“Agency confirmed IVE’s attendance”: Kyunpook University responds to statement by Starship Entertainment

In a new turn of events, organizers of Kyunpook National University’s Fall Festival have now claimed that the clarification made by Starship Entertainment earlier is untrue, as IVE’s participation in their fest was verbally confirmed by the agency.

On October 5, 2022, the student representative body Kyungpook University Student Union Emergency Measures Committee issued a statement in response to Starship Entertainment's earlier announcement on October 4.

Starship Entertainment in its statement had alleged that Kyungpook University included the rookie girl group in its line-up for the Fall festival without prior consent of the agency. Further, it was claimed that even after the agency informed the University organizers about this error, they did not rectify their schedule and performers' line-up.

In response to these claims, the organizers issued a statement, asserting that Starship Entertainment verbally confirmed the hit K-Pop girl group's performance to the agency of the organizers, stating:

“[our] agency conducted a face-to-face meeting with a Starship official and completed a verbal contract, confirming IVE's attendance to the [university] event.”

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IVY's agency received payment for participating in the fest, claims Kyunpook University

First generation K-Pop girl group IVE seems to be the center of attention as there is a lot of confusion surrounding the novice group’s performance at one of the biggest institutional festivals in South Korea.

In the latest development, Kyunpook University’s fest organizers have now claimed that they made complete payment required, for the performance of the hit girl group in the fest.

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Starship Entertainment and Kyungpook University's confusion controversy explained

On October 4, the organizers of the Kyungpook University Fall Fest announced an alteration in their performance line-up, announcing that Eleven artists will not be able to participate in the fest, reason being visa procurement issues faced by the K-Pop group. A statement by the organizers read as:

“We have received a cancelation notice from Starship Entertainment, stating that the group can no longer attend their scheduled performance on October 6 due to a member's visa issue."

This statement was promptly contradicted by Starship Entertainment, which issued a statement explaining its side. According to the agency, the K-Pop group received an invitation to perform at the University's Fall Festival, however, the negotiations regarding the group’s participation were incomplete, thus leading to no confirmation from the agency.

The entertainment agency's statement read:

“After receiving the initial invitations, Starship Entertainment did not confirm the schedules, and negotiations over the group's confirmation of appearance did not occur.”

These clarifications now have been cross-countered by the fest organizers, who in their latest statement asserted that not only a verbal agreement, but payments were also made to the entertainment agency to confirm the group's performance.

“Starship Entertainment's claim that they only received an invitation from Kyungpook National University is not true. In the process of recruiting IVE, there was a large agency that works with Kyungpook National University for their festival.”

Continuing their statement, the Kyungpook University Fall Fest organizers added:

“This very agency conducted a face-to-face meeting with a Starship official and completed a verbal contract, confirming IVE's attendance to the [university] event. After making the judgment that IVE's attendance to the event was confirmed, the agency completed the full payment for IVE’s appearance to Starship Entertainment."

As of yet, no statement has been issued by Starship Entertainment countering the latest assertions by the fest organizers.

The Fall Festival at Kyungpook University, one of the biggest university festivals in South Korea, is scheduled to be held on October 6.