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 One of the most famous Korean bands in recent years was H.O.T. The group consisted of five teenager members - hence their name "High-five of Teenager." They were formed by SM Entertainment in 1996 and disbanded in May, 2001. The reason?

     At that time when the contract between H.O.T members and SM Entertainment was going to end,  they were extremely famous. After their concert in 2001 there were not only popular in Korea, but in many other countries as well.   Each member in H.O.T contributed to produce many songs and lyrics. Kang Ta and Hee Jun were  lead vocals and Woo Hyuk was in charge of their dancing. H.O.T was also described as being Korea’s angels after their video  “Promise of H.O.T.” .They were also the first Korean band to hold a  concert in Olympic Seoul stadium because of the huge amount of fans. In 1998, video-clip "Line up" got the award for best international video from MTV. Just a short period before disbanding, they joined in the 3D movie "Age of Peace" in order to broadcast for their 4th album. [ Sources from vi.wikipedia]

In 2001 HOT  was in the pinnacle of their fame with a clean reputation (no drug, no alcohol...) and be a good role model for young people, so fans believed that  they would renew their contract with SM Entertainment. But SM was suddenly declared that HOT would be disbanded. Some unofficial sources said that the main reason of their disbandment was a  financial dispute between HOT members and SM town ( sounds familiar? ?) Each member just got 1 cent for every record that was sold, which means they just had nearly $10000 for the hundreds of millions of albums sold!!! That's so cruel!
Once time, Tony Ahn  had complained about their salary, HOT manager Lee Soo Man said: "I even pay for your gas, what are you complaining about?". What kind of that answer?? And another story is that: Lee So Man set up a plan for HOT in some albums and prepare for a new idol band with HOT 's style to replace them when they got enough reputation for SM, as they're older and injured. [ At that time, Jae Won got heel injury, Hee Jun had foot and back injury; other members were not at their best physical condition likes in the beginning too]This may just be all rumors, but the question is: how many percent that is actually true?  I think many people believed that the reason for their disbandment was not from the members. They were famous, young, talented and had  tremendous popularity, so why would they want to disband?  Also after disbanding, each member (except Kang Ta, Hee Jun still stayed in SM) formed a new band named J.T.L and their albums were also successful. With his great voice, Kang Ta  become popular as a  solo singer. Hee Jun left SM in 2004 and founded his own company PS Entertainment. It proved that the talent of each member is REAL. [Source from vi.wikipedia]  So what was  the reason for their disbandment?

I think this story is familiar to DBSK's lawsuit. Maybe in 2001, HOT members were still young and they didn’t  know about the right to seek for their justice. SM just declared that their Korean comeback of DBSK in 2010 is impossible, and their concert in China was annulled and emphasized a reason because of Jae-Su-Chun. But their manager (Jae-Su-Chun's manager) said that they all want to stand together in their concert as soon as possible if SM Entertainment agree to reveal DBSK’s contract I think it is SM is who has authority to cancel  activities, so it depends on the company, not the members. . Will DBSK disband like one-time idol band HOT? I'm not a Cass but I still express my support to DBSK.