Keena exits Fifty Fifty's lawsuit against Attrakt, seeks to rejoin agency

 Keena, a member of the K-pop girl group Fifty Fifty, has decided to withdraw from the idol group’s lawsuit against their agency Attrakt regarding a contractual dispute and expressed her intent to rejoin the agency. This represents a new twist in the ongoing legal saga between Fifty Fifty and Attrakt, which has dragged on for nearly four months.

 On Monday, Keena, whose real name is Song Ja-kyung, formally requested the court to remove her from Fifty Fifty’s injunction request filed against Attrakt, with the case now set to move forward with the remaining three members of the girl group, Saena (Jeong Se-hyun), Sio (Jeong Ji-ho) and Aran (Jung Eun-ah). In requesting to withdraw from the case, Keena appointed Shinwon Law Firm as her new legal representative, parting ways with Barun Law LLC.

 Although it’s unclear what motivated Keena’s latest decision, early speculation hints at a disagreement between Keena and other Fifty Fifty group members during the course of their legal action.

According to an official from Attrakt, Tuesday, Keena had reached out to the agency and expressed her desire to return to the agency. This would mark a significant shift from Attrakt’s previous hardline stance, which had ruled out any possibility of reconciliation with the group.

 Meanwhile, the remaining three members of Fifty Fifty are still locked in a bitter feud with Attrakt. On the day Keena withdrew from the lawsuit, Saena, Sio and Aran shared a lengthy post on social media that once again criticized Attrakt and accused the agency of taking no action to protect the rights of its artists.

Fifty Fifty shot to global stardom earlier this year with their hit track “Cupid,” which was charted on the Billboard Hot 100 for 21 consecutive weeks. They were hailed as an improbable success story, as their agency Attrakt was a much smaller player in the industry compared to global giants such as HYBE, SM, JYP and YG Entertainment. However, Fifty Fifty’s meteoric rise was cut short as soon as it took off, with the idol group now in limbo amid the drawn-out legal dispute with its agency.

 Industry watchers say that both Fifty Fifty and Attrakt may have been ill-prepared for the group’s sudden rise to global fame and success, likening the situation to "The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs," from Aesop’s Fables.

Yang Seung-joon (comeon@hankookilbo.com) is a reporter at The Hankook Ilbo, a sister publication of The Korea Times. This article, previously published in The Hankook Ilbo, has been translated as part of a news-sharing program.