Former ILUV member Minah hospitalized as dispute with agency, band spirals out of control

The mother of Minah, formerly of K-pop group ILUV, posted to Minah’s Instagram in the early hours of Friday that the singer had collapsed and was sent to the emergency room.

It was the latest development in an ongoing exchange of accusations online between Minah and her former ILUV bandmates, as well as with ILUV agency WKS ENE.

“Mina collapsed today and was sent to the emergency room. She will be hospitalized soon and I hope negative comments and predictions about Mina’s state are refrained from,” wrote Minah’s mother on the daughter’s account.

The dispute between Minah and ILUV came to light when Minah posted on her Instagram on July 14 that the company had requested she keep secret some things she knew. On July 13, Minah announced on Instagram that she had left ILUV and WKS ENE for good, saying she suffers from depression, insomnia and panic disorder. ILUV has disbanded, and the agency has been preparing to debut a new girl group -- Botopass -- in August.

“I got a call from the company asking me to keep it a secret. I don’t know why I have to keep it a secret. Shouldn’t you apologize? I want to be apologized to by the people who gave me a hard time,” said Minah in her post on July 14.

Minah said that her bandmates bullied her by slapping her in the face, sexually harassing her and blowing cigarette smoke at her, among other things

Minah later posted on her YouTube page that she had been saved by a police officer, who turned out to be a cousin of K-pop group SHINee’s Taemin, when she went to a bridge on the Han River with ill intentions on July 15.

WKS ENE quickly refuted Minah the next day on social media, saying her claims were groundless and false.

“The six other former members of ILUV and WKS ENE make it clear that what she claims was never true,” said WKS ENE. “The other six members of ILUV are deeply shocked and hurt by the one-sided and groundless assertions made by a person who says she has mental health problems.”

WKS ENE provided what it labeled evidence of Minah getting along with her bandmates -- text messages -- to SBS program “Night of TV Entertainment,” in a segment that aired Wednesday. The company said it was Minah who started sexually harassing the others, and they were all suffering from Minah’s false accusations.

Minah refuted the claims on “Night of TV Entertainment,” saying the text messages were sent before signing the contract and living together with her bandmates, which was when the bullying happened.

The other ILUV members took to social media on Thursday and expressed shock and betrayal at what they said were Minah’s false accusations.

The continued back and forth between the agency and Minah is becoming messy, as neither side is backing off in calling the other side’s claims false.

Meanwhile, WKS ENE has announced that the agency will take legal actions against Minah, which she welcomed.

By Lim Jang-won (ljw@heraldcorp.com)