Source Music and HYBE have announced that LE SSERAFIM‘s Kim Ga-ram will go on hiatus amid a controversy surrounding bullying allegations made against her.The 16-year-old singer first found herself embroiled in bullying allegations last month following her introduction as part of LE SSERAFIM’s line-up.
Earlier this week, HYBE had announced earlier this week that it would be taking legal action against “malicious slander” made against Kim Ga-ram.Following investigations by the music labels, HYBE has since released statement today (May 20) addressing its findings regarding the controversy surrounding Kim.
It clarified that it had previously refrained from clarifying the details of the alleged situation as it was “concerned that the identity and sensitive personal information of minors… would be disclosed”, considering that the allegations made against Kim were that of from her time in middle school, as translated by Koreaboo.The company claim in its statement that Kim had not been a perpetrator of physical or cyber bullying, but rather a victim of falsified rumours that were being spread throughout her middle school. “Kim Ga-ram has been damaged by all kinds of false rumours since her debut,” wrote Source Music.
It also went on to directly address several key claims made against Kim, debunking the claims as “false information”.“Kim Ga-ram, in her first year of middle school, became a victim of cyberbullying as well as a victim of school bullying.