Riize’s Seunghan to be on hiatus for an undetermined period

On November 22, SM Entertainement released a statement to announce Seunghan’s hiatus. 

Before RIIZE’s debut, Seunghan began facing malicious comments, and personal information about his private life being exposed to the public. Since that day, an anonymous user has kept on releasing private information about Seunghan.  

After the last controversy in which the anonymous leaker revealed an Instagram live between Seunghan and Soobin (TXT), Korean fans were quick to send a truck in front of SM to ask Seunghan to leave the group. Meanwhile, international fans expressed their thoughts online, suggesting that Seunghan should reconsider his circle of friends, noting that the Instagram live had only three viewers, implying the leaker might be a "close friend" possibly envious of Seunghan's debut. 

In the statement released by SM Entertainment, we can read “Seunghan feels mental pressure and responsibility regarding this, so after deep contemplation, he relayed his intention to halt activities for the team’s benefit. We also judged that it is too difficult for him to continue activities through this situation and respecting his opinion of no longer wanting to cause harm to the team and members, we decided on the indefinite suspension of his activities. Therefore, RIIZE will promote with six members excluding Seunghan starting today (November 22).” 

The agency clarified their stance, stating their intention to pursue legal action against the individual responsible for the leaked footage. They emphasized that these recordings were made during Seunghan's personal time and prior to his debut. Additionally, they highlighted that one of the videos had been edited, deliberately altering sections to detrimentally impact the member. 

“We began monitoring immediately after recognizing the above situation, and we specified who was behind the unauthorized leaks and circulation after collecting a significant amount of evidence.  

We plan on filing a legal complaint this afternoon at the local police station. In addition, we are considering additional legal action against the specified individual not only for defaming the artist through unauthorized leaks and circulation but also for various illegal acts such as cybercrimes and threats.” 

In the meantime, Seunghan shared a letter of apology to his fans about his actions.