Sidus HQ was revealed today to have relied on cloned mobile phones to monitor their artistes like Jeon Ji Hyun, etc and this has now created an uproar among many in Korea (remember this?). To get to the bottom of this, investigation teams from the Seoul Police Department turned up without notice yesterday morning at the offices of Sidus HQ and seized computer hard disks and related documents for investigation. In addition, representatives from Sidus HQ was also called up for questioning today for further investigation as well.
The illegal practice of cloning mobile phones is usually done without the mobile phone owner knowledge whereby the identity of one mobile phone is duplicated on another mobile phone. This allows one to have access to all the calls and text messages transmitted on the target mobile phone using the clone mobile phone. And through this, anyone can be monitored with relative ease.
If Sidus HQ was found out at the end of the investigations to have any involvement in cloning Jeon Ji Hyun’s mobile phone, then this will be the first-ever case that directly implicates a Korean management company which has infringed on its artiste personal rights through this kind of illegal monitoring and will no doubt open a can of worms in the Korean entertainment industry.
The Seoul Police Department was investigating a routine case and by coincidence, they found Jeon Ji Hyun’s number among the many victims, and this prompted the police to investigate Sidus HQ for any wrongdoings.
A police representative expressed, “This case wasn’t reported by Jeon Ji Hyun. We only started our investigations on Sidus HQ after analysing our sources. If they were found to have any involvement, then the ones implicated within the company will be charge with infringing on personal rights of its artistes.”
The police representative also revealed that there were other artistes involved but they are not going to reveal any more names as it is pending investigation. Sidus HQ has claimed in a statement that they will not monitor their artistes personal life and will cooperate with the police in full for the real truth.
Park Min Young is also under Sidus HQ unfortunately.
first!
that is so messed up.
Woah.
I thought the crackdowns would make them ease off the way they treat their artists like products and intrude in their lives. Hopefully things will clear up soon.
There is so much corruption in in the korea, seems like every company, everyone has a problem nowadays. Who can forget when the Police investigated Samsung. Samsung was suppose to “represent” korean and what they stood for and they got busted.
wow, a crazy stalker fan is enough for the celebrity to worry about and now this–being stalked by your own company!!!
calm down. its not proven that sidus hq did clone. they havent finished their investigation. but it is scary that her phone was cloned.
CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No amount of industrialization and technological advancement can fix their twisted brains.
i wanna clone ji jinhui, jo in sung, gong yoo. jung woo sung, jang dong gun,s phone kkkkk
how do they do that dam
it is crazy!
This is crazy. There are so much artists under Sidus HQ. Yeah, I thought of SHK and PMY when I first read this as well. What I don’t understand is why they need to monitor their artists this much. Why do they need to know their every move? I seriously don’t get it.
wow…
didn’t know this could actually be done…
but this is a serious violation of privacy!!!
not just for celebs but like… anyone…
holly crap! daaaaaaaaaaaannggg~
that’s just so messed up. why do those companies become so obsessed to their artists’ lives? ckck. have a life!
wow that’s insane and messed up 0_0 they were listening in on their artist’s phone convos? seriously .. that’s sick. sidus has some of the biggest stars in Korea.. Jung Woo Sung, Kim Sun Ah, Jeon Ji Hyun.. etc
No wonder Song Hye Kyo left sidus for a smaller company..
disturbing..
that’s like.. placing a camera in someone’s washroom mirror.. but even more serious with invading one’s privacy!
totally inappropriate and immature for a company to be doing that.
O__O
what’s up with the companies…monitoring their artists…
its freaky
although i kinda get the thing about JYPE. I remember him mentioning those kind of thing on MTV season1 episode 4..
They should have started with SM instead.
that’s f’ed up.
i know theres a lot of dark lining’s in all entertainment businesses but still its shocking when you find out such things.
this is lame among famous artists…. more technologies, more news, more problems… this is norm but ofcoz ANNOYING to someone who being targated…
i hope iHQ doesn’t do it.
it just so ironic if they do.
woah, if that is true it’s like the artists signed up for 24/7 surveillance. the entertainment business shouldn’t go that far.
scary.
most big stars are from Sidus …. they have all the great actors! yoon kye sang hope they didn’t go stalker on you
Talk about “big brother” watching you…if it’s true that’s a little extreme. Just when you think you can rely on the company that you’re signed…hmmm….
what’s wrong with these entertainment companies, they stalk their own people? wth. that sucks for the celebs.
I have heard that Korean ent agencies are pretty controlling. They require their artists to disclose all aspects of their lives including their sexual life, partners, etc. No wonder Song Hye Kyo, CHoi Ji Woo, and any other celebrities left Sidus HQ. It’s about time that they are being investigated. I am currently watching Star’s Lover and there are many similarities between Sidus and the agency in the drama.
wow, and i thought sidus was one of the top company for actors and actresses.
I’m surprised, and also not surprised… the reason why a company is successful will also depend on how well they manage their talents… so I guess this is the way Sidus might be doing it… but they’re being investigated… innocent until proven guilty
[...] The Seoul Police Department was investigating a routine case and by coincidence found Jun Ji-hyun’s number among the many victims, thus prompted the investigation on Sidus-HQ [via Coolsmurf] [...]
This is nothing compared to what the Hollywood studios did back in their heyday.
Plus, a Hollywood private investigator is currently serving a 14 stint for spying on a no. of celebs, including wiretapping their phone conversations (does this warrant a “what the heck is wrong w the US” comment?).
Of course, his clients (of whom are reputed to be former superagent M. Ovitz, the head of Paramount, etc.) are off scott free.
Having said that, if true, I hope whoever is responsible gets indicted.
“There is so much corruption in in the korea, seems like every company, everyone has a problem nowadays. Who can forget when the Police investigated Samsung. Samsung was suppose to “represent” korean and what they stood for and they got busted.”
So… did all the corrupt Wall St. firms, AIG, CitiGroup, Countrywide, Wachovia, Fannie/Freddie, Madoff, Enron, WorldCom, Halliburton/KBR, DunCorp, Tyco, Adelphia Cable, etc. “represent” the US?
That’s disgusting. As much I love Kpop, I know ALL of it is disgusting and corrupted in some way, shape or form.
It’s really sad that Ji Hyun had this happen to her. She’s probably really paranoid now. I would be too! I definitely hope Min Young’s not part of this case.