Actress Ryu Hyoyoung has spoken up regarding the resurfaced bullying controversy involving her sister, Hwayoung, within the girl group T-ara.

On November 11th, Ryu Hyo Young posted on her Instagram, stating, “I am writing this to address my sister’s bullying incident and my past text message issue. At the time, we were about 20 years old. My sister and I had moved to Seoul, leaving behind our hometown. With no adults around to rely on, we only had each other for support,” she revealed.

Ryu Hyo Young shared that she had heard shocking claims from Ryu Hwa Young about being bullied by T-ara members. 

“My response was to prevent anyone from hurting my sister, which led to the text message incident. I know sending those messages was foolish, and I still regret it. Although I previously apologized to Ahreum for the texts, I still feel deeply sorry,” she admitted.

Previously, Kim Kwang Soo, the CEO of MBK Entertainment, discussed the 2012 T-ara bullying controversy on MBN’s ‘Let’s Go Season 3’ on November 9th. This brought renewed attention to Ryu Hyo Young’s past threatening texts to former T-ara member Ahreum. 

The messages reportedly included statements such as, “Do it properly if you don’t want to get hit,” “Let’s fight, wait for it,” “I’ll scratch your face so you can’t go on TV,” and, “They (T-ara) need a beating to come to their senses,” among others.

Ryu Hyo Young expressed, “At just 20 years old, I felt powerless. I was terrified that my sister might make a drastic decision if I stood by and did nothing. It was my immature and inadequate attempt to protect my beloved family,” she explained.

During ‘Let’s Go Season 3’, Kim Kwang Soo commented, “I found out about the discord among the T-ara members and terminated the contracts of Hwa Young and Hyo Young, which led to the bullying rumors. Parents of the T-ara members even suggested holding a press conference and releasing the full conversation logs, but I stopped them, saying, ‘They’re young, how would this affect their future?’ I died worrying about their lives. Our members did nothing wrong,” implying that Ryu Hwa Young was not bullied.

In response, Ryu Hwa Young took to Instagram to state, “It’s true that I was bullied by the members. The original T-ara members often used violence and verbal abuse,” she claimed. 

She then posed a question to Kim Kwang Soo, “Why, after 12 years, are you bringing this up on a broadcast and mentioning names with such a distorted narrative?” She continued, “I decided to reveal my truth to correct the misconceptions, even though it’s difficult.”

Ryu Hwa Young also refuted the claim that she had pretended to be a victim despite not being bullied. 
“When my contract with T-ara ended, I had plenty of evidence to prove the bullying, and I intended to speak out through a press conference. However, Kim Kwang Soo proposed that if I stayed silent, he would terminate my sister’s (Hyo Young’s) contract as well. At 20 years old, I thought that was the best option,” she explained. “I left the group without receiving an apology and remained silent for 12 years,” she added.