Scatter_88mil

You're correct that the idol business has a 'shelf life' indeed - but even so, it was CCM's damn fault for not trying to get the more lacking T-ara members (Qri, Boram and possibly even Hwa Young) reach their maximum potential or promoting them as heavily. Some of SNSD's members were on the same position as Qri and Boram in terms of talent but gradually over time, SM made the effort in promoting them, giving them actual lines and parts in songs and the such - and SNSD doesn't face the danger of seeing any members being given the sack. I agree with you that the girls have probably made quite a lot of money but depending on the contract, they would only get betwen 5 to 15% of the profit they earn, maybe even less. The money they make is probably enough to keep them away from starving (but hey, they probably don't even get regular meals due to the schedule) and buying new clothes but definitely not enough to say, buy a new car or house. This may be recognizable by their dorms - at best, their dorm is pretty much average and if one may say, even somewhat small for 7 people to move around freely and all. Even SM provides better accomodation despite having larger groups. Hell, even my aunt, her husband and two children live at a much wider apartment than T-ara does and her husband's income is nowhere near what T-ara earns each year. It's understandable a portion of the profit they earn does have to go the company though - CCM needs money to pay other employees and contractors (receptionists, managers, trainers, composers etc.) while also maintaining infrastructure, living costs of the idols, marketing and the such. Though obviously, as you say, KKS is the one who takes a disproportionate amount - money he doesn't deserve.

You make a very good point that it's possibly a fear tactic to keep the members 100% compliant to his own ass. But even then, having done constant work for 3 years with no break till recently, I doubt T-ara's going to stay compliant for long. As said by G-Dragon of Big Bang, idols get the tendency to rebel against their agencies at their third year since debut - Big Bang did almost exactly that when they planned on running away from YG - result? YG eventually heard about this and as compensation, gave them a 2-month break. T-ara's members since last year have suffered from a series of injuries, fainting and looking like zombies on screen (simply, dead tired). Regardless, KKS's further tightening group is bound to make the girls more discontent and rebellious. However, I doubt other agencies would make second thoughts about taking T-ara in if they leave CCM - unless the CEOs of the other agencies are no better or even worse than KKS himself (and frankly, KKS is probably subject to a lot of jokes by the Big Three). Personally, the guy sometimes even makes SM look like saints. One of Korea's oldest groups, Shinhwa also managed to transfer agencies quite safe and sound with no loss of members and even name, even though it was SM that was its opposition at the court. If SM can't win lawsuits filed by its own idols, neither will CCM. Kara's DSP also took a major blow when three of the members filed a lawsuit against it - and it took close to a full year for the whole issue to be settled and resolved. SM with DBSK also lost its reputation very much, not to mention the court sided with JYJ - hell, SM's excuses and claims on the reasons why JYJ filed a lawsuit against them were downright laughable. The last thing agencies would want is their own idols rebelling and filing a lawsuit against them - because chances are they're very likely to lose. There's a reason why YG gave Big Bang a 2 month break rather than using intimidation and threats as KKS is seemingly using currently. What KKS is doing is hardly any different to what mafia bosses do, minus using physical violence. Needless to say, the clock is already ticking and things are likely to get real ugly later this year. With the second album and solo concert scheduled for summer, the timing is also very critical.

Problem is Kim Kwang Su will probably oppose any attempt in renegotiating with them regarding the contracts. It's more than just slavery - it's abuse. The man literally is a son of the devil. He's not going to give them anything more until T-ara somehow replaces SNSD as the top national girl idol group in Korea - which is a delusional and impossible goal at the least (hell, SM's higher ups are probably going to laugh at him for trying to do so). Now, the girls may be young at this stage but having to go work 3 years without a single break is simply overboard - even the South Korean military treats its recruits better than that and their training regime is seen as incredibly rigorous by even international standards. There's a limit to how long one can tolerate pain. The only thing the girls can do to get a longer break is to leave CCM through a lawsuit or if Kim Kwang Su somehow miraculously resigns or pops his clogs and drops dead.

