Kim Garam, a member of HYBE's first girl group "LE SSERAFIM," will ultimately leave the group due to school violence allegations.

Source Music, a label under HYBE, released a statement on the 20th, announcing, "We have decided to terminate our exclusive contract with Kim Garam, a member of LE SSERAFIM." It continued, "We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to our fans and many others due to the controversy surrounding Kim Garam."

With Kim Garam's departure, LE SSERAFIM will continue their activities as a 5-member group. HYBE stated, "We will do our best to support LE SSERAFIM so they can show continuous growth as artists."

Previously, Ms. A, who claims to have been a victim of Kim Garam during her school days, released a statement through the law firm Daeryun, stating, "Around late April to early May 2018, I was subjected to school violence by Kim Garam and her friends, and unable to endure the subsequent group bullying, I transferred to another school." Ms. A's side also stated, "As a result of the School Violence Prevention Committee meeting held on June 4, 2018, the perpetrator student, Kim Garam, received a disciplinary action of 6 hours of special education and 5 hours of parental special education."

However, HYBE countered, "As stated in the case summary provided by the law firm, Ms. A took unauthorized photos of her friend in her underwear while she was changing clothes at school and publicly posted them on another friend's social media. In response, Kim Garam and her friends protested against Ms. A." Kim Garam also claimed that she was unjustly labeled a school violence perpetrator and bullied by her friends. Furthermore, claims circulating online that Kim Garam was forcibly transferred and that she hit a friend's head with a brick were also denied as untrue.

These are English translations of articles from our GTTOUR Japanese website.