LeeSSang Respons to a Controversy Surrounding Their New Building

Alona

May 23, 2013

LeeSSang has been under a fire since May 21st when the People′s Coalition for Land Justice had told the press that after the duo had purchased a building in Sinsa-dong in May 2012, they had told a man, who owned a restaurant in the building, without a prior notice, that they would not extend the renting contract with the man and forced the restaurant out of the building.

Many believed that LeeSsang had been abusing their power as the owner of the building to evict powerless shop owners.

After that, member Gil tweeted, “I wish to tell everyone in earnest what exactly happened.” He ensured everyone that “It is not true that LeeSSang forcefully refused to extend the contract.”

He admitted that they bought a new building in Sinsa-dong  and said, “Though we got a 3.6 billion won debt, we took it to fulfill a bigger dream we had.”

“The building became LeeSSang′s in May 2012, and we decided to enter the building in August. Suddenly, around June, a man who had been renting a space appeared at our home and told my mother, who had been alone, that he would not be leaving the building. My mother was very surprised at the sudden visit and so were we,” Gil added.

He later explained, “Through a representative, we told the man that we would not extend his contract with the building once his first contract expires, and attempted to decide on proper compensation out of responsibility. The renter, however, demanded 300 million won, and our representative told him that was too much. The renter went on to say, like he was aiming to ruin our image, that he would ′put up a placard or something′, and added that he would ′continue to run [the restaurant]′ as he would not leave no matter what. How do you think we would have been able to meet peacefully in such an emotional situation?”

The singer continued, “If we had been abusing our power, our actions would have come to light in court. He is not eligible for renter protection under the law. What could we have done? Now we′ve become greedy people based on the renter′s claims.”

Despite the harm, LeeSSang announced that they will not be taking any legal measures against the owner, “We′re not thinking of bringing charges of slander or defamation against him. We just wanted to let more people know of the truth because many facts have been twisted around.”

Source: mwave

Article by: Karolina

Edited by: KareBare

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