Wonder Girls tutor accuses JYPE of neglect

Could the poster above be an indication?

A former English tutor for the Wonder Girls has come out of the woodwork to shed light on the mistreatment of the girls in America with the following email to POPSEOUL!:

Hi -

I was the Wonder Girls tutor from October 2009 until just recently when I quit.
I would like to let Koreans know the true story of what happened during this period of time.

I kept documentation of things that happened – for instance, I was at JYPE the night that Sunmi indicated that she was going to leave the group and I can describe what that night was like (it was terrible). I also have other surprising bits of news – for instance, two of the other girls also wanted to leave after Sunmi’s departure.

I really think this organization treated the girls disgracefully. I thought about quitting many times in the past but my private Korean students always encouraged me to stay so that I could be a good presence for the girls and help them. Finally, I just felt that I had had too much of JYPE and I quit. I don’t think I hurt the girls by doing this because I was only going to work there for 2 more weeks and I tried really hard to help them starting way back in October.

I’m currently working on a document detailing as much as I think people should know about the girls’ experience here. They are under contract with JYPE for another 3+ years and, therefore, cannot say anything bad to the press. I want people to know what they went through though.

The former tutor further elaborated:

Briefly, these are some of the negative things that I witnessed or learned at JYPE. I will elaborate on each of these matters.

1. The girls are not covered by health insurance in America and I saw one girl in extreme pain who received no treatment and I saw others with minor ailments go untreated. I am pretty sure JYP, himself, has health insurance in America, but the girls are not covered and have suffered.

2. JYPE’s great “success” in breaking into the Billboard Hot 100 was, in reality, a joke accomplished by offering Wonder Girl cds at reduced prices at clothing stores. The cds were only sold for a dollar, which is less than a small bottle of soda in America. No American company would ever use such a self-defeating strategy. His strategy seemed to hurt the girl’s confidence instead of helping it. The Korean people were impressed that he broke into the hot 100, but the girls did not seem to be impressed by this.

3. I was at JYPE on the night that Sunmi’s departure was announced (a couple weeks before it was announced to the public). It was terrible….

4. After the girls finished their tour with the Jonas Brothers and before they signed a contract with Sony Erickson, they endured a period of stagnation and uncertainty that caused extreme depression and anxiety. I regularly saw girls crying during this time. 5. The girls were so depressed and so worried about their futures that the group almost broke up after the announcement of Sunmi’s departure.

6. At around the time that they almost split up they deliberated as to whether they should actually sign the Sony Erickson contract. They had a secret meeting after my tutoring session to decide whether to keep the group as it was and whether to sugn the contract.

7. JYPE had one of the girls perform in Sanya China for Sony Erickson executives shortly after her father was rushed to a hospital and while her father was in the hospital in a coma. This seemed quite heartless to me.

8. In an attempt to gain some popularity in America, JYPE paid Justin Bieber’s company to open for him, but Bieber’s fans hated the Wonder Girls and sometimes chanted: “We want nobody, nobody but Justin!”

9. The girls have been housed in the JYPE office building, in bedrooms on the top floor, and although I would have to check on this, I believe this would constitute illegal housing in New York City. Some of the girls spent too much time in their rooms because of the English language barrier — staff seemed to do little or nothing to get the girls out on the town so they could enjoy themselves.

10. The girls are not allowed to have boyfriends.

11. The new girl, Lim, has not been embraced by the other group members — except for one girl.

12. The girls were not ready when JYPE brought them here. This was a half-assed, ill conceived scheme (similar to the other schemes, perhaps, in which JYPE brought others to America and failed). The girls should have been given intensive English lessons in Korea and there should have been an incentive plan for learning English once they got to New York City (the girls should have been offered rewards for improving their English because at times some girls seemed unmotivated). Instead the English lessons were given occasionally, they were in an English school that most of the girls hated, and their English lessons were often interrupted by trips back to Korea and China during which time they received no English instruction.

With the Wonder Girls ready for their comeback around the corner as well as going on tour in the U.S. next month, how will this affect them? The tutor may wanted to “help” the girls by telling his side of the story, but what about the girls?