimately pursuing a solo career with the company. Now going professionally as XngHan, the star returned to the scene with an EP titled Waste No Time, released under the newly formed band named Xnghan&Xoul, a collaboration with two of his professional dancer friends.

On Aug. 28, 2024, SM Entertainment abruptly posted a message on its official social media pages announcing that Taeil would be removed from NCT due to “an ongoing investigation.” At the time, details of the case were not public.

Later, it was revealed that Taeil and two accomplices assaulted and raped an inebriated woman months earlier, a fact unbeknownst to those even closest to him — as Taeil continued to work like normal for his NCT and NCT 127 duties, making the sudden announcement all the more shocking.

By September, SM announced they would terminate their contract with the singer.

Considered one of the quieter among THE BOYZ’ 11 members, Ju Haknyeon surprised fans last June when the group’s new agency, ONE HUNDRED, announced the singer was taking a temporary hiatus. Days later, the company said it decided to terminate his exclusive contract, following rumors around a June 18 Korean media report that Haknyeon allegedly met with a former adult actress and paid for sexual activity, which is illegal in South Korea. The star denied those claims and subsequently filed a defamation complaint against the reporter. On July 2, the Seoul Gangnam Police Station decided not to charge the singer-actor for prostitution, citing that the claims were based on internet articles.

Yet his dismissal from the label remained. Haknyeon spoke exclusively to Billboard about the subsequent $5.5 million lawsuit his former agency filed against him last year, saying, “If I lose this case over something I didn’t do… companies will certainly abuse this kind of situation again.” In response, ONE HUNDRED told Billboard it uncovered additional behavior by Haknyeon that justified breaking the contract and seeking damages. As of press time, the court case is ongoing.

In the aftermath of HYBE’s and NewJeans‘ legal dispute — where the courts ultimately sided with the former in November in validating the girl group’s existing exclusive contract — HYBE label ADOR shared in December that Danielle’s contract with the agency was terminated after they “determined that it would be difficult to continue together as a NewJeans member and an ADOR artist,” effectively ending her time with NewJeans.

With NewJeans still not back on the music scene, fans are hopeful that a full-group reunion could still happen if past wounds heal.

K-pop’s latest shock exit came from ENHYPEN‘s eldest member Heeseung announcing that he’d exit the group and pursue a solo career under the group’s label, BELIFT LAB. A day after the reveal, the company shared an additional statement to Billboard, saying, “We concluded that allowing Heeseung to focus fully on his career as a solo artist, rather than pursuing solo activities within the team, would be the most fulfilling approach for both ENHYPEN and Heeseung.”

Compared to most of K-pop’s most surprising exits, Heeseung is one of the rare artists who stayed with his company — similar to the situations of Sunmi, Wonho and Seunghan.