Vocalist Choa attended a fan signing event on July 1, a day after her agency confirmed that she was leaving her group AOA.
Choa met fans at AK Plaza in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province in South Korea for sportswear brand Ellesse for which she is an endorser and legally obligated under her advertising contract to attend the event.
She greeted fans brightly but cried when fans sang a farewell song during the event.
"Thank you for coming," Choa told them but did not mention about her withdrawal from AOA.
On June 30, FNC Entertainment confirmed that Choa would be leaving AOA, just a week after she made the announcement on her Instagram account.
"We have decided to respect Choa's opinion and she will be leaving AOA," said the agency, Soompi reported. "The members will greet fans through individual activities through a variety of fields. We ask for fans' love and support."
After the announcement, it was reported that Yuna will replace Choa as AOA's vocalist with the agency saying "Member Yuna will be filling in the empty spot of Choa's previous position as main vocalist."
But FNC quickly backtracked later to explain that "nothing regarding AOA has been decided yet. We have not yet decided if Yuna will become the new main vocalist of AOA. At this point we are focusing on the members' individual activities more."
In a long post on June 22, Choa announced that she would be leaving AOA due to depression and insomnia after being on hiatus for months.
"Although I was the oldest on the team, I'm still very young and I wanted to cry a lot of times while working. However, I know that the reason you like me is because of my bright image. Although I was crying in my heart, I had to look happy. This happened repeatedly, and the more I forced myself, I found myself becoming sicker and sicker," she wrote.
She added, "To treat my insomnia and depression, I tried taking medication and started decreasing my work two years ago. However, because the problem didn't stem from being tired, I ended up stopping all of my activities."
Choa said she felt that her continued hiatus "would be even more detrimental to the team members."
"After speaking with our company, I am leaving the team called AOA today, and I'm going to be cheering on my fellow members," she said.
