Today, in this article, Channel-Korea will provide you with news from one of the former members of Sechs Kies, Kang Sung-hoon. For you who donn’t know yet, Sechs Kies is a South Korean male group that debuted on April 15, 1997. They are known as one of the first-generation idol groups in the K-pop industry and are considered one of K-pop’s first highly successful boy-groups, as well as being credited with pioneering idol fandom culture. Sechs Kies once disbanded on May 20, 2000. They re-united on April 14, 2016. On May 10, 2016, they signed with YG Entertainment, bu, unfortunately, in 2018, Kang Sung-hoon left the group who raised his name on December 31. And now that you have a little background information, let’s move on to the main topic!
Full Profile and Facts
Kang Sung-hoon ( 강성훈 in Korean ) is a singer, best known as a former member of the ’90s South Korean boy-group Sechs Kies. He was born in Seoul, South Korea on February 22, 1980. His height is 175 cm ( 5′ 9” ) and his weight is 60 kg ( 132 lbs ). Kang Sung-hoon’s blood type is B. While in Sechs Kies, Kang Sung-hoon was the main vocalist and was thought to have had the best singing voice of the group. He was the visual for the group, too. After Sechs Kies first disbanded in 2000, he was the second member from the group to begin a solo career, mainly singing R&B and ballads. In 2001, he released his first album, “비상(Bee Sang)“, with title song “고백(Confessions)”, and most of the Sechs Kies members chorus “1년 되는 날 (1st Anniversary)”. Later, he released a second album, Kang Sung Hoon Vol.2, with hit song “My Girl” in 2002, and received a great response. He won the 2002 SBS Gayo Daejeon Popularity Award with “J-Walk”. In 2007, Kang Sung-hoon participated in a fashion show called, “Han Bok”, which was to raise money to build homes for others. On June 12, 2015, he released “Someone Make Me Laugh” for the SBS weekend drama Divorce Lawyer In Love‘s original soundtrack, and on February 20, 2016, he held a small Concert, The Fifth Season, in the Seogang University, Mary Hall Grand Theatre. These are some facts about Kang Sung-hoon: – He was scouted by DSP Entertainment, along with friend Jiwon. – At first, the company planned to debut a duo with Sunghoon and Jiwon, but due to SM Entertainment’s H.O.T success, the company changed its plans and decided to debut a 6-member band instead. – He had solo activities. – His nickname is “Koma”. – His hobby is listening to music. – His favorite colors are ivory, blue, and white. – Sub-unit: White Kies – Sunghoon’s Ideal Type is a small, cute girl who would be interested in only him.
Departure from Sechs Kies
He made the decision to separate from Sechs Kies, in 2016. Sechs Kies reunited after their disbandment 16 years prior, on a Korean variety TV show called Infinite Challenge. They held a pop-up reunion concert on April 14, the day before the anniversary of Sechs Kies’ debut. Although it was extremely short notice, almost 6000 fans gathered within a few hours to the stadium to see the reunion concert. On May 11, YG Entertainment officially announced that they signed a contract with Sechs Kies, except for Ko Ji-yong. Sung-hoon also signed a solo contract with YG Entertainment. But then, unfortunately, on January 1, 2019, Sung-hoon released a statement via his official fan cafe that he had agreed with YG to terminate his contract as of December 31, 2018, and left Sechs Kies. According to SOOMPI, the decision comes after some controversies that he was involved in, such as in 2018, regarding Kang Sung Hoon’s canceled Taiwanese fan meeting and his fan club’s poor management issues. He was also involved in a trespassing case involving his former manager and he did not participate in SECHS KIES’s October concert. In November, Kang Sung Hoon opened up about the situation on his personal Instagram account. In the same month, SECHS KIES fans filed a lawsuit against Kang Sung Hoon and his fan club, Hoony World. On January 1, Kang Sung Hoon took to Hoony World to give his official statement on the decision. His statement reads as follows: “With unexpected misunderstandings occurring in succession, I’ve become even more cautious about expressing my official stance. “Currently, I can’t predict when my return will be because of issues regarding my mental health. I came to the decision that continuing to push back SECHSKIES’s activities is causing a great inconvenience to others, so after much thought, I spoke with YG Entertainment and we came to a mutual agreement to end my exclusive contract on December 31, 2018, and for me to let go of all SECHSKIES activities. “I am very sorry for not being able to live up to the expectations of fans who have waiting for me despite the long hiatus, and those who remembered me and greeted me warmly. I sincerely apologize to the SECHSKIES team for the damages they suffered due to circumstances related to me. And I want to sincerely thank everyone who supported me as SECHSKIES’s Kang Sung Hoon for a long time. “I also want to ask you to continue to show your support for SECHSKIES’s future activities. Once again, I’m sincerely sorry and I want to say thank you.” YG Entertainment also gave their statement regarding this matter. They said, “It’s true that we spoke with Kang Sung Hoon and came to the decision to end his exclusive contract. We wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Kang Sung-hoon’s Marriage
