UNCORE, the agency managing “PROJECT 7” group CLOSE YOUR EYES, has released a rebuttal in response to PocketDol Studio’s recent claims.
The conflict began when UNCORE announced plans to take legal action against a participating agency, accusing them of breaching the participation contract by scheduling activities for their artists outside of the project group. In response, PocketDol Studio, which represents CLOSE YOUR EYES members BAE173’s J-Min (Jeon Minwook) and Sakurada Kenshin, countered with a statement claiming that their prior contract with the production team explicitly allowed for dual activities. They further claimed that the PROJECT 7 team had “suddenly changed its stance upon the final debut lineup being selected.”
According to the contract for
Additionally, it was guaranteed at the time of the contract that the artists had no other contracts conflicting with the project group’s activities and that they would not enter into any such contracts in the future. This contract was uniformly applied to all 200 participants of
However, PocketDol Studio claims that the artists either notified
Furthermore, PocketDol Studio has not notified
Individual activities of the artists that conflict with the ‘CLOSE YOUR EYES’ project will violate the contract, and UNCORE will have no choice but to hold PocketDol Studio accountable, including through claims for damages.
In particular, it is crucial to maintain fairness in such open audition, and any separate demands from PocketDol Studio that differ from the original terms would undermine the fairness of the process, causing both direct and indirect harm to the other 198 participants, their families, and related parties.
Given PocketDol Studio’s extensive experience in producing audition programs and managing artists, we believe PocketDol Studio fully understands the immense effort and time required for ‘CLOSE YOUR EYES’ to reach debut status. They are also well aware of how individual activities by the artists could significantly impact on the future activities of ‘CLOSE YOUR EYES.’
We urge PocketDol Studio to listen to the artists, their parents, and their fans, who desire to continue their successful careers as part of ‘CLOSE YOUR EYES’ and dedicate themselves fully to the group’s activities. As it is also in the interest of PocketDol Studio, which receives a revenue share from this project, we once again request that PocketDol Studio actively cooperate in ensuring the artists focus solely on their activities on ‘CLOSE YOUR EYES.’