Friday’s announcement comes a few weeks after Seunghan’s departure from Riize two days after being reinstated into the groupafter a break of 11 months.

Previous photos of Seunghan smoking and kissing a woman before he debuted as an idol were leaked to the public in late 2023, leading to huge backlash from some fans.

At the time, Seunghan opted to stop his activities “for the sake of Riize”.

In October 2024, following the announcement that Seunghan would return to Riize, fans who were unhappy with the news expressed their displeasure by sending protest trucks and funeral wreaths – bearing hate messages and death threats to Seunghan – outside the SM Entertainment headquarters.

As such, Seunghan chose to leave Riize for good.

However, the actions of fans calling for Seunghan’s removal – as well as SM Entertainment’s handling of the situation – received criticism from many in the international K-pop community. Many K-pop stores around the world even temporarily halted stocks of Riize’s albums and merchandise in solidarity with the fans who support Riize as a seven-piece group.