Crebeau President Kang Seok Won speaks about SM and TVXQ
The cosmetic company that is being shown by SM Entertainment as the crux of the TVXQ dispute. To find out what exactly the relationship is between TVXQ and the cosmetic company, we met with Kang Seok Won, President of Crebeau, for an interview. President Kang Seok Won carefully picked his words and said, “More than 10 years of hard work to build this company are being rattled because of TVXQ’s small investment.”
Question&Answer
▲What is the relationship between Crebeau and the three members of TVXQ?
=Crebeau was created over 12 years ago. It has been over ten years since we began using sheep placenta as a main ingredient in the cosmetics. This can be easily verified in our homepage or on our certificate of authentication. We have over 100 stores in Korea alone. We are also a company that has spread to China and Japan. TVXQ’s Xiah Junsu, Micky Yoochun and YoungWoong Jaejoong made only small investments in our company.
▲What kind of company is the Beijing Representation Corporation that sued the three members of TVXQ?
=The Beijing Representation Corporation is the company who is in charge of all the Crebeau stores in the Shanghai region in China. We currently have three chain stores open in Shanghai as of now. We met for the first time at the Company Presentation that was held in China in January of this year and signed a contract together. This company opened these three stores in July and officially began their business. As soon as they opened, complications arose. (President Kang showed Sports Seoul the contract between Crebeau and Beijing Representation Corporation) Beijing Representation Corporation were not adhering to the clauses in the contract and were using TVXQ to advertise their products. They irrationally held advertising events, and when we intercepted their actions, they decided to file the lawsuit.
▲If the three members of TVXQ only hold small investments, why where they sued?
=The three members attended the Investment Presentation we held in Shanghai in January. After listening to the Investment Presentation, the three completed their investments in March/April. The Beijing Representation Corporation interpreted ‘The TVXQ Three members have invested’ as ‘The TVXQ Three members are now ambassador’s to Crebeau.’ Therefore, the company tried to use TVXQ to advertise products but as soon as we heard of this and intercepted their actions, they retaliated. (Holding the contract)In the contract, not even the ‘T’ of TVXQ is mentioned. The three members of TVXQ represent SM Entertainment, not Crebeau. The side that violated the contract is in fact Beijing Representation Corporation, not the three members.
▲Do you have proof that Beijing Representation Corporation violated the contract?
=On October 2nd, when the TVXQ Shanghai concert was coming up, they sold cosmetics tied with tickets for the concert. We have even collected evidence of this. They opened a store that did not follow our standards, and illegally sold cosmetics at discounted prices near the concert location. These are all violations of the contract. The main office located in Korea told Beijing Representation Corporation to ask for all of the cosmetics sold along with tickets to be returned so that the company’s image would not be tarnished. 70 million Won worth of damages were incurred but the main office compensated for all of these losses.
▲When you say a ‘small investment’ by the three members of TVXQ. How small is their investment?
=The three members invested less than 100 million Won each in the Chinese branch of our company. Crebeau itself invested more than 3 billion Won for the Chinese expansion. The three members’ investments combined are only worth around 300 million Won. It is only around 1/10 of all of the investments. Xiah Junsu’s father also showed interest in investing. We gave him the right a chain store outside of Seoul. All the investment money related to TVXQ does not amount to much.
▲How are you planning to deal with Beijing Representation Corporation?
=We are going through the appropriate steps with a lawyer from China. They are at an advantage as this is a case that will be dealt with using the laws of China. That is why Beijing Representation Corporation did not sue the Chinese office of Crebeau either. If there was a problem with the company as a whole, why did they just sue the Korean main office? This is their blind spot. I believe that the truth will always win.
▲SM Entertainment is blaming the cosmetic company for the TVXQ dispute.
=We find it quite absurd that we are being blamed for the dispute between TVXQ and SM Entertainment. Many people were witness to TVXQ’s Xiah Junsu receiving permission from SM to invest in the company. All the procedures we had to go through were legally correct and there were no problems. SM Entertainment blamed us only after the dispute occurred between the agency and members of TVXQ. Because of SM, our work has been disrupted and our image has been tarnished.
▲How do you plan on solving the issue regarding SM?
=This is a problem that has nothing to do with the three members of TVXQ. It is a problem between two companies. SM Entertainment used Crebeau as a scapegoat and tarnished our image to put the blame of the TVXQ dispute on us. The Chinese and Japanese plans we have been making have been rattled because of SM’s claims. The main office of Crebeau in Korea, as well as our offices in China and Japan are planning to get together and file a large-scale lawsuit against SM. We will receive an appropriate apology for our tarnished image and disrupted work.
Source: [sports seoul+DNBN]
Translation credits: jeeelim5@tohosomnia.net
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