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Apink's Naeun confirms she hasn't left group, Pink Pandas say 'we finally have OT6'

Naeun's recent appearance in a group greeting video assures fans that she hasn't left Apink even though she is in a different agency

Apink is one of the leading girl groups of K-pop that debuted in 2011 and are still active today. But the six-member group experienced a hitch when Naeun did not renew her contract with their agency Play M Entertainment. After the girls’ contracts expired in April 2021, all of the members except her re-signed. At the moment, the K-pop idol is focusing on her acting career and has joined YG Entertainment as an actress. 

But in her statement, it was revealed that Naeun is still a part of Apink. Several idols have left their agencies in the past while still remaining in the group like VIXX’s Ravi and Block B’s Zico. And fans were happy for Naeun as she was expanding her acting career. But what they did not envisage was that Play M would not be including her in several of the group’s schedules. This led to several antis trolling that while on paper Naeun was part of the group, she had in actuality, left. 

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Play M excludes Naeun

Apink hasn’t had a proper comeback since 2020 when Naeun was still a part of the agency. All six members did participate in the music video for ‘Thank You’ that celebrated the girls’ 10th debut anniversary in April 2021. But that was days before Naeun’s contract ended. Since then, Play M has neglected to include her in group events. She was conspicuously missing during Bomi’s birthday celebrations in August.

Bomi later explained that Naeun couldn’t be present because the schedule was Play M’s and not Apink’s which comforted Pink Pandas (Apink’s fandom) a little. But Naeun was once again excluded from the group’s new headshots and its subsequent promotional videos which made fans wonder why Play M was treating Naeun as if she wasn’t part of the group. Other group members who are not a part of the same agency anymore are still promoted during group activities like JYPE including Taecyeon at 2PM's latest comeback. And this is what Pandas expected Play M to do too for Naeun.

Naeun is present in Apink's greetings video

The agency must have finally heard the fans because, for their latest group video, Naeun is present. South Korea is celebrating Chuseok at the moment which is like Korean Thanksgiving. And all idols post videos and letters celebrating with their fans wishing them happy holidays. Apink too posted a video but Pandas were pleasantly surprised to see Naeun included.

In the two-minute video that was uploaded on September 20, all six members shared sweet messages for Pandas. Fans were touched that Naeun ended her message by saying that she would soon see Pandas. By appearing in even though what is a greetings video, fans are happy that Naeun is still a part of Apink and has confirmed that she will be seeing them soon.

Watch the Chuseok greetings video below.

'The world is healing'

Excited fans ended up trending Naeun as they made posts like, “She keep her promise to really participate in apink activities. Even though it's a greetings video but I  appreciate it alot naeun,” “naeun : pandaduel see you soon,” and “Naeun beating 'left apink' allegations today. the world is healing.” But one fan was angry that it took Play M so long to include Naeun, “There were so many anniversary things they could've included naeun in, but refused and made naeun look like the bad guy,, think about it, play m could have made changes to accommodate all SIX of them like choosing dates they'd all be available and etc but didn't.” “Naeun is present, we finally have OT6,” said another Panda.