On May 15, 2014, Kris filed a lawsuit against the agency to terminate his contract.[50] S.M Entertainment claimed to be completely taken aback despite having dealt with several disputes regarding their contracts in the past.[51]
Just like several S.M. Entertainment artists including other members from EXO, Luhan and Z.Tao, he requested for a contract termination for being treated as an object rather than an artist, having his schedules being set up without his opinions on the matter and his health condition being taken into consideration.