Netizens blame JYP for Sunmi’s withdrawal

[RaSHeLo]

This wasn’t something that hadn’t happened before

The shocking announcement this past weekend that Sunmi was withdrawing from the Wonder Girls has sent shock waves around Korea and the world, and it is showing no signs of slowing down.

Many are wondering about the real reasons behind Sunmi’s sudden withdrawal, with many netizens and fans believing that most of the blame should be shouldered by Park Jin Young (JYP).

Some are pointing out that Sunmi’s withdrawal was a result of JYP taking the Wonder Girls to America too quickly in an attempt to break into the unforgiving market . They felt that the Wonder Girls were just a tool for JYP’s grand ambition of breaking into the American market and in that process, he had pushed the girls too hard, resulting in an imbalance between his dreams and reality.

Sohee and Sunmi had withdrawn from their high schools before advancing into America. That was unavoidable since they had to stay in America for most of the time, but some have pointed out that it might not have been Sunmi’s personal intention to quit school and JYP had made that decision for her without coming to a consensus with Sunmi and her family.

Upset fans wrote,

“Sunmi’s withdrawal was a direct result of JYP’s personal desires. Nothing is resolved by replacing Sunmi with another girl. Is breaking into the American market a dream of JYP or the Wonder Girls? It’s really bad if JYP is neglecting the needs of young girls by satisfying his dreams and using them as a tool.”

This wasn’t something that hadn’t happened before. Netizens pointed out that JYP’s protege, J-Lim (Lim Jeong Hee) had a good career going on in Korea after her Music is my life album. But shortly after that success, JYP bought her to America in an attempt to break into the market. That didn’t work out and since then, we have heard nothing about her. G-Soul, another of his proteges, has yet to make his debut.

One fan said,

“After Lim Jeong Hee was sacrificed, it’s very sad that it has happened again. Sunmi is JYP’s next sacrificial lamb.”

Another wrote,

“If you notice, JYP might be a great producer and singer, but he isn’t that good at managing relations. We all know what happened with Rain, Jaebeom and HyunA in the past. He just let them go easily although he still remains on good terms with them. Perhaps he is just too kind-hearted.”

JYPE responded,

“Sunmi’s decision was taken after lengthy discussions with the company and her family. We will support her, if she decides to return in future.”

HyunA, a former member of the Wonder Girls, had left the group back in 2007 due to health issues. She returned as part of a new five-member girl group, 4minute in the summer of 2009 and is currently under Cube Entertainment, a sister company of JYP Entertainment. So we might not be seeing the last of Sunmi when she officially leaves for her studies at the end of February 2010.

cr to allkpop

[Guest me094]

Wow... Here we go again... Usually I wouldn't comment but this just pulled something in me. I feel like it doesn't matter what JYP does everything will still fall back on him. It doesn't matter if it was his fault or not, he will always be blamed for it. We will never knew the real truth, so give him a break already.

[Guest ketchup?]

Why can't people just respect her decisions and quit speculating?

[Guest CornPOPSat2PM]

conspiracies!

JYP is getting blamed for everything now... somehow I'm starting to feel bad for him

[Guest lovesong3208]

I hear Jay's voice in the background

THIS IS A CONSPIRACYYYY

haha but anyways...I feel like the netizens

are just using JYPE to dump their feelings out.

[Guest COOKIE.BANDIT.]

seriously I think ppl are pushing the blame too much on JYP himself

while the entertainment industry is super shady and is a great deal about money/business, I believe that he is driven by his passion and love for music. when he made the announcement that he wanted to resign as CEO of JYPE (?), you could tell that he wasn't in this for all the drama n wanted to go back doing what he loved

he had let go artists in the past but he remains on good terms with them to this day. when JYP said that he will help Jay if he ever decides to come back, i believe he truly meant it. b/c even though Hyuna left WG, she debuted again under CUBE - JYPE's sister company. and although Sunmi has announced that she's leaving WG, she also said that she'll continue taking dance/vocal lessons with the JYPE company

just let them be. netizens are turning the whole thing ugly

[Guest]

I'm actually not suprised that fans would blame JYP for this.

But I honestly don't think that he has to take all the fault.

Correct me if I'm wrong anyone! But I remember watching Golden Fishery? where

he said that he asked the girls first whether they wanted to come to America.

So I don't think that he pushed the girls into coming here at all.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that our girls are at fault, NO!

I'm just saying that if they felt that they were ready, then they were ready.

They did say that Sunmi will comeback right?

Until then let's just wait for her!

(';

[Guest tokkie]

did anyone else watch the golden fishery episode with jyp and the wonder girls? sunmi said she cried every night for a month or something when she first went to america that's the first thing i thought of...

and just a thought: i'm prettyyyy sure she would not leave the wonder girls if they were still active only in korea

[Guest spfork]

ehhhh? weren't fans excited when the wonder girls made their debut in america? I don't quite understand why they're suddenly blaming JYP for all of this. They did the same thing for Jaebeom too... I mean, it was their decision.

