Experts Discuss Possible Reason Behind Chinese Members' Exit from EXO

One expert says the Chinese market pays more compared to Korea. On the October 15 broadcast of SBS' "One Night of TV Entertainment", the show invited lawyers, representatives, and legal counsels to discuss Luhan's lawsuit against SM Entertainment which he filed in the hopes of having his contract with the agency nullified.

Oct 16, 2014 04:55 AM BST

TAGㆍEXOㆍ Luhanㆍ Kris

On the October 15 broadcast of SBS' "One Night of TV Entertainment", the show invited lawyers, representatives, and legal counsels to discuss Luhan's lawsuit against SM Entertainment which he filed in the hopes of having his contract with the agency nullified.

The biggest concern for fans and the biggest question for many is why Chinese members are the one seeking to void their contract with SM Entertainment. A representative said, "There's a precedent to this, such as the breakaway of Chinese members," referring to such as Hangeng's departure from Super Junior in 2009.

It hasn't been established if it was mere coincidence that Hangeng, Kris, and Luhan sought the help of the same law firm for their case, but Lawyer Jung Yun Suk has a possible answer. "Hanggeng won his case [against SM] so it's possible that [Kris & Luhan] feels confident with their cases handled by the same law firm," the lawyer said. However, according to the same respondent, SM Entertainment's contract has drastically changed since Hangeng's lawsuit, so the agency may have a better chance at winning the cases.

A producer in the entertainment industry also explained that there's a very big difference between the Korean and Chinese entertainment industries. "There are hundreds of broadcasting stations in China. You'd get an appearance fee of 5,000,000 Won ($4,700 USD)-and that's still a minimum. There are people who receive millions, but that only applies to A-list stars. A celebrity who's already received a certain level of popularity and decides go into the Chinese market such as China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, that person is most likely to succeed.

To visualize the difference between the Chinese and Korean markets in figures, when EXO sold around a million copies of their album their individual profit did not even surpass the income B-grade Chinese celebrities received from filming just two dramas.

TagㆍEXOㆍ Luhanㆍ Kris