Nine members of The Boyz demand to terminate exclusive contracts, agency says "We cannot accept this"

[The Financial News] Most members of the group The Boyz have demanded to terminate their exclusive contracts with their agency One Hundred, while One Hundred has stated that it cannot accept this request.
On the 19th, attorney Moon Hee Kim of Yulchon LLC, the legal representative of The Boyz, said regarding the termination of exclusive contracts and future activities of members Sangyeon, Jacob, Younghoon, Hyunjae, Juyeon, Kevin, Q, Sunwoo, and Eric (hereafter, the artists), "On February 10, 2026, we notified the agency of the termination of the exclusive contracts due to a material breach of the exclusive contracts and the resulting irreparable damage to the relationship of trust, and accordingly, the exclusive contracts were lawfully terminated and have ceased to be effective."
He went on, "After paying out the settlement for the second quarter of 2025, the agency failed to pay the artists their proper settlement payments for all activities from July 2025 onward," adding, "Furthermore, even though the artists repeatedly requested access to basic documents such as the contracts in order to verify transparency in the settlements, the agency refused without just cause, thereby neglecting the fundamental and essential obligations of a management company under the exclusive contracts."
He continued, "Not only did the agency fail to properly cover various essential expenses for the artists' entertainment activities, it also effectively abandoned normal management duties by leaving even the costs for staff members who work with them on-site unpaid for several months," explaining that, "Ultimately, we concluded that this situation could no longer be overlooked or allowed to continue," as the background to the contract termination.
However, member New is not taking part in this lawsuit. The Boyz’s side stated, "After sufficient discussions with the other artists regarding this matter, New expressed his personal intention to maintain his exclusive contract."
Despite the dispute, The Boyz announced that their solo concert scheduled for November 24–26 at the KSPO Dome in Olympic Park, Seoul, will go ahead as planned.
The Boyz’s side said, "The artists agreed that, because of this situation, no harm should be passed on to fans or to any good-faith third parties, including partner companies and other related parties."
In response, One Hundred stated the same day, "We cannot accept The Boyz’s demand to terminate their exclusive contracts."
One Hundred said, "We signed the contracts on the premise that all 11 members of The Boyz (at the time of the transfer) would remain as one team and carry out activities for the duration of the contract, and on that basis we paid each member a large exclusive contract fee," adding, "However, due to a series of controversies involving the members last year, that premise collapsed, and as a result one member even left the team, making normal group activities difficult."
The agency continued, "Even so, we have tried to keep the group active by persuading affected partner companies and accepting significant losses."
Regarding a report by The Fact that the members were renting practice rooms out of their own pockets and preparing performances without support from the company, One Hundred countered, "It is actually the members who are turning away from and rejecting our support."
The Boyz, who debuted in 2017, transferred from IST Entertainment to their current agency One Hundred in December 2024. In June last year, member Ju Haknyeon left the team following controversy over his private life, and the group has since continued as a 10-member act.
newssu@fnnews.com Kim Su-yeon Reporter