Omega X member Hwichan, accused of sexually harassing his former agency’s CEO Kang Seung Hee, has been formally charged and referred to prosecutors.
As reported by legal sources on August 2, the Seongdong Police Station in Seoul submitted the case to the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office on August 1, and prosecutors will now review the charges.
The CEO of OMEGA X’s ex-agency, Hwang Sung Woo, also the husband of former executive Kang, held a press conference in March and claimed that Hwichan requested to meet Kang privately and forcibly touched her inappropriately and kissed her in July 2022.
They also filed a complaint with the police against the 28-year-old K-pop idol. Notably, OMEGA X members filed a counter-suit lawsuit against CEO Kang, accusing her of sexual assault.
In March, OMEGA X’s current agency IPQ Entertainment strongly contested the allegations made by the CEO of Spire Entertainment.
IPQ Entertainment states that the CCTV footage shows no evidence of force or coercion by Whichan, and CEO Kang’s actions do not suggest any resistance or discomfort.
They claimed that it was, in fact, Kang Seung Hee, who ordered him to touch him inappropriately and demanded Spire Entertainment to release full footage of the encounter.
Many explosive text messages were, then, revealed by the agency, showing that OMEGA X members were harassed and gaslighted by CEO Kang on numerous occasions. It was also revealed that they were forced to drink with CEO Hwang and Kang out of fear that they would be left out of comebacks and promotions.
In one of the conversations revealed by IPQ between Kang and an OMEGA X member, she said the member was ‘out’ simply because he did not say ‘I love you’ to her.
Omega X initially alleged that former CEO Kang made sexually harassing comments and threatened members with violent language, including death threats.
Following these allegations, Omega X successfully applied for an injunction to nullify their exclusive contract with Spire, citing a breakdown in trust. In January last year, the court ruled in Omega X’s favor, allowing them to terminate their contract and sign with a new agency, IPQ Entertainment.
Kang, the former CEO of Omega X’s agency, faced prosecution for allegedly physically assaulting group member Jaehan in a Los Angeles hotel in October 2022. The incident occurred in a hallway near an elevator, and Kang was indicted in March for the alleged assault.