FTISLAND’s Lee Hong Ki has left a brief response to the ongoing controversy involving his bandmate Choi Jong Hoon.

On March 14, Lee Hong Ki took to his Instagram and posted a photo of his pet, Monggeul. Along with the photo, the FTISLAND vocalist included the hashtags “Monggeul” and “I give up.”

View this post on Instagram

#몽글이#포기야

A post shared by 홍기 이 (@skullhong12) on Mar 13, 2019 at 9:25pm PDT

Afterwards, fans brought up the controversy about Choi Jong Hoon in the comment section, some of them asking about the meaning behind the second hashtag. One particular comment was written in Japanese, “I beg you. Please don’t give up on Choi Jong Hoon.”

In response, Lee Hong Ki left a short comment in Korean and said, “I give up.”

Following the reports of a chatroom that includes Seungri and Jung Joon Young, where the participants shared illegally taken videos and photos of women, both names of the FTISLAND members came up as possible participants of the chatroom. Afterwards, Lee Hong Ki’s name was cleared by the reporter who released the initial reports, and FNC Entertainment denied Choi Jong Hoon’s involvement in the chatroom.

However, it was later revealed that Choi Hong Joon was a member of the chatroom, in which he allegedly talked about asking personal favors to the police to cover up his drunk driving incident from three years ago.

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