KARA’s trio ditches Landmark, hires Hankyul as their legal representative

KARA’s legal dispute with DSP Media has now developed into a battle between professional law firms.

DSP Media was hit with a lawsuit three days ago from KARA’s Seungyeon, Nicole, and Jiyoung, and unable to avoid a legal battle, went ahead by bringing in Sejong Law Firm’s Im Sang Hyuk. Sejong is one of the representative law firms in the nation, as it houses over 300 lawyers by itself.

KARA’s trio, who had been working with Landmark ever since the start of this dispute, was recently revealed to have been in a secret meeting with Hankyul Law Firm on February 16th. Representatives of the trio asked Hankyul to take on their case, and Hankyul accepted.

Hankyul is known for their work in the entertainment industry, as they made headlines in 2005 for taking on the ‘celebrity x-files’ case. Hankyul is also responsible for 60% of the film distribution companies in the nation.

The legal representative KARA’s trio chose from Hankyul, Kim Jin Wook, has previous experience working with Super Junior’s Han Geng in his lawsuit against SM Entertainment. KARA’s trio were revealed to have been adamant with their decision on Kim, especially since he won the lawsuit.

Considering the fact that DSP Media is backed by Im Sang Hyuk, who’s currently the legal representative for JYJ against SM Entertainment, industry representatives have interpreted the trio’s move in switching out their lawyers to mean that they are now ready to put up an aggressive fight.

SHINee and f(x) are now the main models for Auction

On February 17th, it was revealed that Auction had recently recruited popular idol group SHINee as their main models for the next year.

As a result, SHINee will join f(x) – who signed a two year contract with Auction last year – and be the face of Auction starting in March.

Auction followed the trends in selecting SHINee and f(x) as its main models, targeting young people in efforts to strengthen their sales in the fashion and accessories categories. The company is strategically trying to reach consumers in their 10s-20s through celebrity marketing.

KARA trio rejects KSA president Tae Jin Ah’s arbitration?

Recently, it was announced that the president of the Korean Singers Association, Tae Jin Ah, personally decided to arbitrate the dispute between KARA and DSP Media. It was reported today that the three members of KARA have firmly refused to accept the Association’s intervention.

The representatives of the three members were in discussions with Tae Jin Ah until 5:00 PM KST on February 17th to talk about possible mutual agreements with DSP Media. Unfortunately, however, the discussion ended with the following statement from KARA, “We cannot come to agreements with the proposed cases.”

A representative of the KARA trio revealed to OSEN, “The initial issue that the three KARA members had expressed concerns over has still not been resolved, so unfortunately, the lawsuit must go on.”

With regards to the public’s discontented opinions on this on-going matter, the representative stated,“We are aware of the public’s opinion. We will be opening a conference sometime next week and reveal our perspective in full detail.”

Meanwhile, the KARA trio recently dissolved their partnership with their previous lawyers, Landmark, to begin fresh with the Hankyul law firm.

[UPDATE]

Through TV Report, Tae Jin Ah revealed that earlier reports of KARA’s trio rejecting arbitration was false. “On the 17th, Nicole’s mother called and asked to postpone discussions until the 19th. I cannot understand why reports of the trio rejecting arbitration were released. It’s difficult to believe, especially since we have not received any contact from representatives of the three.”

In a conflicting report, through Newsen, Tae Jin Ah announced, “Responses were originally scheduled to be given by 5 PM KST on the 17th, but have been postponed to 12 PM KST on the 18th.”

KARA members head off to Japan once again to film for “URAKARA”

The members of KARA returned to Japan to resume filming for their show, “URAKARA“, and they were forced to endure yet another chapter of airport chaos.

Since Han Seungyeon left for Japan yesterday ahead of her group due to a personal schedule, themedia saw the remaining four depart from Gimpo Airport together on February 17th.

Seungyeon left alone for Japan on February 16th for a personal schedule

Park Gyuri, Nicole, Goo Hara and Kang Jiyoung were seen at the lobby on February 17th at around 7:15 PM preparing for their evening flight to Japan. The members entered the airport in a composed manner, and did not answer any of the reporters’ questions; instead, they were rushed to the departing gate while being surrounded by bodyguards.

The members faced a situation where they had to grab onto each others’ hands to squeeze through their bodyguards in order to bypass the overly-enthusiastic reporters who swarmed around them.

Past photos of Eunjung acting in dramas surprise netizen

What did young Eunjung look like?

An online community site solved the mystery by uploading a few screenshots of T-ara’s Eunjung from her previous acting stints. Back in 2006, Eunjung was involved in the movie, “Dating on Earth”, as well as the hit drama, “Princess Hours (Goong)”.

In the “Dating on Earth” stills, netizens were able to see young and innocent Eunjung acting as a high school student. This is a 180 degree change from her current character in KBS 2TV’s “Dream High”.

Meanwhile in “Princess Hours”, Eunjung made an appearance as a ballet student who was taking classes with Song Ji Hyo. Netizens were able to see her in the practice room going over her steps. Even though Eunjung appeared for only a short time, she was able to grab attention because of her strong image as a true ballet student.

Netizens who saw these pictures commented, “She did not change at all!” and “Her innocent image is the same.” One netizen even posted, “After she fixed her teeth, she got a lot prettier.”

Eunjung is currently acting in “Dream High” and is making an impact as an “acting-idol”.