Mark Lee exits NCT and SM Entertainment after 10-year contract

SM Entertainment confirmed the departure on April 3 via the fan platform Weverse, describing the outcome as a mutual agreement reached “after a long period of careful and thoughtful discussion” regarding the direction of Mark’s future activities. The label praised his contributions over 10 years and said it would “wholeheartedly support him as he begins a new chapter.”

Mark addressed fans directly through a handwritten letter published on his personal Instagram account the same day. He wrote that he had spoken with every NCT member before the decision and that all of them had supported him. “I feel so thankful it brings me to tears,” he wrote, “and at the same time, I feel a sense of lifelong apology.” He explained that he had long held a personal goal of traveling and performing music with an acoustic guitar — a direction that pointed away from the structure of a major K-pop label arrangement.

The announcement arrived days after NCT concluded a six-show run at KSPO Dome in Seoul’s Olympic Park, held across two weekends in late March. What now appears to have been among Mark’s final appearances with the group drew no advance signal of his impending exit.

Mark debuted with NCT in April 2016 and became the only member to hold an active position across both NCT 127 and NCT Dream, two of the group’s most commercially significant sub-units. That dual presence made him the group’s most cross-platform asset — active in both the harder-edged international rollout of NCT 127 and the youth-oriented, high-streaming model of NCT Dream. He also appeared in SuperM, SM’s project group combining members from NCT, EXO, and SHINee, which targeted the North American market directly. In April 2025, he released his first solo album, The Firstfruit, which he described to The Hollywood Reporter as an album that “helped me find myself.”

Following his exit, NCT 127 will continue as a seven-member group — Johnny, Taeyong, Yuta, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Jungwoo, and Haechan — while NCT Dream will operate with six: Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung. Both sub-units will need to rebuild their live performance configurations and promotional identities without the member who had served as a connective presence across the group’s structural model.

Mark’s departure is the latest in a series of high-profile contract conclusions that have reshaped SM’s third-generation roster. The label has navigated similar transitions with members of EXO, SHINee, and f(x) as 10-year foundational contracts have reached their natural end — a cycle now accelerating as the artists who defined K-pop’s third generation move into independent or post-label careers.

NCT 127, now a seven-member group, is scheduled to headline the KCON LA festival in August 2026 and is expected to release new music later in the year. Mark has not announced label affiliations or release plans following his April 8 departure date.