You have a point there about Boram - but then again, whose fault is it that she's been looking out of place in the past six months? CCM didn't bother improving anything about her at all. That's what can be called as sloppy and incompetent management - and CCM has quite a record for that. Regarding Ji Yeon, that is quite true as well - but then again, being the 'face' of T-ara, that's no surprise at all. But given she's perhaps the most overworked member, it would be nice to cut her some slack. Though adding in one of the Davichi members is unreal - it would give T-ara more vocal capability for sure - but it would also pretty much bring a huge lot of flak from Davichi fans and to a degree, the general public. Kang Min-Kyung and Lee Hae-Ri would both no doubt replace So Yeon and Hyomin as main and lead vocalists as the latter two are pushed to sub-vocals while Ji Yeon well..would be put down even further. Now, if smaller groups are more preferable to you, that's understandable. But do note that all it takes is just some careful and good promotion - SM was able to do that just fine with SNSD and SuJu. CCM however, is inept at it - especially with a nutcase like KKS.

Hmmm, could you provide any solid information that SNSD gets at least 10 days off a month? Just curious since I never heard anything about that.

For T-ara, there's also the possibility that the surviving members will have a frosty relationship with the new replacements - the last thing an idol group needs is the members fighting amongst themselves. Such a decision is likely to hit So Yeon the most, as her position as T-ara's leader. However, I disagree that a vocalist can be replaced easily - CCM's roster list isn't as large as most other agencies and hence, probably has less trainees to choose from. The bigger picture is that KKS is definitely hellbent on trying to compete with SM by making a group similar to SNSD. It will receive a huge lot of flak from the SONEs and even from SM itself. Lee Soo Man and the rest of SM's higher ups are probably not very happy with KKS's decision either. In short, KKS's goal is to get T-ara to replace SNSD as Korea's top national idol girl group as soon as possible - and that is a delusional and impossible goal, to say the least. There's a reason why T-ara had 3 comebacks since last summer. But it's simply not going to work as SM has the money, influence and connections to expand anywhere it wants - CCM doesn't. But Kim Kwang Su doesn't seem to realize that. With Co-Ed pretty much non-existent while other famous artists in the past like SeeYa, SG Wannabe and Lee Hyori having disbanded or left CCM, I have a feeling T-ara may be the next to follow. Neither of those three worked for CCM for long at all.

Even though Boram is turning 26 this year, do note that 2NE1's Dara and Bom are even older - and there's no sign of them being dropped off forcibly by YG. Two of After School's members, Ka Hee and Jung Ah are 31 and 28, respectively - and they're definitely not even close to being kicked out. Given that CCM's roster list is fairly small and definitely likely has a lot less potential trainees than agencies like SM, YG, JYP, Cube etc., getting a vocalist to replace either So Yeon, Hyomin or Eun Jung isn't going to be a very easy job with such time constraints and competition with bigger agencies (not to mention individual singers themselves probably won't risk their own health and free lifestyle by working for a crackpot whose intelligence and ethics is very questionable at best). KKS is a poor and inept businessman - that's as far as it goes. 30 years of experience doesn't really help since he only became CEO from the 21st century and beyond. The 1980s ain't the same as now, for sure. Hell, his decisions are enough to make all of my dad's business friends laugh, joke and mock about him.

You have quite a point there - but truthfully, not giving your employees even a single vacation for several years is something that's not even legal, as far as I'm concerned. I'm no expert in labor laws in Korea, but working like that is just complete slavery. I can imagine that So Yeon is particularly feeling bad about the whole issue here - she was the one who had the guts to even say publicly that T-ara hadn't had a single vacation till now and that was only 2 months ago. God knows what T-ara has to compensate in return desperately to ensure they get a proper vacation and no change in members. It's truly frightening. KKS's real intentions in the short term may be to keep the members obeying him 24/7 but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he's hellbent on trying to beat SM with its all-famous group SNSD, the current top national girl group of Korea. There's a reason why T-ara had 3 comebacks since last year - and it ain't because the girls wanted to overstretch themselves. I can't be sure about SM's CEO, but clearly, KKS is living in a wholly different generation - JYP and YG are headed by guys who are barely in their late 30s to early 40s and were entertainers themselves in their youth - KKS, however, was never one himself.

