With KARA‘s contract expiration date nearing with DSP Media, many netizens are suspecting that the group will not renew their contract and will instead disband.
On Pann, a netizen published on December 24th a post titled “Girl group who will disband,” naming girl group KARA and wrote, “Next year, KARA will enter their 9th year. Their contract is reaching near its end. Rumors going amongst fans is that Park Gyuri will be going to an film acting agency and Goo Hara will enter SM C&C. I don’t know about Han Seungyeon, but there is talk that none of these three will renew their contract.”
“There is also a rumor that DSP will be doing something with Youngji and Somin, who withdrew from April.”
DSP Media confirmed back in October 2015 that Park Gyuri, Han Seungyeon, and Goo Hara’s contract with the agency would indeed be expiring at the end of the year though a confirmation of a renewal has yet to be reported.
KARA originally debuted in 2007 as a four-member girl group (Gyuri, Seungyeon, Nicole, Sunghee) before going through their first lineup change in 2008. Member Sunghee left and the group welcomed two additional members, Hara and Jiyoung, where they found success as a group.
In 2011, the group underwent controversy when all of the members minus group leader Gyuri filed a suit against DSP Media, requesting contract termination. Goo Hara withdrew from the suit and rejoined the company, and four months later, the agency resolved their issues with the three remaining members.
In January 2014, Nicole officially withdrew from KARA after deciding not to renew her contract with Jiyoung also leaving with her own contract expiring in April 2014. A new member was recruited, Youngji, who joined on July 1st following the conclusion of the KARA Project.
NETIZEN REACTIONS
Koreaboo has collected reactions from Netizens who commented on the original article from our Korean source. The below comments are the most popular comments at the time of this article being published.
[+179, -1] I feel sorry for Youngji, she promoted with them for one year and they’re already disbanding;
[+150, -18] Eung? Does Goo Hara think she’ll be successful after disbanding..? What can she do well in….? Seriously, I wonder….
[+132, -1] Frankly, I think they do better as part of the KARA teamㅋㅋ They are all pretty but once they go solo, you can hear that they lack in terms of vocals, even Nicole feels like she is lacking, plus its not like they’re at the top with their acting, Goo Hara is pretty but not actress pretty, she is only the prettiest while in KARAㅠㅠ Because of Youngji I became a fan of KARA but she’ll start to lack if she goes solo, and she’s okay in acting, so is she only going to live through variety shows? She went through the hardship of surviving a survival program and was only with KARA for a year and now they’re disbanding ㅠㅠ There are comments that KARA doesn’t have a good relationship with one another but that’s not true, they take real good care of Youngji and you can even see they help one another
[+42, -1] It’s really a pity for Heo Youngji, Youngji getting into KARA was the divine work of God…
[+38, -2] To be honest, KARA’s comeback all had the same pattern, content, and singing, so the public didn’t generate a lot of response. There was also such a negative reaction to Goo Hara’s solo. (We all know Goo Hara can’t sing..) All of the Uncle fans went to other fanbases since Nicole and Jiyoung left the group and because of the various scandals, so the fanbase is dismantling. All of the individual members are playing their own games. If they didn’t dismantle it’d be even weirder.
[+32, -45] Whether they dismantle or not, Goo Hara will do fine
Source: Pann
