"I have nothing to hide": Former April member Chaewon speaks up about her lawsuit against Lee Hyun-joo

Former April member Chaewon recently addressed the ongoing lawsuit against her former group mate Lee Hyun-joo. The idol clarified her position on the situation.

In early 2021, an anonymous netizen claiming to be Hyun-joo’s brother stated that idol had been severely bullied by the other members of April. While the group’s agency, DSP Media, denied all accusations, the other members received immense backlash, to the point of losing endorsement deals.

On April 18, 2021, Lee Hyun-joo backed the claims made by the anonymous netizen. While the controversy kept growing, April officially disbanded on January 28, 2022, after 6 years together.

Apart from the disbandment, DSP Media and Chaewon also took legal action against Lee Hyun-joo, accusing the former member of spreading false information.

---

Chaewon disagreed with the police report on the lawsuit against former April member Lee Hyun-joo

On February 2, Chaewon spoke up about the lawsuit on her YouTube channel. She started the video by saying,

"Previously, I filed a lawsuit against the defendant for spreading false information about me, including that there was bullying within our group, or that I dated a manager. The police have since determined that the defendant was 'not guilty', and so I am in the process of filing for an appeal against this decision."

Chaewon then revealed details from the police report, stating why the defendant, Lee Hyun-joo, was found not guilty.

In the report, the police stated that the accounts of several people, including DSP Media’s president and April’s manager and former member are deemed unreliable, due to their proximity to the case. They said,

"testimonies by witnesses including the members of April, the group's agency president, the group's manager, the group's former member, and choreography teachers must be deemed unreliable due to their close relations to the plaintiff. Furthermore, it is difficult to determine if the claims can be considered wholly 'false information', due to the fact that a member's relationship to a group and their personal feelings are distinctly subjective. Therefore, it is difficult to confirm the truth of the matter objectively. Additionally, evidence submitted by the defendant including her diary entries, written testimonies by trainees who were under the company prior to her departure from the group, etc cannot be labeled as 'false'. Finally, there are reasons to suspect that the dating claims between the plaintiff and the manager at the time may be exaggerated; however, due to the witness's refusal to testify, it is difficult to confirm whether or not the claim is true or false."

Kim Chaewon did not agree with the police’s judgment, claiming that they had been unfairly treated. She questioned the criteria for reliability with respect to witnesses that the lawsuit was being judged by.

The idol also brought up rumors of her alleged relationship with the former manager. Denying all allegations, Chaewon said that the manager had submitted evidence denying the claim in the form of a Kakao Talk message, which the police refused to accept as viable evidence.

Chaewon concluded her emotional vlog by stating that she had nothing to hide.

"I made painstaking efforts by gathering the testimonies of many acquaintances in order to unveil the truth, but all that I received in return were the same 'not guilty' rulings. However, in the hopes that others like me will not have to endure the amount of pain that I dealt with while being accused of false truths, I have decided to move forward with an appeal. I sincerely wish that the truth will come out. I have now learned that it is extremely difficult to prove truths in legal proceedings. Nonetheless, I always spoke the truth, and I have nothing to hide."

Watch the full video here:

APRIL’s last release was their 2020 single album Hello Summer, which featured the title track Now Or Never. The project was a follow-up to the girl group's breakout release Lalalilala.