And it took over a year for the majority of the fans to get used to Hwa Young - do you really think that T-ara needs another member in this case? The damage wasn't certainly life-threatening but it certainly as hell didn't receive very good feedback. Only this time, increasing the number of members is going to make T-ara into a CCM version of Girls Generation. This is something that will spark a major fan war with the Sones - and even quite possibly, provoke SM Entertainment as well as affecting the members themselves to a level far deeper than what Hwa Young caused. KKS is more or less hellbent on making war against SM for whatever personal beef he has against it, despite the fact CCM is never, EVER going to match SM in terms of anything.

I don't see why the members would need to be disciplined unless they committed a serious crime like murder, larcency, drugs or any of that. They're the ones who did all the hard work and this is how he repays them for all of it. Protesting ain't gonna work - you should just set fire on his house or office. THAT will wake him up.

Agreed, it's CCM and KKS's fault for not putting in any serious effort in getting Qri and Boram to improve on anything - just goes to say that their management is sloppy, lackluster, incompetent and pathetic. Hell, KKS is shooting himself in the foot for doing this.

Just in case you didn't know, KKS was already a scumbag before T-ara even debuted. If you know SeeYa's Nam Gyuri, she even said that KKS is a devil before she left the agency - and that was roughly only a month before T-ara's debut. I believe the 30 years' experience to be nothing more than a shield he uses - it's something of an excuse he has if someone's going to point fingers at him. Hell, even my dad who used to run his own business thinks KKS is an incompetent whack of an amateur when it comes to business - in fact, even his boss agrees. Arguably, one can figure out that his own goal is to try and replace either YG, SM or JYP as part of the Big 3 - which is at best, a delusional goal that can never be achieved since all three of those agencies beat CCM in virtually every single possible category, save for the fact they don't have their own broadcast channel. The man clearly has issues. Even SNSD managed to improve the singing abilities of its more lacking members over time - yet, KKS doesn't seem to have grasped on the fact that time is a crucial and important factor in the entertainment industry, yet alone the saying that things get better by time. Changing or kicking out members in the height of popularity is the same as carrying no ammunition into the battlefield.

By all means, it's his own greed and ambitions to have a comfy retirement and beating SM - making a copycat version of SNSD isn't going to beat SNSD - not in the long shot anyway. There's plenty of other idol groups with 9 members or more and they sure as hell haven't been successful than SNSD in any way. SNSD already debuted 2 years before T-ara did and they're backed by an agency that is among the Big Three - SM has the money, influence, connections and power to expand as far as it wants. CCM however, does not have that, at least in a comparable scale. Considering agencies also rely heavily on the income their idols earn, this is a major factor. CCM hasn't expanded anywhere around the world except for Japan in a level comparable to any of the Big Three, plus a lot of the money needs to go to paying the staff (managers, receptionists, composers, trainers etc.) and infrastructure maintenance and among other things. SM also has more idol groups to rely on for income - ShiNee, SNSD, fx, Super Junior and the DBSK duo - CCM on the other hand, has only T-ara and Davichi. Add in the fact that CCM also needs money to maintain its own broadcast channel, it provides even less money to expand overseas. It's like a kid going up against a boxing champion in a fist-fight. CCM was never efficient in managing its artists anyway - and at current practice, never will. It will never be able to beat SM - not if a nutso like KKS is in charge. The man is an inept and incompetent manager and businessman. He is a failure.

Even if he does know, I doubt he really cares - after all, he's the one who decides how everything comes and goes. Not T-ara or any of the management staff of CCM. The number of fans will definitely decrease significantly - truthfully, it wouldn't drop down TOO much if Boram, Qri or Hwa Young were kicked but if either of the Big Four are out, then we're looking at something between a loss of 10-40% of fans - both Korean and international. I too believe that the those three hadn't really did that much for the group but the fact they too get only 2-3 hours of sleep per day and have schedules just as packed is enough to make me sympathize and respect them for their trouble. While it's a general case that idols don't have much rest, at the very least they get something every year or every six months or so - considering T-ara hasn't had anything until now, one might even say that CCM is much worse than SM Entertainment, whose reputation was heavily damaged after DBSK members filed a lawsuit against it. Unless KKS himself decides to give it all up or T-ara decides to take a lawsuit or even abandon CCM altogether themselves, there's no stopping him. Worst case scenario, we'll probably see a mob of angry Korean fans causing a big scene right in front of CCM's doorsteps (and if so, hopefully burst into his office and beat him to a pulp). This could be potentially hotter than DBSK and KARA - the timing itself is also very, VERY crucial here.

