Recently, the 4th generation girl group Hi-L attracted attention when their management company, SW Entertainment, forced them to disband despite only being active for three years. Hi-L debuted in 2021 with six key members. Since the end of 2023, the group’s activities have been mysteriously halted. Recently, Hi-L’s Instagram page was suddenly renamed and rebranded. A new rookie girl group, New-L, was introduced to replace Hi-L.
Regarding this issue, the CEO of SW stated that Hi-L was disbanded due to internal discord within the group. However, some members responded by posting pictures of the group together, raising suspicions that SW was lying to the public to legitimize the disbandment and debut a new group.
Once again, the story took a turn when former member Soojung provided evidence of internal conflicts within Hi-L. Soojung claimed to be the victim of bullying. In a series of Instagram posts, the female idol shared court documents detailing accusations of her being ostracized and boycotted by Hi-L members to an extreme degree.
Soojung, who had a high recognition factor in the group, participated in the reality show Youth Star. From that point, she was isolated. The members boycotted Soojung and didn’t inform her of the group’s schedules. The situation became so severe that the idol became depressed and had to be hospitalized. SW Entertainment was aware of this issue. Ultimately, Soojung moved out of the dormitory and paid for her living expenses on her own.
**”As previously mentioned, the defendant [Soojung] was the only member in the group who participated in the Youth Star program, and from that time, she began to be boycotted by the other members. The defendant was not included in the group’s schedule along with the other members. At that time, the company informed Hi-L’s schedule to the group leader, but due to the boycott, the defendant left the dormitory due to exhaustion and began living on her own at her own expense.
Naturally, the defendant did not receive any schedule updates from the other members. Therefore, the defendant had to contact the plaintiff company directly to find out about the group’s activities, which was both inconvenient and untimely. The defendant’s mental stress worsened to the point where she could no longer continue her singing career, reaching a severe state as evidenced by the medical diagnosis and hospital records submitted as Exhibit 1,” excerpts from the court documents regarding Soojung’s bullying and isolation case within the group.
Soojung’s revelations shocked many fans. In early 2023, she left the group. However, because Hi-L was not a well-known group, the related stories went largely unnoticed. The controversy resurfaced because of the sudden disbandment of the group.
