According to Korean media, despite filing a lawsuit in court, mobilizing police investigations, and petitions to the Fair Trade Commission and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to protest the validity of the exclusive contract, all requests from the three idols Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin (also known as CBX) of EXO were rejected.
In a recent ruling, the Seoul Eastern District Court stated that EXO-CBX's request for SM Entertainment to disclose payment documents related to their 13-year activities at the company was an abuse of legal procedures to "put pressure on SM" and "opposed to the temporary nature of the ban".
The court and the investigation agency all reached a common conclusion that there is no evidence to prove any illegal or fraudulent acts from SM Entertainment.
SM's legal representative said that because CBX denied the validity of the exclusive contract and the agreements based on that contract, the 3 members could not continue to participate in EXO's activities.
That is the reason why Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin will be absent from the group's new album launch in the first quarter of 2026. Instead, the remaining 5 members (Suho, Chanyeol, Kai, Sehun, D.O.) will sign hands with Lay (Truong Nghe Hung) - a member who left SM in 2022.
This information is controversial in the fan community, because the trio Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin have always been important voices in EXO's music products, while Lay has been turned away by many fans of the group due to the sudden breakup in 2022 and has not been active with EXO for a long time.
However, fans also speculate that CBX will find it difficult to continue group activities due to tense legal disputes.
The conflict broke out in June 2023 when Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin suddenly accused SM of forcing them to sign slav contracts with unfair terms and lack of financial transparency. CBX requested to terminate the contract with SM.
In response, SM denied the accusation, saying that CBX was lured by external forces. The two sides agreed that CBX will continue to operate in a group with EXO under SM's management, while their individual operations will be managed by INB100 (founded by Baekhyun).
But 1 year later, the situation got worse when CBX did not pay SM 10% of its individual revenue as agreed. In June 2024, SM filed a lawsuit to request CBX to enforce the contract.
CBX counter-sued, claiming that SM did not comply with the agreement. However, the police decided not to prosecute due to lack of evidence. CBX opposed the verdict, asking SM to submit payment documents related to their 13 years of operation at the company, but the court held that CBX's request was too broad and rejected it.
CBX has also filed a complaint with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism because SM did not disclose its accounting documents. They also filed a complaint with the Korea Fair Trade Commission about allegations of unfair contract violations and subsidies. However, neither agency found any wrongdoings by SM and rejected CBX's complaint.