And it's doubtful the CEO will even want to make it longer - he cares more about his pockets than their wellbeing. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see through it. Oh, and T-ara's been active for over 2 years actually - just wait a couple more months and they'll hit the 3 year mark exactly.

Amen to that. The CEO is probably among the most incompetent whackjobs to exist in the K-pop industry. Hell, even George Bush could do a better job than him. No wonder SG Wannabe and Lee Hyori left CCM after working for it for a few years XD

It won't be just immediate - it will hit the news NATION-WIDE. Moreso, it will especially bring a major buzz from netizens and fans alike. With T-ara maintaining its popularity at its height as of now, changing it substantially will bring in horrible results - this could be even more intense than DBSK splitting up. True, 7 members is already quite a lot of mouths and money to feed and maintain. It's as if CCM is planning to make T-ara into a CCM-Girls Generation-style group. I agree with you that the current members are indeed quite nerve-wrecked about it. I'm fairly positive that Ji Yeon, Hyomin, Eun Jung and So Yeon will remain but for Boram and Qri, it's a real worry - neither of the two are as good at singing or acting as the other four. Hwa Young is also a potential candidate for being replaced by someone else. Frankly, it was CCM's fault for not bothering to improve anything with Boram and Qri.

It's good to see people are starting to see that Kim Kwang Su is a rather despicable scumbag now. Even my dad and his friends who are businessmen (or at least former businessmen) believe this is a very, VERY bad move - one of them even went as far as to say that KKS is an awfully inept, incompetent and even corrupt and power-abusing businessman - this is pretty evident with the fact that KKS hasn't bothered seriously promoting T-ara anywhere beyond Korea and Japan in a level comparable to SM, YG and JYP. CCM doesn't even have foreign branches overseas - most of the money T-ara makes is either going to CCM or to KKS himself. It's understandable CCM does need a portion of T-ara's income so it can pay its own employees (cleaners, receptionists, composers, managers and other staff), maintain equipment and structure and other sorts of logistics but KKS doesn't deserve anything after what he's done. Replacing the members at say, 2009 or 2010 would have a much smaller impact since T-ara wasn't all-mighty popular at the time - but ever since Roly Poly kicked off, such a move in the present would be completely detrimental to T-ara AND CCM itself. Added with the fact KKS hasn't even bothered giving T-ara even one decent vacation since debut - the current one, which is barely a week, is a complete half-assed attempt. 3 years of constant work and that's all they get - and Ji Yeon doesn't even get it due to her drama filming for DH2. KKs is a scumbag, to put it simply - even when KARA had their lawsuit against their agency DSP, KKS even attempted to interfere with the whole issue and personally said that the KARA members shouldn't even be in the entertainment agency. Even further in, SeeYa's Nam Gyuri also referred to KKS as a 'devil', only roughly a month before T-ara's debut in 2009. Oh yea - last note to one who says KKS needs a bullet in the head: He gets it in my fan-fic - titled, 'Concert of the Dead'. You may be interested

Well it's about f**king time they got a break. Thank goodness for that. But in all honesty, it's not long enough. They oughta get something more that's at LEAST a month - that's what I call a break after having constantly worked for nearly 3 years, with occasional fainting. This is hardly different to a factory worker being given half the pay he/she deserves for working overtime for nearly a whole year at the least. Could it be a publicity stunt by CCM since more fans and to a degree, the general public are becoming aware that T-ara is being overworked? I cannot say for sure but the possibility is certainly high and open for discussion. Not even Kim Kwang Su can keep everything under the lid forever. At least CCM kept its promise the girls would be given a break - except the promised 10 days is now only barely a week and Ji Yeon won't be getting much from it. What is this? It's a completely half-assed attempt. While it's good that the girls (or specifically, 6 out of 7 of them) are getting some relief from their workload, overall, CCM hasn't redeemed itself from this at all. For crying out loud, Ji Yeon's the youngest of the group and by her age, only graduated from high school last month - yet she doesn't get the same benefit of the break as the other members. Suffice to say, the timing is awful and sloppy at best. _________________________________________________________ " T-ara members are using it as an opportunity to recharge" _________________________________________________________ Or rather, using it as an opportunity to sleep, eat and live normally for once. Until ALL 7 members get a break that's truly long enough to compensate for their years of constant work, I remain utterly disappointed and angered with CCM, even antagonized against it. And will continue to protest and if necessary, slander Kim Kwang Su and CCM in general. But for now, I hope the girls really take this brief time to relax and rest peacefully, spend time with their families and old friends.

