Seunghan was only active with RIIZE for less than two months when he ended up going on an indefinite hiatus after he got caught up in a series of scandals in November 2023. At this point, he’s been inactive longer than he’s been actively promoting with RIIZE, though it hasn’t been without many fans asking and even demanding his return.
Despite their pleading, however, SM Entertainment has remained silent on the plans for Seunghan’s future, and whether or not he’ll return to the group or end up leaving entirely. With their silence, fans have tried to use RIIZE’s activities and other clues to try and guess what might end up happening with Seunghan, but that’s all they really are — guesses.
The biggest worry recently has been the fact that RIIZE is preparing to release their first EP, Riizing, in June 2024, yet there has been no sign that Seunghan will be taking part in any part of the album. There haven’t been any teasers that have included him in them, and pre-release songs such as the full-length version of “Siren” don’t contain any vocals from him.
And now another rumor has sparked that has fans even more concerned that Seunghan has already left the K-Pop industry. According to an online source, the 20-year-old is preparing to take the entrance exam for a university. While this doesn’t explicitly mean that Seunghan is no longer a K-Pop idol — plenty of idols attend university while promoting, after all — the timing does make it seem that he could be turning his focus to his education rather than a career in the music industry.
Netizens have had a lot of reactions to the speculation, with a lot of frustration aimed at SM Entertainment over their lack of transparency about Seunghan’s future career plans.
Hopefully the label will release some kind of definitive statement before too long.
Source: Pann Nate and Pann Choa
