Television network the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) responded to a sanction issued last week by South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) barring SM Entertainment, the former record label of JYJ, from restricting the group's ability to appear on television.

Yet the vague quality of the KBS statement left many fans scratching their head.

"As we understand it, The Fair Trade Commission's sanction is directed towards SM Entertainment, the Korean Federation of Pop Culture and Art Industry (KFPCAI), and the organizations and companies that make up the KFPCAI," the KBS statement read.

The KFPCAI allegedly issued a formal request to three major broadcast stations, six music and cable stations, five online music sites and 11 album retailers to not sell or promote JYJ's first album "The Beginning," according to the website allkpop.

"Also, the possibility of artists' broadcast appearances is determined by the individual programs' coordinators," the KBS statement continued.

"Actors and singers will be invited according to the individual program's needs."

Allkpop reader Anna Banana is not optimistic in her reading of what KBS executives' true meaning was with the cryptic press release.

"That statement is equivalent to when a parent replies 'we'll see' to a child's request. [It] gives the child hope, but it most definitely means no," Banana wrote in the website's comments section on Thursday.

Reader Ripias Super Junior has her own theory.

"The statement should be more like, 'we would like to have them because of there popularity but we are scared SM will pull all there artists off which will lose more then we'll gain,'" the K-pop fan wrote.

"If they wrote that, people would be more understanding."

According to the website Seoul Beats, the KBS statement was prompted by the cancellation of a JYJ appearance scheduled for earlier this month, as part of the network's "New Seven Wonders" series.

Selected in May to be honorary ambassadors of Jeju Island, JYJ were appearing on KBS to represent the island as one of 28 finalists in the selection process.

When the network replaced JYJ with two other SM Entertainment artists, f(x) and SNSD, a move many fans charged it was a direct result of pressure from SM Entertainment.

"SM, one of the Big Three [South Korean entertainment] agencies, and KFPCAI, which is composed of various organizations involved in the entertainment industry, applied incredible pressure on companies and as a result, JYJ experienced cancellations of music and variety programs, a change in music ranking, and cancellations of documentaries and theater screenings," read an FTC statement following the SM sanction.

On July 24, a spokesperson for SM Entertainment denied that the label had done anything wrong.

"Even though we never interfered with their activities, we're disappointed that there was a sanction," the SM spokesperson told the publication Newsen.

"We're looking for a legal response to the sanction."

All three members of JYJ were formerly in the SM Entertainment boy band TVXQ. They reportedly left the label following a contract dispute.