SEOUL – Sungchan and Shotaro of K-pop boy band NCT are leaving to form a new boy band, their label SM Entertainment said in a surprise announcement on Wednesday.

They will be joined by two other SM trainees and possibly other new members, although the final number of members was not divulged. The debut date was also not revealed.

Sungchan and Shotaro, who debuted as members of NCT in 2020, both posted lengthy handwritten notes to their fans after the news broke, as reported by South Korean media.

South Korean Sungchan, 21, wrote in Korean on fan platform Bubble: “I was able to learn and gain a lot while promoting (the band), but now that I look back, I also feel regretful that there were things I wasn’t able to do even better. It was a tremendous honour to be with you for these three happy years and I consider it a precious memory.”

Japan-born Shotaro, 22, said in his note, written in both Korean and Japanese: “I believe that all the precious experiences I learnt from my promotions with NCT will be my strength to become an artiste that you are all proud and unashamed of in my future activities. I will work hard. I will return soon with an even cooler image, so please wait a little bit.”

One of the top boy bands in South Korea, NCT has 20 remaining members – from countries such as South Korea, China, Canada and Thailand – who are also part of subunits including NCT 127 and WayV.

Sungchan and Shotaro are the second and third NCT members to leave the boy band within a month.

Hong Kong-born Lucas, 24, a once-popular member of NCT and WayV, was mired in scandals involving his former girlfriends, who accused him of cheating, leeching money and gaslighting them.

He had been on hiatus since August 2021, and left both the group and its subunit on May 10.