More like CCM declares to give the donations. I highly doubt T-ara ever made the decision themselves. The Fukushima nuclear powerplant incident occurred last year - what made them want to donate now? Aside from promoting in Japan, it seems a bit whacked to suddenly bring up horrible memories from last year. Based on the amount of success T-ara had last year, doing it last year would have made it more plausible - just like SNSD did. It just doesn't add up - unless KKS wants the public to further avoid thinking about T-ara not getting a break anytime soon (hell, he probably even has someone checking through all the posts in this site).

Probably because MBC thinks the original WGM ratings aren't high enough to their expectations. With all the labour strikes around, a lot of stuff has been delayed too. But frankly, I don't think Hyomin was that interested to begin with - especially when focusing on the upcoming albums are a larger priority and working on two albums requires a huge amount of effort and time. Add with the fact that all of T-ara is overworked, appearing in a variety show would only add in more stress - both mentally and physically. By the way, if you thought the Chinese copying Korean shows was something, think again - the Chinese have a major reputation for copying all sorts of things. Hell, they even made their own copies of Russian military equipment. Not to mention they copy all sorts of fashion and accessories. It's endless.

So exactly WHY is Hyomin even put in this show? She should be having a break with her fellow members *Sighes* It's as if their CEO thinks working on the two upcoming albums isn't enough. Son of a b!tch.

No, they're not on break - they'e busy appearing in TV shows and are set to work on TWO albums, coming out in June and July, followed by a massive load of performances to promote their title tracks. Their CEO even said they'll work at a more 'vigorous' schedule for the next few months - funny thing is, the guy said they'll have a 10-day-break after Lovey Dovey promotions. It was a lie he made so that the public won't point fingers at him and will forget the issue (mostly anyway). And to be honest, T-ara doesn't have the capacity to go with a world tour - CCM isn't exactly as expanding as YG and SM, not to mention it lacks the money to sustain such tours unless it's going to risk a huge loss to itself. Do note that unlike SM, JYP and YG, CCM also has its own broadcasting channel to maintain and the number of successful celebs in its roster is also smaller and probably not as financially successful (compared to SNSD, Big Bang, 2NE1, SuJu etc.) They simply can't provide the logistics needed for a world tour (and frankly, the CEO is probably more concerned with filling his own pockets and bank account before he's going to retire) in any way comparable to the Big Three. But even then, do you think it's in any of the T-ara members' interests to go on a world tour? At the current stage, probably not since they're utterly desperate for a break as they've been overworked for months and hadn't had a single vacation since debut. They're living and breathing humans too, just like us.

I don't know how it all 'saves' time spent on making trips from here to there and back and forth. The fact is, the girls are overworked and are desperate for a break - they're not even the ones who decide what sort of music they want to try or when they want to release their album. I don't see how their bond needs to strengthen any further though - by this point, all the members are most definitely likely to think of eachother as close friends and family. They've been together for almost three years now (minus Hwa Young, who joined in 2010). But regardless, that doesn't justify CCM overworking them constantly.

Optimistically, it would be somewhat less vigorous since acting is now completely off the shelf for them this year - but then again, EJ and Hyomin are busy with a show that's a complete waste of their time and talents (WGM). In a pessimistic way, their schedule could even grow worse - whatever time that was spent on acting last year will be spent on learning to speak Japanese more fluently, practicing vocals and choreography (this one can be particularly exhausting) and promotions in Japan. Either way, there's not really much change for them. Their CEO is a complete scumbag - there's a reason why famous celebs like Lee Hyori, SG Wannabe and Nam Gyuri of SeeYa left CCM after only staying with it for 2-3 years.