SOURCE: 엔하이픈 희승 일부 팬들, 국민연금에 항의…"업무 일시 마비돼"
Controversy has arisen as some international fans of ENHYPEN's ex-member Heeseung flooded the International Pension Support Center of the National Pension Service with protest calls and emails.
On the 18th, the Chairman of the National Pension Service, Kim Sungjoo, wrote on is social media, "Last week, international calls suddenly poured into the National Pension Service's International Pension Support Center, causing operations to be paralyzed. We received about 1,500 emails within just two hours."
He explained, "After looking into what happened, it turns out there were posts spread on social media urging international fans to protest to the National Pension Service, which is a major shareholder of HYBE, regarding the issue of a member leaving the K-pop group ENHYPEN."
He added, "Posts on X included questions like 'Has the National Pension Service been contacted by HYBE in advance?' and 'Are they aware of the market value they have lost caused by this decision?', and encouraging people to 'Protest to the National Pension Service as their major shareholder,' along with screenshots of the International Pension Support Center's contact number."
Chairman Kim Sungjoo explained, "The International Support Center is a department that handles pension support services for foreign workers in Korea and Koreans working abroad. It is a place where staff capable of speaking in various languages like English, Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese provide consultations."
He added, "Due to this incident, people who called for actual pension consultations experienced significant inconvenience. The National Pension Service is a long-term investor that manages and operates the citizens' retirement funds. While we invest in numerous companies in over 80 countries, we do not interfere in the management or personnel matters of individual companies."
He emphasized, "Of course, we also do not get involved in the formation of K-pop groups. Although this was just a 'happening' that spread quickly on social media, it was an opportunity to reconsider what kind of role the National Pension Service actually plays as an institution."
Meanwhile, Heeseun's agency, BELIFT Lab, previously announced on the 10th, "Heeseung will becoming independent from ENHYPEN and the group will continue its activities as a six-member group starting from upcoming official schedules." They added, "It is difficult to explain the entire process in a short message, but this decision was made after long and careful consideration."
