“School Bully” Member Who Had To Quit Group Is Now “Forgiven,” According To Bandmates

In May 2019, keyboardist Yoo Young Hyun left the band JANNABI after allegations surfaced accusing him of having bullied a schoolmate during his high school years. At the time, JANNABI noted that while Yoo Young Hyun denied some claims being made against him, he chose to leave the band, acknowledging his fault as a bystander.

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Fast forward to 2026, nearly seven years after the former member’s departure, and the band shared that Yoo Young Hyun has since received forgiveness from the victim. On January 14, via a lengthy post on their official fan café, JANNABI detailed what happened to Yoo Young Hyun after he left the band.

I’m writing this because there is something I want to share with everyone. This is about something that happened in November 2024. At the time, I promised that I would someday speak honestly and openly about it. I truly wanted to keep that promise. I spent a long time thinking it over and making efforts to do so. It was something that could never be separated from JANNABI, and I felt that it was important to let our fans, who have walked alongside us through everything, know about it. I believe we have finally reached a point where I can speak, and so I’m carefully putting these thoughts into words.

— JANNABI

According to the update, the keyboardist continued to reach out to the victim through a mediator to convey his apologies. He made efforts to help the victim recover from the past trauma by personally seeking out those who had directly harassed the victim and collecting handwritten apology letters from them, which he then delivered himself.

“Not long ago, I received a message written by the person behind the Nate Pann post on May 23, 2019, which named Yoo Young Hyun as a school bully. This message was delivered through a mutual mediator. It included comments about the JANNABI members and was written with the possibility of being made public in mind, so I received it with great care. I felt that, through this message, I could finally explain what had happened over the years and what took place last November.

On the day the original post was published, we immediately asked Young Hyun about its authenticity. He maintained that he had not committed the specific acts listed in the post. However, it was true that there had been collective wrongdoing by the class as a whole, and Young Hyun himself felt responsible for that as a bystander. In a situation where he could not claim complete innocence, we felt it would not be right to publicly argue the details through the media. Moreover, he did not want to cause harm to the team, so he made the decision to leave on his own.

After that, as things gradually quieted down, Young Hyun remained deeply hurt for a long time. Watching him as a friend, I felt that if things ended there, he might continue living in despair for the rest of his life. I couldn’t accept that this was where the story should end. I believed there had to be a path forward for everyone involved, and that if he took proper responsibility and communicated sincerely, forgiveness might someday be possible, step by step. As far as I understood, that path was one that would allow JANNABI, Young Hyun, and the original writer to each face new futures of their own.

With that belief, we carefully searched over a long period of time for a friend who could act as a mediator and share our intentions. We spent many hours together, doing our best to convey our sincerity little by little. As time passed and the writer’s heart gradually opened, I was also able to send them a letter containing my own feelings. Although I was not the direct party involved, I shared my position as someone who stood in between, as well as the stories that had accumulated over the years. Even if it took longer, we wanted to show our sincerity without cutting corners. I believe that the weight of wrongdoing ultimately resides in the heart of the person who was harmed, and that it must be that way. That is why we could not rush the process.

The incident in November 2024 that I mentioned earlier occurred during this time. I want to clarify, through this post, that the decisions made then were done with full awareness of the ongoing process of apology and forgiveness that I had witnessed up close. I believed that continuing to work in any form might be a way, however small, to help Young Hyun recover from the state he was in. At the time, it was not something that could be immediately explained to everyone, even though I knew full well what the proper order should have been. My emotions got ahead of me.

Over the past year, I have carried with me every word fans said to me that day, engraving them painfully into my heart. It became an opportunity for deeper reflection and for facing reality more clearly. I will continue to live while holding onto both the apologies and the gratitude I felt at the time. Once again, I am truly sorry.

I only hope that this message can ease, even slightly, the hearts of our fans who stayed by JANNABI’s side and endured so much alongside us. I also sincerely apologize to those who may have felt uncomfortable seeing this post shared during a time when people were enjoying the warm atmosphere following our year-end and New Year concerts. This was something I felt I had to say, so despite my hesitation, I wrote this long message. Thank you for reading.”

— JANNABI

And it seems that, over the years, Yoo Young Hyun’s sincerity has touched his victim. In a letter released alongside JANNABI’s statement, the victim admitted that the keyboardist’s actions came across as sincere act of courage and accountability. The victim said they are now able to move on to the next chapter of their life, forgiving Yoo Young Hyun and leaving the scandal behind.

“Below, I am sharing the full message that the original writer sent with the intention of having it posted here. With the release of this message, I sincerely hope that they, Young Hyun, and JANNABI can all begin new chapters of their lives, each in their own place.

[A great deal of time has passed. Because of what happened back then, I lived for many years carrying deep emotional wounds. What may have seemed like ‘childhood pranks’ to some caused pain so great that it changed the direction of my life. It took a tremendous amount of courage to even bring those wounds back into the open, and I wrote honestly about how I felt at the time. Back then, I didn’t want to divide everything simply into the labels of ‘perpetrator’ and ‘victim.’ To me, everyone in the class felt like bystanders and accomplices, because they all laughed at me and turned away from my pain. Among them, there was someone who later became known as a member of JANNABI, and I felt I had no choice but to express my wounds through that name.

Since writing that post, a great deal of time has passed. I once believed it was something I could never forgive or forget, but through my own healing process, I gradually became able to face the past. Along the way, I received an apology message from my homeroom teacher at the time, and over the years, Mr. Young Hyun continuously tried to reach out to me, seeking to convey his sincerity. I could feel that sincerity, and I came to understand that he had spent a long time reflecting deeply on his role and responsibility as a bystander.

He also personally sought out the classmates who had most directly and severely bullied me and collected handwritten apology letters from them. In truth, those individuals were the ones who caused me the greatest suffering back then, who made me feel small and powerless. I was told that Young Hyun asked an acquaintance of mine to deliver their letters, along with the message that he wanted to ease my pain even just a little. As I read those letters and heard that message, tears came to my eyes… not out of resentment or anger, but because a heart that had been tightly locked away for so long finally felt a bit loosened.

Those apology letters, and the actions and sincerity he showed, felt like they untied knots I couldn’t loosen on my own. For the first time, I thought that maybe I could finally let go of that period of my life. Now I understand that he, too, was immature back then, and that afterward he lived for many years reflecting deeply on the meaning of the words I once used, ‘bystander and accomplice.’ The sincerity he showed me felt like more than a simple apology; it felt like an act of courage and responsibility.

I am now deeply grateful. Thanks to his efforts, I was able to step out of the darkness I had clung to for so long. I am also thankful to the JANNABI members who shared in that responsibility and cared for my heart over such a long period of time. And I want to thank [redacted name] as well, who always placed my pain first. I know how difficult it must have been, being friends with everyone involved. I will not forget that, and I am sorry.

I am now able to move on to the next chapter of my life. And from the bottom of my heart, I wish that good things await him and the JANNABI members moving forward. I hope their music continues to bring comfort to others, and that it reaches people carrying pain of their own with warmth, just as it once did for me. I, too, want to live that way, in my own place. Though much time has passed, writing this once more and becoming someone who can help others, even in a small way, feels like the path toward finally sending off the person I once was. I’m truly okay now. I’m leaving these words because I believe I can finally say that sincerely.]”

— JANNABI

Will this emotional rollercoaster of a post finally bring some comfort for JANNABI’s fans who were troubled by the band’s scandalous breakup? The remaining members of the beloved indie band sure hope so.

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