Grandline Group States That They Will Not Be Removing Sitala From H1-KEY In Official Statement

GLG have decided to continue the group’s debut with Sitala as a member.

Grandline Group (or GLG), the subsidiary of Grandline Entertainment that is set to debut the girl group H1-KEY, has released a statement regarding their stance on netizens’ request for Thai member Sitala‘s removal from the group.

Sitala | @H1KEY_official/Twitter

In November of 2021, GLG announced the debut of H1-KEY to be slated for January 2022, and revealed the 4 members one by one. When Sitala was revealed as a member, however, Thai netizens began demanding her removal from the group after it was unveiled that her father, the actor Tua Saranyu, supported the military dictatorship in Thailand.

After learning about the issue, Korean netizens soon took to social media to rally after Thai netizens in support of her removal, stating it to be the correct course of action to be taken.

“I don’t support you. Your father ruined Thailand” | @ki93BH/Twitter

GLG maintained their silence on the matter during the controversy, and have finally released a statement about it. They uploaded their statement to their official Twitter account in both Korean and English, apologizing for the wait and stated that they took a while to respond due to looking into the “history, political, economical, and social context and background of Thailand in order to understand the issue and situation.”

GLG then stated that after considering all the facts of the case, they concluded that they cannot hold Sitala accountable for the actions of a family member, and have decided not to cancel her debut or remove her from the group.

From the moment we recognized the worries and concerns of the Thai citizens, we have thoroughly reviewed matters regarding Sitala and her background of her father’s actions, how she was brought up as a minor, and up until how she has become a young adult.

We have come to the conclusion that we cannot hold Sitala accountable on the basis of her father’s past decisions and actions that were beyond her responsibility.

On this basis, we have decided not to change the members of the group.

—GLG

Netizens are not happy with this decision, and are taking to Twitter to express their anger and frustration at the agency’s statement.

You can read their full statement here: