Seunghan, a member of K-pop boy band RIIZE, has returned to the group after a 10-month hiatus due to personal issues.
His activities were suspended in November last year due to issues before his debut in RIIZE.
On Oct. 11, Korean agency SM Entertainment’s Wizard Production issued a statement that Seunghan will be resuming his activities as a member of RIIZE.
“As fans know, it has been about 10 months since Seunghan suspended his team activities due to personal issues before his debut,” it said.
RIIZE (Screenshot from Weverse app video)
RIIZE's Seunghan (Facebook)
It added, “Seunghan acknowledges that his past actions were wrong, and he is deeply reflecting on his feelings and apologizing to the members and fans, and has been on hiatus for nearly a year. We also recognized that Seunghan's past actions were not desirable as an artist, so we have had a long time to think about when to resume activities.”
“We sympathize with the fans who have been curious and worried about Seunghan's activities due to the lack of guidance, but we sincerely apologize for only being able to tell you our decision regarding the direction of Rise's activities now after much thought,” it said.
SM Entertainment said RIIZE’s next activities will be more meaningful if all the members are together.
“We have carefully planned RIIZE’s next chapter since before their debut, and we have decided that it will be more meaningful when all seven members are together. As a result of several discussions with the staff and members regarding the future direction of the team's activities, we have decided that Seunghan will return to the team. After joining the team and preparing for a certain period of time, Seunghan will sequentially participate in some of the team's schedules planned for November and greet fans again,” it said.
“We once again apologize to the fans who have watched over RIIZE’s growth and cheered him on for the confusion and difficulties he has caused. However, RIIZE is a team that grows together and realizes its dreams, and the members are practicing hard even at this moment, putting the team first. We ask that you trust our decision so that we can properly show RIIZE, consisting of seven members, to the fans,” it added.