Open World Entertainment CEO arrested + Official statement surrounding media coverage

Just yesterday multiple articles surrounding the arrest of Open World Entertainment's CEO Jang Seokwoo surfaced on the internet. The company's CEO was revealed to have been arrested on alleged charges of sexual harassment, assault, and rape of his agency's artists and trainees.

The CEO was arrested upon arrival in Korea after he and one of the company's boy groups came back from Japan. He was taken by undercover investigators after reports were filed a month ago, indicating his crimes as he is said to have assaulted at least 6 trainees. Officials have now already interviewed over 20 victims, uncovering more details surrounding the case. The police confiscated all CCTV footage of the building, and narrowed their field of interest down to the company's fifth floor, and the practice studio in the basement, where the assaults were revealed to have taken place. 

The girl group trainees he allegedly assaulted were personally taken care of by the CEO, as he even did all their debut preparations himself, as well as driving them around in a van. The girls are no longer part of the company at the moment.

In light of the recent happenings with the company, and the rumors which have since appeared, Open World Entertainment has personally asked fans of the idols under the company to calm down and to try not to overload the members of the groups with Twitter accounts with tweets. The members of both X-5 and The Boss were revealed to be under great stress due to the situation, and the gigantic amount of messages and comments. Since the issue started, boy group members have been noted to leave cryptic messages on their social network accounts, leaving fans to worry about their health and state of mind.

After a press conference, the company also issued a statement on the matter, saying that they intend to sue organizations and media companies for "Defamation of Character Due to False, Exaggerated Reports, and Interference of Work", after multiple articles surrounding rumors having any of the company's artists involved in the case appeared. They clearly stated that apart from the CEO, none of Open World Entertainment's artists are involved with the case, and any articles involving them will be reacted upon.

"Exaggerations and false reports (such as the number of victims being over 20, or company artists being involved on the matter) by a portion of the media reports on Open World Entertainment’s CEO Jang Seokwoo and on the confiscation, investigation, and arrest. By releasing the real names and pictures of stars under the agency who have nothing to do with the suspicions concerning the CEO, artists and the reputation of Open World Entertainment have been defamed, causing loss and setbacks in work.

Shedding light on such a situation, on behalf of the Open World Entertainment’s officials and agency artists, CEO Jang Seokwoo’s legal representatives request the withdrawal of articles, and will take legal action against media outlets that do not issue out correction apology articles as well as the rest of the media outlets that have been blindly following the false, exaggerated reports, and will also make sure that there will be no reports defaming agency artists."

Source: Open World Entertainment/Newsway, E-today, Sports Seoul, TV Report, Hankooki and Korea Daily