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| ▲ This photo, provided by IST Entertainment, shows the list of ATBO's final members. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, June 14 (Yonhap) – Yang Dong-hwa from K-pop rookie boy group ATBO, which was formed through the survival audition program “THE ORIGIN,” decided not to make a debut due to his bullying scandal.
The agency IST Entertainment announced through the social media page of “THE ORIGIN” on Tuesday, “After in-depth discussions with Yang Dong-hwa, we have decided that he will not be debuting as a member of ATBO.”
The agency explained, “After checking the posts about the artist online, we found that there were instances when Yang acted immaturely and hurt his classmates with inappropriate language.”
Yang got in contact with some of the classmates and apologized to them, according to the agency.
The agency also mentioned, “Yang Dong-hwa is sincerely regretting his past behaviors that were inappropriate for a minor and how he hurt people around him.”
Then, it added, “Please consider that the artist, who failed to achieve his dream, is regretting his past and support him to develop as a mature member of the society.”
Accordingly, ATBO is set to debut as a 6-member group excluding Yang Dong-hwa.
ATBO drew attention as a boy group produced by IST Entertainment, where Apink and The Boyz belong to. The former name of the group was ABO but changed to ATBO due to the concerns that it may cause misunderstanding in some overseas regions.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Kim Sun Min.)
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