[Trish_Fan]

I respect Sunmi's choice but I think it's not a good idea adding Lim. I won't go out carrying a pitchfork... JYP shouldn't add a substitute member. He should deal with the potential of the girls. However the main problem is the vocal. Only Yeeun or Sunye can sing Sunmi's part. =/

Also the Wonder Girls were doing well why leaving Korea? (Why didn't he let Sohee and Sunmi graduate before debuting the US. >.> I believe... because Nobody was a big success, it should be introduced in other countries such as US. It was also a challenge SM (BoA) vs YG (SE7EN) vs JYP (Wonder Girls, minus Min, minus Jeong Lim, minus G-Soul))

I WANT TO HEAR G-SOUL

I've been waiting for years.

[Guest TiFFaNiZeD]

lol, who wouldn't be bored of her career if she had to sing the same damn song for over a year continuosly?

i agree it was a bad move to move the wonder girls to the US tho. they were loved by everyone in korea, now they have to hang around with the Jonas brothers, and Justin bieber just saying...

[Guest Dorkiilove]

I feel bad for the Wonderfuls.

They've been waiting how long to see their 5 girls preform on stage?

And now, this happens, going to Korea with 5 Members, coming back with 4.

[Guest inyeon.]

^

^

I don't understand your point. I'm sure the Jonas Brothers and Justin Bieber are nice people. I don't think you should judge based on your opinion of their music.

-

JYP is just the scapegoat in this situation, unfortunately. I disagree with the netizens, I don't think JYP pushed the girls too hard. I mean, he gave them a choice, and they all wanted to do it. If one of them felt they weren't ready to debut in america, I'm sure JYP would of slowed the process down a bit.

As for Sunmi, (I hate to keep bringing this up), but she said she wanted to be a world star. That is was her dream to be a world singer. I can't help but feel that she gave up way too easily. Obviously, it is really hard to be away from home, away from family, and to adapt to a new culture. But she really should of expected it. and honestly, I can't imagine how it could of been THAT bad. She had her members around her, met lots of new people, had an opportunity to take a break (their time in new york was a long break from their public activities).

edit:

I don't want to sound like I'm bashing Sunmi at all. I guess I am just a little disappointed, since I was really looking forward to their new album and activities in america. But all in all, I DO respect her decision. No doubt, this decision took many weeks of thinking and it must of been hard for all the members, so I can't really judge their situation. I can't really imagine the situation from her POV.

at least she will still be in JYPE...I'll look forward to her comeback [:

[Guest jchowder]

you can't really blame the netizens for pushing all the responsibility onto JYP. They're just frustrated and JYP is the only person they could release their frustration on. Would sunmi still be in the group if they hadn't entered into the U.S. music industry? Most likely but this is a sort of thing that we'll just never know. It happened....and now it's time to get over it...we can't do anything about it by blaming this on someone. Sunmi is probably coming back so everyone should just look forward to that.

btw...once sunmi goes back to korea, does anyone think she will be receiving some heat? i'm sure there will be a lot of people trash talking her and making her feel guilty about leaving. hopefully this doesn't affect her in school...

[Guest Choochi]

Guhh I hate when netizens place the blame on others. I wonder, do they ever think that maybe there's no one to blame here? In my opinion, JYP is already lenient/nice/etc. enough as a producer. I mean, look at SME, or a lot of the other agencies, where the artists are under contracts that DON'T allow them to leave, no matter how tired they are or how much they want to pursue something else. And honestly, if word got out that Sunmi wanted to leave to continue studies and JYP was holding her back from doing so, they'd be complaining too. Jeez.

They ought to just respect Sunmi's decision because it's a pretty good one, and actually thank JYP for helping her decide and letting her do what she wants. The only thing that's actually not so smart on JYP's part is adding a new member so quickly when the WG are such an established group already. And even so, it's his group, and he's the producer, so he gets to make the choices.

[Guest CornPOPSat2PM]

For those of you who keep saying that they're disappointed in Sunmi and bringing up the past where she said her dream is to be a world star. Be quiet. Seriously, give the girl some slack. She was young, still young AND dreams can change.

I do agree with people who said that Sunmi wouldn't need to leave if Wondegirls stayed in Korea.

[b06]

WHOA!!!! i'm out for a week and BAM this news hits me in the face!

it sadden me that Sunmi is withdrawing from the WG but hopefully we'll be seeing her again after graduation.

*Sigh* i'm tired of speculation and assumption why is JYP the culprit in every similar situation?

[Guest riehae]

it can't be helped...

fans need someone to blame...

coz they can't blame her anymore coz she's the one leaving...

though i kinda agree with the 'they were pretty young to debut in the u.s. market and had to quit h.s.'....

i just hope wg success won't get stuck with nobody...

[Guest Mani4ever]

The girl wanted to finish her education. She's a serious girl, and has chosen this decision since she knows what is the best. Period.

Is it really hard for fans to realize that she chose education before being a singer?

People should be happy for her.

Geez!

[STAR_x.]

i feel kind of bad for JYP. i don't think he did this all selfishly and i dont' think that he should get this much heat.

i, however, feel that if the Wonder Girls never left for America and had stayed in Korea, Sun Mi wouldn't leave. they should have stayed until all the girls graduated from high school.

plus, they would've had more time to make a more stable fanbase in Korea. yeah i know they're SUPER popular, but look what happened when they left - a lot of their fans immigrated :/