Korean boy band CNBLUE's main vocalist Yonghwa has posted an apology after news reports came out that he was investigated by the police for alleged preferential treatment accorded to him by a university in his application for graduate school program.
Blind item stories were published by Korean media that an idol was investigated regarding his application for a graduate school program at Kyunghee University.
As the controversy grew, FNC Entertainment, CNBLUE's agency, issued a statement to apologize and explain the issue, and Yonghwa followed suit.
In a letter he posted on Instagram, Yonghwa wrote, "First of all, I sincerely bow my head in apology. No matter what the reason, no matter what the truth is, I know everything is my fault and I am deeply sorry."
He added, "I will humbly accept everything said about me. I am sincerely sorry for embarrassing and disappointing my family, my members, and my fans who have believed in me and cherished me. I know it will be difficult to touch your heart with any words or writing, but I want to say I am sorry once again. I am sorry for taking your time away with a post like this."
FNC apologized for "the Kyunghee University graduate school interview."
The agency admitted that Yonghwa and a staff were investigated by the police about "Yonghwa being accepted to the Kyunghee University's Applied Arts' graduate doctorate program."
It said the university's Applied Arts school recommended Yonghwa several times and he applied for the program in January last year.
FNC said it "took care of Yonghwa's application including filling out his forms, submitting them, and contacting the school."
"Both the label and Yonghwa believed that he was undergoing the normal application process until the situation became problematic. Yonghwa believed that the individual interview was the regular process, and he attended the interview as the label scheduled," it said.
It added, "The label and Yonghwa did not have any objectives of getting preferential treatment and breaking the school rules; we are very sorry for causing a controversy. After the issue became problematic, he is currently taking a break from the school."
FNC said ''there was no competition and all the students who applied through the additional application in 2017 were accepted."
"Yonghwa was not accepted unfairly into a difficult process, and he has no reasons to do so as a popular celebrity. (If he knew that it was unlawful for him to be personally contacted for an interview and that he was supposed to get interviewed at the school, he would have attended by making time, and we would not have done something that would be such a critical damage to his image as a public figure.) The label will take all responsibility on this situation, and we apologize once again for the trouble," FNC ended.
