Controversy

Lyrics of Mirotic

In November 2008, the Korean Commission of Youth Protection ruled that Mirotic was detrimental to youths and declared that the lyrics were provocative and overly sexual. As a result, the album was labeled with stickers indicating that it was unsuitable for people under 19 years old and any performances of the song would have to be broadcast after 10 PM.[5][76] In response to the ruling, SM Entertainment agreed to make a clean version but also had filed an injunction to overrule the commission's decision
“ We will make a clean version in accordance with the commission’s administrative order, but since we cannot fully accept the ruling, we plan to make a provisional disposition with the relevant court to nullify the administrative order. ”

After the Commission of Youth Protection released their statement regarding the ban on the album, SM Entertainment said,
“ Even before when the order had been put against Mirotic, we have clearly negotiated and tried to explain the real meaning and explanation of the lyrics, but even after this the results came out unexpectedly and we are bewildered as of this moment. [and] Jumun-Mirotic's lyrical meaning is entirely different and miles away from the erotic or sexual that the association is making it to be. ”

TVXQ performed the clean version at the 23rd Annual Golden Disk Awards. The lyrics were changed from "I got you" to "I chose you" and "I got you under my skin" to "I got you under my sky."

In March 2009, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of SM Entertainment, stating:
“ We acknowledge that the lyrics concerned, including "You want me, you give yourself up to me, you’re crazy about me" and "I got you under my skin," may imply sexual acts, but they did not describe sexual acts or feelings excessively to the level that can stimulate youths' sexual desire... Even though we acknowledge that the young are more sensitive to sexual stimuli and less able to control sexual urges, the lyrics neither encouraged youth to have sex nor described women as object for sex. ”

On April 9, 2009, the Commission of Youth Protection announced they would appeal the ruling to a high court after having an emergency meeting and deeming that the phrase, "I got you under my skin", was inappropriate for minors.

Lawsuit against SM Entertainment

In late July 2009, three of the members—Hero, Micky, and Xiah—submitted an application to the Seoul Central District Court to determine the validity of their contract with SM Entertainment.Through their lawyers, the members stated that the 13-year contract was excessively long and that the group's earnings were not fairly distributed to the members.Early termination penalty of their contract will cost them 2 times the profit that the group is estimated to earn for rest of the contract period (over ₩11 billion, or around US$9.2 million). The news was enough to cause SM Entertainment's stock price to drop over 10% on the KOSPI.

The Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of the three members. They have claimed that the contract was unfair and the members were left out of proper profit distribution. In response, SM Entertainment called a press conference and claimed that the lawsuit a big fraud, stating that the lawsuit was not about unfair contracts or human rights, but a scam motivated by the three members’ greed over their cosmetics business. The three members remained silent except to say through their lawyers that they hoped SM Entertainment would respect the court’s decision.

In response to the lawsuit, 120,000 TVXQ fans filed a petition against SM Entertainment’s long-term contracts to the Seoul District Court. Cassiopeia also filed for compensation from SM Entertainment for the cancelled SM Town Live Concert, as both SM and TVXQ initially stated that the concert would go on as planned; the concert was cancelled a week before its scheduled date.