They also sumbit a second petition to the Courts 
TVXQ fans have reported SM Entertainment to the Fair Trade Committee for the Violation of the Law of Fair Trade.
TVXQ fan site 'DNBN''s staff visited the Fair Trade Committee on the afternoon of the 8th and filed a report against SM Entertainment for the violation of the law of Fair Trade and stated that, "SME abused its power as the 'trader' and had an unlawful transaction with TVXQ."
On the report, fans stated, "When SM Entertainment entered into a exclusive contract with their agency's group TVXQ, they went against Clause 23 subclause 4 of the Monopoly Restriction and Fair Trade Laws (Acts of unfair trade are prohibited) and created an exclusive contract in which unfair trade was inevitable and have been, and still are, carrying out acts of unfair trade."
In this report, fans submitted the main points of TVXQ's exclusive contract that were revealed to the public, the three members' official statement regarding the trial, every single scheduled activity and concert that TVXQ performed in from 2003 until now and information of the exact dates of the members' flights in out and out of Korea.
They also submitted a petition containing 66,625 offline signatures they collected in ten days starting from August 26th.
Fans said, "We are reporting SM Entertainment because, as buyers of TVXQ goods released by the agency, we do not wish to be buyers of goods that were created through an unlawful trade that SM Entertainment has created through the abuse of their power," and "The contract was written so that SM Entertainment would have the upper hand in all situations such as the length of the contract, the income division, the compensation TVXQ would have to pay if the contract was terminated and other aspects of the contract as well."
They stated, "We hope that the Fair Trade Committee finds solutions to these situations that are common amongst celebrities in which the agency seems to be taking too much from the celebrity's profits as soon as possible so that there will never be a dispute like this ever again."
A representative of the Fair Trade Committee said, "This is not something one person at the committee can decide, we must all come together and discuss," and "We will go through the processes of inspections of the reported company to confirm the validity of the report of the violation of Fair Trade and hold many discussions to come to a final decision."
The representative who accepted the report stated, "It is unusual to have a third party submit such a report but anyone is allowed to report any instances, and what they have submitted will help with the investigation," and "I do not know when the results will be out but we are working hard to resolve the situation as quickly as possible."
On the other hand, TVXQ fans submitted a second petition opposed to the unfair exclusive contract between SM Entertainment and TVXQ to the Seoul District Courts on the same day on September 8th. In total, the number of people who have joined the offline petition has risen to 187,000.
Fans stated on the petition that, "Through this dispute, the disturbing truth behind a celebrity's exclusive contract and we realize that TVXQ is not the only celebrity who is suffering from such a situation," and "We will continue to seek assistance from committees and organizations who have a relevance to this type of situation until there are no more people who suffer from these contracts."
The fans' explanation of the clauses of TVXQ's unlawful Contract
TVXQ fans pointed out the unlawful clauses in TVXQ's contract in their petition to the Fair Trade Committee that was handed on the 8th. They talked of the length of the contract, the income division and the schedules that TVXQ had to perform because they were bound by the contract.
Length of the Contract
One clause stated that because TVXQ was bound under a 13-year exclusive contract, even if the conditions under which the contract stays under have changed, TVXQ cannot change the actual contract, and must continue to work even though the Law of Fair Trade has clearly been violated. The length of TVXQ's exclusive contract with SM Entertainment does not include the time they will spend during military service or periods of time where they don't have any activities to perform and can be classified as a life contract as it is with an idol group. SM Entertainment plans to keep TVXQ until they retire from the entertainment scene as TVXQ and the members cannot do anything about it.
TVXQ spent an average of three years as trainees, and when military service and the time they spent as trainees are calculated, it can be seen that they must spend over 18 years tied to SM Entertainment and their contract. This is not something that can be accepted in society and the contract that SM Entertainment has with TVXQ can be seen as an unlawful contract.
Income Division
Each member receives only 0.4~1% of income per member per album according to the album sales and do not receive any money from any repackaged goods. This clause was looked over and altered in the early months of 2009 but it still cannot be accepted even after its alteration. This income division shows that SM Entertainment is carrying out acts of unfair trade by taking almost all of the profit that TVXQ earns.
Compensation for the Termination of the Contract
According to the contract, TVXQ must pay three times the amount of investments and twice the amount of money they would have earned had they carried out the entire 13 years of the contract in compensation if the contract is terminated. This clause even applies to when SM Entertainment agrees to end the contract with TVXQ. In truth, with the amount reaching hundreds of billions of Won, it is virtually impossible for TVXQ to terminate their contract.
This is not an acceptable or realistic amount for a contract between an agency and its celebrity, and as this is the same as if SM Entertainment chained TVXQ to the company, the members have no choice but to continue to transact in unfair trade with the agency.
Scheduled Activities
TVXQ has been performing, not only in Korea, but also in japan, China, Taiwan and around most of Asia. They have released 45 albums in the 68 months that they have been active, traveled the equivalent of 60 times around the Earth, and have performed in 103 concerts. However, they have an almost suicidal schedule in which they only receive two weeks of vacation every year.
Source: [ohmynews+DNBN]
Translation credits: jeeelim5@tohosomnia.net
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