Omona Exclusive: Will Kim Kwang Soo or MBK Entertainment Ever get Their Shit Together?

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MBK Entertainment (previously known as Core Contents Media) is a large entertainment company established by Kim Kwang Soo in 2007.
The company enjoyed early successes with acts like Seeya, Davichi, and T-ara. However, MBK has failed to become a consistant powerhouse idol churner like SM, JYP, or YG. While the latter companies have made blunders and gotten entangled in scandals and lost groups, they still manage to "create" new successful groups to replace old ones.

MBK not only has made numerous PR or management blunders, they have failed to produce idols to compete in the 3rd Generation of idol groups. In fact, CCM underwent a bankruptcy in 2014 and was bought out by MBK Co., Ltd. While MBK may stand for Music Beyond Korea, if Kim Kwang Soo doesn't pull it together they may not even release music in Korea for much longer.

Below are some examples of groups destroyed by poor management decisions.


Seeya

Why is the lighting so shitty though?
Seeya was a trio girl group that splashed onto the Kpop in 2006 as the female version of "SG Wannabe". Produced by, Kim Kwang Soo, original line up consisted of Kim Yeonji, Lee Boram, and Nam Gyuri. Nam Gyuri, in the center position of the above photo, was the visual and by far the most popular member of the group. Like the picture suggests, she received the most screentime, attention, and opportunities compared to her group members. She ended up leaving the group and CCM in 2009 to pursue a solo career. When she left, CCM stated that she broke her 5 year contract and they were considering legal action.

Nam Gyuri stated she completed her contract, while her former group mates countered that she did not complete the contract and that, in fact, the whole group was centered around her. Seeya continued with Lee Soomi as a replacement until she joined Co-ed School in 2010. When CCM announced the group was disbanding, Nam Gyuri stated she wanted to "come back" for a last goodbye, which CCM allowed. They released their last album "See You Again" in 2011.

Where CCM dun goof'd: Nam Gyuri received far too much promotion in comparison to the other two members. Other entertainment companies usually push the visual or most popular member in the group to get overall recognition, but they eventually push the less popular members once the group "made it". CCM, however, did not.

In fact, CCM continued to make the group about Nam Gyuri to the point that when she left, the group was in shambles and nobody cared. CCM had Seeya team up with Davichi and Jiyeon to release "Wonder Woman", but the hit could rebound the group. They even allowed Gyuri to break contract AND badmouth the company with no public repercussions. After all of this, CCM even allowed her to waltz back into the group for disbanding promotions.

Co-Ed School


Co-Ed school debuted back in 2010. While they caught attention for being one of the few co-ed idol groups in 2nd generation Kpop, they soon fizzled. First, Kango received rape accusations and ended up withdrawing from the group to be an actor. He obviously had character issues, because in 2016 he was caught with drugs such as marijuana, MDMA, and ketamine. He was also busted for DUI. In fact, as of last month he admitted to all drug charges.

To calm the hate hype, Co-ed split into "5 dolls" with the girls and "Speed" with the boys. 5 Dolls added member Eunkyo. Rumors have it that Chanmi and Eunkyo were bullies, and bullied out member Soomi. These rumors stem from a Soomi café president who claimed to be friends with Soomi in person, and that Soomi shared all of these things herself.

After the scandal broke out, Soomi left the group under the impression of "going solo" and Chanmi left CCM in 2012. 5 Dolls revamped after Chanmi left with a constant slew of girls entering and leaving. Ultimately 10 girls were at one point members of the group, and they had to rebrand as "F-ve Dolls" when they had 6 members. They disbanded several years later after failing to recreate the success of their 2011 hit "Like This Like That.

Speed also underwent numerous changes in their line up before quietly disbanding in 2015.


All of the guys who were in Speed or Co-ed

How MBK Dun Goof'd: Way to go on screening group members. While of course not everything can be known when taking in a teenaged trainee, there are reasons big companies look for "character flaws" and quietly remove many problematic ones except for Taeyong. Also, they never denied or confirmed the rumors of Soomi being bullied. Their actions of cutting Chanmi and never delivering on Soomi's solo in fact fueled the rumors. Finally, MBK messed up by adding members to the point of confusion. Eunkyo and many others were not needed, and the members rotating in and out of the groups were confusing.

CCM Fraud Investigation

Kim Kwang Soo was accused of misappropriating funds that were meant to support acts back in 2013. He underwent investigation for misusing 2 billion won, or $1.8 million. A good amount of funds came from former Hyundai Swiss Savings Bank CEO Kim Kwang Jin, who wanted to promote the singing career of his son Kim Jong Wook. Kwang Jin was also investigated and ended up with a prison sentence. According to Mnet America, "CEO Kim Kwang Jin was sentenced to four years in prison in the first trial for directing and carrying out the illegal loans of several hundred billion won. Kim Kwang Jin embezzled 10.8 billion won to pay back his own loans. It was revealed around three billion won was used to support his son, Kim Jong Wook’s singing career". Jong Wook has since taken up training in administration at Hyundai Swiss Savings bank since he didn't realize that no matter how much money you pour into CCM, you career will still probably flop.

Too Many Flop Groups



Instead of spending all of that money on Kim Jong Wook, CCM/MBK should have instead invested that money into properly launching groups. Groups such as The Seeya (a reboot of the original Seeya), Gangkidz, Co-Ed, Five Dolls, Speed, and DIA have failed to make an impact on the charts or the public. The fact that such a well known company has so many flops with only one currently successful group is embarrassing.

