It seems as though there’s bad news for K-pop fans nearly every month. Just earlier this month, Mark Lee, arguably one of the most popular members of the K-pop group NCT, left his group after the expiration of his contract with SM Entertainment. Mark has been an integral part of NCT and has been under contract with them for about 10 years, so it’s a shock to see someone like him leave the group at only 26 years old.
Other notable departures have been Heeseung from ENHYPEN, Danielle from NewJeans, Ten from NCT, and 4 members from ZEROBASEONE — and that’s just to name a few. So what are the main reasons for these idols leaving?
Well, firstly, many of these departures seem to be due to the terminations of contracts. At least that was the case for the two NCT departures, Mark and Ten. Alongside contract terminations, many K-Pop idols want to venture into new career paths. Ten took the opportunity to “take on new challenges, explore new possibilities, and discover new versions of himself..” when he decided to end his contract with SM Entertainment.
Unfortunately, not all departures are as simple. Danielle was removed from NewJeans and is currently facing a lawsuit against her from entertainment label ADOR (which is a subsidiary of HYBE entertainment) after legal disputes with the company and its CEO. The timeline and content of the trial is entirely too much to get into in this one article, but the removal of Danielle also happened in December of 2025, making the trend of K-Pop idols leaving their groups stronger.
Another reason K-Pop idols leave their groups is because of controversy. Korean culture is much different than how it is in America, and their reaction to controversies and in turn, the repercussions can be much more intense than how it is here.
In July of 2022, Kim Garam of LE SSERAFIM was kicked out of the group after allegations of severe school bullying came out about the member shortly after the group’s debut. Another example is TOP from BIGBANG, who left his group in 2023 after intense lingering guilt about his 2017 marijuana controversy. In South Korea, marijuana is strictly illegal under the Narcotics Control Act. Legal ramifications include up to 5 years in prison or fines up to 50 million won (which is approximately $33,000 USD).
Not all controversies are created equal. Another member of BIGBANG, Seungri, was kicked out of the group after the “Burning Sun” scandal. It was insane. It was revealed by the press that Seungri was involved in a crime circle in the Burning Sun nightclub. The case involved sexual assault, prostitution, drug trafficking, and embezzlement. Seungri (rightfully) left the group shortly after being convicted on 9 criminal charges. This example is an outlier in this article, as this departure was deserved and not out of nowhere.
My final example of K-Pop idols leaving their groups is with the group KATSEYE. While KATSEYE is not technically a K-Pop group, it is associated with the world of K-Pop due to it being partially owned by HYBE entertainment. Manon, a member within KATSEYE, has been on an indefinite hiatus from the group since February. Many fans speculate that the hiatus (which were explained due to health reasons) was simply a cover-up for internal conflicts, and Manon’s hiatus may actually lead to her departure. While nothing has been confirmed currently, there are many reasons why fans would come to this conclusion. Manon removing ‘KATSEYE’ from her Instagram bio and her label claiming that she would not be present at Coachella even though she was present in the audience for other performers lead fans to think maybe this is the end of the original KATSEYE.
After looking at all these examples, it’s clear that the stricter society within Korea and its more formulaic music industry is the reason as to why it seems that many K-Pop idols are always leaving their groups. The Korean entertainment industry is cut-throat, but that does not mean that these idols will go unnoticed. Many idols who have left their groups have gone to create their own successful solo careers. This isn’t the end for these K-Pop idols, and their departures should not limit us to still enjoying the music that they create, with or without their initial groups.