Wonder Girls ill-treated: ex-tutor
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[Above: Original members of Wonder Girls.]
A FORMER English tutor for popular K-pop group Wonder Girls on Tuesday painted a grim and detailed account of the group's management company JYPE's "ill-conceived" handling of the band's venture into the North American market.
Daniel Gauss, who was the group's New York-based English tutor from October 2009 until this month, said over a series of e-mails to The Korea Herald that the girls had been mismanaged and mistreated by local music mogul Park Jin-young's entertainment company.
Gauss' claim as the group's private tutor was confirmed over the telephone on May 11 by two current Manhattan-based JYPE employees.
Gauss alleges that all members of the group were housed illegally in the Manhattan offices of JYPE and that they had not been given health insurance coverage during their time stateside.
"I was shocked when one of the girls told me that the girls are not covered by health insurance in America," he wrote. "I once saw one girl in extreme pain -- due to a pre-existing problem stemming from a previous operation -- who received no professional medical treatment for the pain and I saw others with minor ailments go untreated."
Gauss further wrote that after the group acquired a sponsorship deal with Sony Ericsson, JYPE had Sun-ye perform in Sanya, China, for Sony Ericsson executives, shortly after her father was rushed to hospital in a coma.
He wrote that Sun-ye had told him "her father had stopped breathing and had to be rushed to the hospital. In the ambulance, (Sun-ye) and her family had to decide whether the father should be given treatment to be kept alive since he had lapsed into a coma. The family chose to keep him alive and I was told by the girl that he was never going to come out of the coma."
"Very shortly after that trauma, she was performing for Sony Ericsson executives in Sanya," Gauss wrote. "I did not have the heart to ask her whether it was her idea or JYPE's idea for her to perform."
He also claimed JYPE illegally housed the members at the company's Manhattan office -- for which he said the city of New York slapped the company with a $2,500 fine.
An online link to the New York City Department of Buildings provided by Gauss confirms that the company had not only been issued a class-2 citation (violation No. 34765862, infraction code 208, section of law 28-118.3) on May 28, 2009 and fined for altering and changing an occupied building for residential use without a valid permit, but also defaulted on the violation.
The company was scheduled to appear in court for a hearing last month, but failed to do so, which has resulted in the case being given a default status.
Based on his own eye witness accounts and conversations with the members of the band, Gauss also stated that the members were not allowed to leave the JYPE building without permission.
He said that JYPE had sold the band's CD at a bargain basement price of $1 at retail clothing chains around the United States, which significantly boosted both its sales and its performance in the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
On Oct. 23, 2009 the group's single "Nobody" entered the top 100 at No. 76, something widely publicized by the local media.
This was confirmed by Wonder Girls' former manager and current JYPE marketing department employee David Hyun.
"That was part of our distribution deal and that is definitely one of the reasons why they cracked the top 100," Hyun said.
When pressed about Gauss' other allegations, Hyun refused to comment any further.
"I rather not comment on anything that came from (Gauss) other than confirm he used to tutor for the Wonder Girls," he said.
Jane Kim, the group's current manager, refused to state why Gauss had quit his job as a private tutor.
"I feel as though I don't have to comment on anything (Gauss) might have told you," she said over the phone.
"The girls are confident they can become a success here (the U.S.) and they have refuted (Gauss') accusations about the company."
A request for a phone interview with the group was denied. In a telephone interview with The Herald Business, JYPE chief Jung Wook, dismissed the allegations by Gauss.
In his e-mails, Gauss claims he quit his position because he had become disenchanted with JYPE's management of the band.
He had been contacted by reps from the company after he had posted an ad on Craigslist as an English tutor in New York. But according to him, once he began his job, he became increasingly concerned about the way the group was being managed by the company.
"I cannot profit in any manner by revealing this information," he wrote. "I believe my motives are genuine. I did not ask for any compensation for any of this information and I do not want any. I saw and heard about some nasty things at JYPE and I think people have a right to know the truth, especially since the girls are under contract for the next three-plus years and might not be able to speak freely about negative aspects of their experience."
-The Korea Herald/Asia News Network