Leading K-pop store N.Cat Philippines has announced that they will no longer be restocking albums and other merchandise associated with RIIZE.
The store’s decision came after news of Hong Seungchan leaving the group while receiving no support from the agency. They have uploaded an official statement regarding the matter on their Twitter/X.
We cannot, in good conscience, tolerate such injustice to happen and continue to patronize a company who so thoughtlessly treats their artists with little respect. The situation with RIIZE and Hong Seunghan is truly unnerving, and NCAT Philippines is joining in on efforts to…
— N.Cat Philippines (@ncatphilippines) October 16, 2024
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“We cannot, in good conscience, tolerate such injustice to happen and continue to patronize a company who so thoughtlessly treats their artists with little respect. The situation with RIIZE and Hong Seunghan is truly unnerving, and N.Cat Philippines is joining in on efforts to demand responsibility from SM Entertainment,” the post stated.
“We will no longer be restocking RIIZE albums and any other related merchandise by the artist upon stock depletion. No pre-orders of future releases will be opened from here on out until an acceptable resolution from SM Entertainment has been made.”
Additionally, N.Cat Philippines informed that it will be donating a portion of its album sales to Seunghan’s support.
“N.Cat will also be donating a total of ₱27,000 — a portion of our SM artist album sales — to Seunghan support initiatives. We hope that through this, Seunghan knows that he is not alone in this ordeal and that the support he has outnumbers the hate.”
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N.Cat Philippines concludes their statement with the following:
“We fully recognize that this issue does not only affect RIIZE, but rather the entire K-pop industry. This is a wake-up call for entertainment giants (as well as related businesses that benefit from it) to prioritize morality over money. After all, we are fans first and a business second.”
News of Seunghan leaving RIIZE sparked outrage among online fans. While the artist did share that it was his decision, netizens believe that the production team behind the group should have helped him.
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