[ASKKPOP] 'W Korea' reveals Star Empire never contacted them regarding Nine Muses' controversial teaser images

As mentioned yesterday, Star Empire had denied that the photos were plagiarized by saying that they were paying homage to the 'W Korea's former pictorial, and that they had already checked and cleared issues related to copyright before they released the images. Some of the agency's reps also added later that agency had contacted 'W Korea' directly and had cleared the copyright issue with them beforehand.

'W Korea' responded to these statements on the 15th, stating through a press release,

"Hello, this is 'W Korea'.

We are here to establish the truth regarding the statement released [by Star Empire] about Nine Muses' jacket images. 

Different from what Nine Muses' agency Star Empire has said, 'W Korea's editing department and photographer Hong Jang Hyunwere not inquired about the pictorial in question at all, and no agreement was ever made.

We are providing photos from the 2012 March issue of 'W Korea' as reference."

With the statement, the magazine released some comparison shots between their pictorial and Nine Muses' teaser images, pointing out the similarities.

It doesn't seem that the magazine will be pursuing any legal action regarding the matter, but it does appear that they were a little bothered by Star Empire's claims about having checked with the magazine beforehand.