Composer and singer Yoo Jae-hwan clarified his stance on the group composition fee fraud allegations and also discussed plans for compensating the victims.

On the 10th of last month, the Gangseo Police Station in Seoul decided not to proceed with charges against Yoo Jae-hwan, who was collectively sued by 23 people for fraud, citing insufficient evidence.

On August 12th last year, the plaintiffs claimed, "Although Yoo Jae-hwan received composition fees, he had neither the will nor the ability to produce the compositions, and he collected a total of more than 55 million won from 23 people," and filed a fraud complaint. However, the police concluded that there was insufficient evidence to believe that Yoo Jae-hwan lacked the will or ability to produce the songs, thus determining there was "no wrongdoing."

At the time, Yoo Jae-hwan said in an interview with a media outlet, "I don’t feel purely good about this at all. I just feel humbled to have cleared up the misunderstandings. I started with the intention of doing good, but it became a misunderstanding, and that is very disappointing. It was a difficult time for me, and I worked hard, but I feel regretful about the outcome. I did not take the composition fee. I was giving away songs that are like my children without charging composition or arrangement fees, only accepting pure production costs with good intentions. The reason I initially took 1.3 million won was that I thought that would be sufficient to create the songs. However, as I continued, the session fees increased and the production costs rose to 1.5 million won, then 1.8 million won, and eventually it reached 2 million won. It was a mistake to start with only 1.3 million won without anticipating the increase in production costs.

Regarding his current situation, he said, "I can’t do anything and am working at home. It has only been four months since my mother passed away, and I am mentally very strained, so I am basically living in seclusion. I even attempted extreme measures during this time. Because of that, I was hospitalized in a mental health ward for a while. After my mother’s passing, it became almost impossible for me to live a normal life, and I had a very hard time. I also faced financial difficulties. I am currently in a state of bankruptcy," and added, "Going through this experience, since I have been someone involved in music, I feel I should repay my debts through music, so I am trying to return to the keyboard despite the difficulties.

About a month after the decision of no wrongdoing was made, Yoo Jae-hwan spoke out directly. He said via his personal social media account, "Ultimately, the collective lawsuit has been treated as having no wrongdoing. I apologize for causing social controversy. However, it has been very painful for me to have baseless remarks circulating as if they were true. The news of my mother’s death has kept me from stepping out of the house. Because of my panic disorder, I was incredibly fearful to go outside, but now I am trying to muster the courage to go out. I want to repay everyone I owe, including those who applied for the free composition project with great dreams and those who helped me during tough times, by refunding everyone."

Yoo Jae-hwan stated, "Once again, I apologize. Regardless of the business, whether it be the music business or anything else, I will not spend even a penny and will gather everything to return it to you. Of course, it will take some time, but I sincerely ask for your patience with a broad heart."

Yoo Jae-hwan was in a romantic relationship with composer Jeong In-kyung in March last year and announced plans to marry, but he later became embroiled in fraud and sexual assault allegations. Regarding the fraud allegations, Yoo Jae-hwan explained, "The reason I received advance payments was due to the prevalence of prank DMs and impersonation accounts, so I informed everyone starting this that I would be receiving advance payments. However, my mistake was that this good-intentioned work took longer because I took in so many people. I sincerely apologize for that. I'm truly sorry."

Regarding the sexual assault allegations, he stated, "First of all, I am reflecting deeply and sincerely regretting my previous inappropriate words and actions based on some KakaoTalk screenshots and reports. I sincerely apologize to several female acquaintances whom I unintentionally caused misunderstandings and emotional harm. I was unaware since we had been in contact cheerfully until recently. If legal judgment is given, I will submit all the KakaoTalk content to the court. Regardless, having experienced emotional scars myself, if you were unable to speak directly to me, I will find you a hundred or a thousand times to apologize."

Meanwhile, Yoo Jae-hwan gained recognition by appearing with Park Myung-soo on MBC’s "Infinite Challenge."

[OSEN = Reporter Jang Woo-young]