Jung Eun-woo, "Our Group Was Almost Like Shincheonji" – Shocking Revelation After 6 Years

Jung Eun-woo, a former member of the groups Pristin and HINAPIA, has revealed past stories about the team she was part of during her active years, which she had found difficult to speak about. She claims that although she considered the group to be her last chance, the situation she faced after signing the contract was significantly different from her expectations. In particular, her description of the investor they met and the group's management style as being "close to a Shincheonji group" is expected to cause a stir.

On the 6th, Jung Eun-woo uploaded a video to her SNS, opening with, "This is a really big story, I'm finally releasing it now." She continued, "It's finally time to say this," as she brought up the story of the second group she was formed into. She claimed, "My second group, HINAPIA, was close to a Shincheonji group," and teased that she would reveal more specific experiences in the next video.

According to Jung Eun-woo's explanation, the situation was not suspicious from the very beginning. After the formation of her first group fell through, she formed a new team with members she got along with, and during this process, they met an investor. This investor reportedly told the members that they had a lot of talent and said things to the effect of "I want to help you" and "I will let you do everything you want to do." For Jung Eun-woo, who had already experienced a debut and subsequent frustration once, it was a chance that had come again.

Recalling the situation at the time, she said, "How thankful would I have been?" and "I signed the contract thinking it was my last chance." The investor's proposal to support idol trainees and rookie singers with capital and infrastructure was likely a condition that was difficult to refuse. In particular, since it was after she had already experienced the major change of Pristin's disbandment, the expectations and desperation for the new team seem to have had a significant influence on the decision to sign the contract.

However, Jung Eun-woo claims that strange circumstances appeared after the contract was signed. She recalled that the investor's side sent photos of construction, claiming they were building a practice room of about 100 pyeong (approx. 330 square meters) just for them. However, upon looking at the photos, she said, "It looked like they were taken from Google." She added that even after the practice room was completed, it was vastly different from what she had expected.

Jung Eun-woo said, "The practice room was built, but it was just a single small practice room in a very small building," and "I got a bad feeling from then on." She explained that the gap between the grand investment plan and the actual environment provided was the decisive reason she began to have doubts. However, with only the currently released video, the reality of the contractual relationship at the time or the investor's intentions has not been confirmed, which is why attention is focused on the additional content Jung Eun-woo stated she would release in the future.

In particular, the part that draws attention in this statement is that Jung Eun-woo described the group as being "close to Shincheonji." It is not yet clear whether this simply refers to the poor practice environment or the failure to fulfill investment promises, or whether it means there were separate experiences that made the religious nature of the organizational management suspicious. Since specific actions or the reality of the organization have not been presented in the currently released video, it is difficult to conclude a relationship with a specific organization based solely on her expression.

At the end of the video, a subtitle appeared saying, 'The Shincheonji girl group story continues in Part 2.' The impact of this statement is expected to vary depending on what specific experiences and circumstances Jung Eun-woo reveals in Part 2. In the entertainment industry, investment and management contracts surrounding rookie groups are key factors that determine the possibility of debut, but if the parties involved find it difficult to fully understand the structure and contract details, there is a possibility that a power imbalance may be unilaterally formed. Jung Eun-woo's story could ultimately serve as a case that goes beyond a peculiar past tale of an idol group, prompting reflection on how carefully rookies dreaming of debut must examine capital and the entities they contract with.

Jung Eun-woo became known through Mnet's 'Produce 101' in 2016 and debuted in 2017 as a member of Pristin under PLEDIS Entertainment. Pristin started as a notable rookie group but disbanded in 2019, and some members debuted again as HINAPIA in the same year. However, as HINAPIA also ended their activities the following year, Jung Eun-woo's idol activities effectively came to an end.

Since then, Jung Eun-woo has been showing a daily life different from her activities in the entertainment industry by revealing her recent status working as a coordination manager at a plastic surgery clinic. It is also drawing attention that she, who went through a glamorous debut, short activities, and two experiences of group formation and disbandment, has begun to speak about those times six years later. As there are many cases where stories that had to be swallowed for the sake of activities in the past reappear as personal experiences after time has passed, attention is concentrated on what kind of content Jung Eun-woo's additional revelations will actually lead to.

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