TREASURE announce departure of members Mashiho and Bang Ye-dam

K-pop boyband TREASURE have announced the departure of members Mashiho and Bang Ye-dam, and their plans to continue as a 10-member act.

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On November 8, YG Entertainment released a statement via TREASURE’s WeVerse page revealing that Mashiho and Bang Ye-dam are no longer part of the group. The idols had been sitting out of the act’s promotional activities in recent months.

“Going forward, TREASURE transforms into a 10-member group – consisting of Choi Hyun suk, Jihoon, Yoshi, Junkyu, Yoon Jae-hyuk, Asahi, Doyoung, Haruto, Park Jeong-woo, and So Jung-hwan,” YG Entertainment wrote. It added that both Mashiho and Bang had ended their contracts with the agency on a mutual basis after a “long and careful” discussion.

The agency went on to add that Mashiho would be taking time off to recover from an unspecified health condition, while revealing that Bang intends to pursue a career as a music producer.

“Knowing that all of TREASURE’s fans have been waiting for Mashiho and Bang Ye-dam, we are very sad about their departure,” continued YG, later asking fans to support both TREASURE and its departed members.

YG Entertainment’s announcement comes over a month after the boyband released their ‘The Second Step: Chapter Two’ mini-album excluding the two members. At the time, the agency had cited “internal difficulties” due to both members’ health and personal issues, which resulted in their absence from the group.

‘The Second Step: Chapter Two’ was led by the single ‘Hello’, and included unit tracks like ‘Volkno’ and ‘Thank You’ by Hyun-suk, Yoshi, Haruto and Asahi and Haruto respectively. The record was also the second instalment of their ongoing ‘The Second Step’ series, which began in February 2022 with ‘The Second Step: Chapter One’.

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