"It's truly disheartening": RIIZE Seunghan's alleged former friend uploads a now-deleted heartfelt post about the idol's controversies

On Sunday, December 24, an alleged former friend of RIIZE's Seunghan uploaded a screenshot of a lengthy letter where the anonymous person talked about the idol's controversies. Following the idol's indefinite hiatus, several netizens have been coming in defense of him, one such being the recent incident. The alleged former friend of the idol shared a few instances of Seunghan during his high school days, revealing a well-mannered and friendly personality.

As the netizen continued to state anectodes from their school days, they also shared their disappointment with the recent unfolding of events. Since the netizen stated that they had seen the idol go through his trainee days, they were upset to see him being heavily criticized and attacked at such a young age.

"It's truly disheartening to see the malice of those who are trying to bring down someone who is still young with various manipulative rumors and concentrated fabrications."

While their post was deleted within a few minutes, they also added in the letter that they hope their letter helps people see Seunghan for who he truly is.

---

Fans sob as an alleged former friend of RIIZE's Seunghan posts a lengthy heartfelt letter defending the idol

Even before RIIZE's official debut in September, Seunghan garnered negative attention from the masses for the several scandals he was involved with. From the leak of his couple photos with his alleged former girlfriend back in August to the idol's most recent smoking video landing on the internet, the handful of controversies resulted in him receiving criticism from netizens.

This eventually snowballed into his indefinite hiatus as of November 22. While fans have been hoping of the idol's eventually return to the group activities, they were alarmed by the slow erasure of Seunghan from RIIZE's content and accounts, such as not including him in their YouTube videos' credits, removing his highlight from RIIZE's Instagram, and more.

Following SM Entertainment's deletion of the idol's participation in RIIZE, fans have been strongly defending the idol by constantly trending hashtags on X such as RIIZE is 7, BRING SEUNGHAN BACK, etc. In support of the fans, a netizen, claiming to be Seunghan's school friend, posted a letter on the Korean online community platform Pann. Here's what the netizen wrote about the idol's controversies and his behavior during his school days.

"Hello. I am a friend of Seunghan since our school days, and I've been watching over him since his trainee days. I've been contemplating when to write this, but I felt it's better to write it now after some time has passed since the incident so that those who read this can view the situation with a somewhat objective perspective."

The anonymous netizen added that the idol was well liked for his respectful demeanor.

"Those who believe in this, please do so freely, and for those who do not wish to believe, it's okay to skip over. During our school days, he got along really well with classmates and was a kind and diligent friend who would readily strike up conversations with even the introverted ones. Even the teachers liked Seunghan because of his respectful demeanor."

The netizen continued,

"Despite the exhaustion from practicing until late at night, he was so lively and sociable that he would enthusiastically join the other kids in playing soccer. He was well-liked by everyone, regardless of gender. Even though he had relatively less time to meet school friends due to practice after school, he still had great chemistry with his school friends."

The netizen then continued to talk about how they were disheartened by the current criticism that Seunghan is facing, especially given how hard the idol had worked to make his debut under RIIZE.

"And, whenever he got bored, he would even draw portraits for his friends, proving just how pure he was as a student. However, after becoming an adult this year, I believe that Seunghan, who should have been more cautious with his debut approaching, acted somewhat recklessly. I'm saddened that, due to a momentary lapse in judgment, his personality and actions, which were polite and respectful in the past, are now being collectively disparaged. Especially knowing how hard he worked during his long trainee period, it has been heartbreaking to see all that effort seemingly go to waste in an instant after this incident."

The netizen concluded by sharing that he hopes for his post to help people uncover the idol's true personality, which is contrary to how several netizens have been perceiving him.

"I have faith that the Seunghan I know would reflect on his recklessness, as he is truly deep-thinking and caring towards people around him. However, even though some time has passed, I still find it difficult to ask him about his well-being, fearing that he may have been deeply hurt. I would like to clarify that this message is not intended to impose any judgment on him or to make anyone view him in a certain way. I just hope that even if only slightly, the perspective on him can be less biased. Thank you for reading this lengthy and somewhat disorganized message."

While the letter adds great support to the endless criticism Seunghan has been facing, the post was deleted within a few minutes, leaving fans puzzled about the reason behind the same. Regardless, fans were elated to see more of his friends coming forward to defend him and support him through this crucial period.

---

Fans continue to miss the idol, especially on special days like Christmas. As they continue to support him through consistent posts on social media, trending hashtags on X, and sending protest trucks to SM Entertainment, they've been eagerly hoping for his return to RIIZE's activities.