Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
In news that sorta came out of nowhere, former SNSD member Jessica has been ordered to pay over $1.6 million to two Chinese agencies for failing to fulfill her contract.
Back in 2016, Jessica’s agency Coridel Entertainment signed a contract with two Chinese agencies which gave them exclusive rights to manage her entertainment activities in China until Feb. 28 of 2019. But something went awry in the deal as the two agencies sued her for breach of contract.
The Chinese agencies filed a lawsuit against Jessica stating that she had not abided by the contract and requested that she return the money they had given her for exclusive authorization and pay a penalty for breach of contract, undivided profits, and more, amounting to a total over 2 billion won (approximately $1.6 million) to be paid by Jessica.
In 2017, the Beijing Arbitration Commission rather unsurprisingly ruled in favor of the agencies.
On November 27, 2017, the Beijing Arbitration Commission ruled in favor of the Chinese companies.
No shock there, right? Right.
So Jessica did as expected and took the legal fight to Korea … but the courts there upheld the judgment in China.
Jessica’ side argued that she was not a direct contracting party and that the arbitration was invalid because she had not agreed to it in her letter of authorization. She later took the lawsuit to Korea, but the Seoul Central District Court made the same judgement as the Beijing Arbitration Commission, arguing that Jessica had issued the letter of authorization as the executer of the contract in practice, even though she was not a direct contracting party.
Needless to say, that is not the most promising of signs for her. Also not promising? That her subsequent appeal was also rejected. Nevertheless, she has filed another appeal with the Supreme Court.
After the Seoul High Court dismissed her appeal request on July 23, Jessica appealed once again to the Supreme Court and is currently awaiting the results.
Man, $1.6 million is a lot of money, and the fact that she’s lost in China and twice in Korea means things are looking bleak for her barring anything new emerging.
I do wonder what exactly she failed to do for the Chinese agencies that she was obligated to, but it doesn’t seem as if we’re going to find out.
