2PM Jaebeom's Departure

STORY BEHIND JAYBEOM'S DEPARTURE

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2PM)

* I Cut it till there ^ ^

2009: Controversy and rise to prominence

On 4 September 2009, articles surfaced on the internet regarding Jaebeom's posts from 2005 on his personal Myspace account, in which he expressed his dislike for Korea while still a trainee for JYP Entertainment. Jaebeom issued an apology regarding this matter. Although outraged protesters demanded that Jaebeom should be forced out of 2PM, JYP Entertainment CEO Park Jin-young stated on 7 September that he was going to continue to remain part of the group.

The following day, Jaebeom announced on his official fancafe that he would be leaving the group and returning to the United States, with plans of going back to school and bettering his understanding of music, and also apologized to the other 2PM members for not being a good leader and older brother to the group. Park Jin-young has confirmed that he will respect the singer's decision, and that 2PM will continue on as a 6-member group.

Additionally, due to the sensitive topic of Jaebeom's departure, all 2PM members were withdrawn from their regular appearances on variety shows.

The group finished re-filming their music video for "Heartbeat", the title song of their first full-length album, without Jaebeom on 31 October 2009. During a press conference, it was revealed that Jaebeom's vocals would not be removed from the songs. The day after the now 6-member 2PM's full-length album was released, Park Jin-young released a statement that Jaebeom would return as a member of 2PM if he wanted to make a comeback, while indicating that his return was not imminent. In further support of Jaebeom's place in the group, the six 2PM members have also decided to distribute their income from their 1st album with him, sending him an equally divided amount of the earnings.

The group's first full length album, titled 1:59PM, was released on 10 November 2009. Both the album and title track, "Heartbeat", quickly rose to the #1 position on multiple music sales charts. The group made their first comeback performance, signifying the beginning of their promotional activities for the album, on M.Net's ‘O Good Concert’ on Thursday, 12 November 2009, subsequently making their KBS Music Bank, MBC Music Core and SBS Inkigayo comebacks on Friday, 13 November, Saturday, 14 November and Sunday, 15 November, respectively.

On 20 November 2009, 2PM performed at and was honored with two awards by the M.net Asian Music Awards (previously known as M.net KM Music Festival): the award for Best Male Group and Artist of the Year (the latter being one of the three most prestigious awards at the show). The group paid homage to him during their performance of "Again & Again", in which a spotlight was shown over Jaebeom's usual position in the dance formation and his vocals were not replaced.

On 26 November 2009, after two weeks of promotional activities for the 1:59PM album, 2PM earned their first #1 on a TV music show (KBS Music Bank's "K-Chart") since the album's release, with "Heartbeat", which went on to take #1 on the K-Chart for three more weeks. In addition, "Heartbeat" achieved the "Mutizen" song award Triple Crown on SBS Inkigayo by being the #1 song the Inkigayo "Take 7" chart for three weeks, the maximum amount of time for which a nominated song is eligible to win. On 30 December 2009, atKorean Broadcasting System (KBS)'s end of the year Music Festival, "Again & Again" was recognized as "Song of the Year", winning with 57,060 votes.

2PM's second single off 1:59PM was "Tired of Waiting". The song was performed live for the first time at the SBS Music Festival on 29 December 2009. 2PM's promotion for the album ended with their SBS Inkigayo performance on 17 January 2010.

2010: Don't Stop Can't Stop

On 25 February 2010, JYP Entertainment announced that Park Jaebeom would not be returning to 2PM, as his contract with the company had been permanently terminated. A fan meeting/press conference was held two days later with the 6 remaining members of 2PM and JYP Entertainment CEO Choi Jungwook in attendance, where it was announced that although 2PM would continue promoting as 6 members, a new leader would not be chosen to replace Park. (CUT)