Further Mismanagement of Money

T-ara member Eunjung was entrusted with handling the trip money for her group and Gangkidz when they went on a trip to Milan, Italy in 2012. On her way to get some delicious Italian coffee, a thief stole her handbag. In her handbag was EUR 23,000 (USD 30,078). Eunjung was upset over the incident and offered to pay the money back.

How MBK dun goof'd: There is no way in hell anyone should be carrying that much cash on them, especially since foreigners and celebrities are frequently targeted for thefts and harassment. If they were going to Italy, management should have arranged money in a bank account as well as security. This is just pathetic.

Mismanagement of T-ara


T-ara, or Tiara, are the biggest acts under MBK. They debuted in 2009 and became one of the top groups in game with "Bo Peep Bo Peep". They added "Cry Cry", "Roly Poly", and "Lovey Dovey" to their arsenal and nothing seemed to stop them....until the "Bullying Scandal" came about and shattered their momentum.

KKS frequently put out reports in the news on how he would replace "lazy" members, and to prove his point he added Hwayoung to the group in 2010, with Ahreum added in 2012 and Dani being expected to be added sometime in 2013, after she learned Korean. All the original 6 members disagreed to adding new members after their explosion in popularity, but they accepted it. Hwayoung seemed to get into arguments with the members and this peaked in July 2012, when she missed a concert in Japan. The absence exposed a rift between Hwayoung and the other girls, as the girls posted an ambiguous tweet on determination. While it was in the wrong for them to post about internal issues, nobody would have known they were talking about Hwayoung if she and her sister Hyoyoung hadn't chimed in themselves. The "feud" became known and by the end of July Hwayoung was out of the group. KKS stated that 19 staff members complained about her attitude, but few believed it. Tara apologized for the incident, but the damage was done; their image in Korea was in tatters and they focused much of their careers in China. They also lost Ahreum a year later under the guise of "going solo" and decided to scrap adding Dani.



It wasn't until 2017 where an ex staff member saw Hwayoung and Hyoyoung still crying about the issue (literally) on a tv show where he finally released receipts proving what KKS said was true all along. It turned out Hwayoung disrespected staff to the point of calling hairdressers "Shampoo" and playing hookey on the concert rehearsal. He also released messages where Hyoyoung threatened to scratch Ahreum's face for "snitching" snitches get stitches. Tara were not the bullies; the Ryu sisters were and had been playing victims for 5 years.

Continued Mismanagement of T-ara


Recently Soyeon and Boram have decided to leave MBK Entertainment. Instead of releasing a PR statement that shows sadness, but acceptance, Kim Kwang Soo himself decided to badmouth them for leaving. MBK stated that they declined to take a flight to their last concert, or to even participate in it. They also blamed Soyeon and Boram for leaving before concerts scheduled for the end of the year could be completed. They didn't blame themselves for scheduling concerts before getting the members to renew contracts. Surprise surprise, Boram and Soyeon showed up for their last concert.

Where MBK/KKS dun goof'd: Kwang Soo tried to treat members as disposable by adding a slew of unneeded members. Tara was a success as 6, so Hwayoung, Ahreum, and Dani were not needed. Also, Hwayoung should have been straightened out for her attitude at the beginning and showed the door when she didn't change. Had Hwayoung never been added, T-ara would still be a top girl group in Korea.

Kwang Soo also stated that he tried to tell the truth about the T-ara scandal yet nobody listened. While that is true, he let the issue continue on for too long and too far. If he had evidence of Hyoyoung threatening Ahreum he should have released it and thrown her out with her sister. Staff members themselves should have been allowed to come forward, but KKS allowed everyone to be silent.

Finally, as a head of a company he comes across as emotional. Many large companies have press agents to release politically correct, neutral statements whenever the company is in a scandal, yet Kim Kwang Soo himself tends to speak out on issues. He even spoke up against Kara during their possible disbandment scandal in 2011, even though they weren't on his label.


Kim Kwang Soo resembles him quite a bit.

Overall, MBK and Kim Kwang Soo come across unprepared, unprofessional, overly emotional, and unreliable due to many lies. This not only makes them look bad, but allows people such as Hwayoung and Nam Gyuri to victimize themselves, even when they were dead in the wrong and the company was for once in the right. If MBK ever wants to become a top player again in the Kpop sphere, they need a major revamp in how they do business. After Davichi left in 2014, Tara is their only successful group in their roster and even they're breaking apart.

TL:DR. What MBK/KKS should do to succeed.

1. Stop stealing money.
2. Pay more attention to the characters of their trainees.
3. Adding/taking away members is something that should be done predebut, behind closed doors. Once debuted, try to stick with the original line up since fans get attached.
4. Hire a PR agent to give statements instead of emotional KKS.
5. Stop being so obvious in lying. It tarnishes the reputation of the company and people won't believe them when they are telling the truth.
6. When idols are being douches, swiftly remove them behind closed doors. They "decided to go to college".
7. While nobody believes entertainment companies are like family, sell it.
8. Come up with decent promotion schedules.
9. Debuted idols aren't as disposable as KKS thinks. At least treat them with respect in public.
10. Tell idols to not air out beefs in public, especially on social media. At least be like Lay and whoop ass solve problems behind closed doors.

[Poll #2068240]

Picture Sources: soompi, englishtracklists, meh, westtexasadrc, kpopencyclopedia, asignorinainmilan, koreaboo, yeinjee, klifepop, pinterest, fanpop

Article Sources: Chosun 1, 2, mnet america, ohkpop, Wikipedia 1, 2, confessionsinthecube, soompi 1, 2, 3 naver 1, 2, koreajoongangdaily, yahoo 1, 2, netizenbuzz, ohkpop,

What are your thoughts about CCM/MBK? Or Kim Kwang Soo?