On January 30, 2019, according to SOOMPI, MBC’s True Story Exploration Party dug into the controversy surrounding former SECHSKIES member Kang Sung Hoon and his fanclub Hoony World, including a canceled fan meeting in Taiwan which had not been refunded properly, poor management on the part of his fan club, and accusations of embezzling the profits from a video screening event for SECHSKIES’ 20th debut anniversary that were to meant be donated to those in need. Then, The brother of Hoony World’s moderator appeared on True Story Exploration Party and told his side of the story, revealing that Hoony World is registered under his name but was run by his younger sister and Kang Sung Hoon. He said, “My younger sister and Kang Sung Hoon are married under common law. Hoony World has no employees. Kang Sung Hoon is the head, and my sister is the plan maker. They share their profits with each other.” The brother continued, “The amount of taxes in arrears for Hoony World are over 20 million won (approximately $18,000) and I now have bad credit. Kang Sung Hoon has not contacted me about paying me back. My sister has told me to wait, but she broke her promise three times already. I can’t get in contact with her either. They don’t seem to be willing to resolve the issue and are continuously lying, so I decided that I must reveal this.” For your information, Common-law marriage is a marriage that has not been legally registered, but reflects what a marriage entails in all other ways.
Controversies
As mentioned above, Kang Sung-hoon is also known for many controversies. Many news outlets have talked about this, and the controversies became the reason why Kang Sung-hoon left Sechs Kies. According to SOOMPI, beside the controversy in his Common-law marriage, there other controversies, too. For example, Kang Sung-hoon was scheduled to have a solo fan meeting in Taiwan in September 2018. The event was organized by Kang Sung-hoon, his fan club, Hoony World, and local organizers. However, the fan meeting was canceled, and the tickets have not been refunded properly. What made this even worse, is that Hoony World is being accused of embezzling fan donations for a video screening event, and fans are speculating that Kang Sung Hoon is dating the moderator of Hoony World. He denied the girlfriend rumors, and said regarding the Taiwan fan meeting: “We tried so hard to make it happen for three months, and I am nothing but apologetic to all of you for the cancellation,” Kang Sung-hoon shared a post on the Hoony World fan cafe in response. Another thing is that he is facing a lawsuit regarding fraud and embezzlement allegations from Sechs Kies fans against him and his fan club. On November 12, 2018, around 70 SECHSKIES fans visited the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office and filed a complaint against Kang Sung-hoon and Hoony World. According to the complaint, Hoony World is accused of embezzling the profits made after a video screening session they hosted as an event for Sechs Kies’ 20-year debut anniversary on April 15, 2017. The fan club is accused of falsely recording the profits as if they were donated, while actually embezzling the profits. Fans remained suspicious of the account balance even when Hoony World revealed the details and receipts seven months after the event was held. On February 27, 2019, Gangdong Police Station stated that they had forwarded Kang Sung-hoon to the prosecution on January 17. According to the police, he was charged with assault and trespassing. It was reported that Kang Sung-hoon and his common-law wife visited the home of Mr. Kim, who is Kang Sung Hoon’s former manager, and repeatedly asked to meet with him. When Mr. Kim refused and got in a taxi with his brother, the singer blocked the taxi with his car and demanded that Mr. Kim and his brother get out of the vehicle, according to SOOMPI. Sources first came from the Seongnae patrol division, as they revealed, “We figured that it was a simple assault case between two people, so we passed the case to Gangdong Police Station.” But of course, Kang Sung-hoon is denying all allegations made against him. Many netizens felt disapointed or sad regarding this matter. One of them said, “I am indeed confused and sadden about all these Kang Sung Hoon issues. How is Kang Sung Hoon involved in the lawsuit if it was his fan club Hoony World who organized and managed the activities and everything? I wish and pray that Kang Sung Hoon will be able to clear his name of all these issues and return to singing with the SECHSKIES soonest !!! Kang Sung Hoon, FIGHTING !!! praying for your good health and wishing you always the BEST of everything. GOD speed !!!” Other netizens expressed contrary statements, like, “I’m disgusted how some YG delulu stans keep protecting him when his name’s shit already.” Another one said, “I wonder what kind of problems he had to get to this or what kind of mistake that made him desperate. He’s already on a downward spiral…making himself get in deeper trouble if he doesn’t come to his senses. Looks like he’s already lost a lot of chances to correct the mistake. He shouldn’t have waited for the law to judge him. How disappointing.” Well, now we just can pray and hope that Kang Sung-hoon and Sechs Kies are still fine and will be fine in the future.
