K-pop group T-ara’s Areum announced on Wednesday through a message posted on T-ara’s official fan site that she was leaving the group.

“In the future you will be seeing a better me, different from the Areum in T-ara,” she explained in a video uploaded to the fan site, adding, “I want my experience with other T-ara members to remain as meaningful memories, and I will be seeing you in the future as a solo artist.”

She expressed her desire to pursue a solo career in hip-hop.

The news comes a year after previous T-ara member Ryu Hwa-young left the group, claiming to have been bullied by the other six members, raising speculation about why Areum decided to leave the group abruptly.

T-ara’s 4-member subunit T-ara N4 has decided to replace Areum with Da-nee, who will only be a part of T-ara N4, but not a member of T-ara.

T-ara left for Japan on Thursday as a 6-member group to perform at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan on Friday and Saturday.

By Cha Yo-rim (yorimcha@heraldcorp.com)