Park Jin-young, the head of boy band 2PM's agency JYP Entertainment, said that Jae-beom would return as a member of the band if he wanted to make a comeback. But he indicated that the return would take some time.

Appearing on an MBC talk show Wednesday night, Park said, ``If he makes a comeback, he will naturally return to 2PM. Both Jae-beom and the members don't want to go solo.''

However, he fell short of disclosing a set timeline.

The former lead singer quit the band and flew to the United States in September after comments he made about Korea to a friend on social networking site MySpace between 2005 and 2007 were made public. Jae-beom, who was then a trainee at JYP Entertainment, wrote, ``Korea is gay. I hate Koreans. I wanna come back.''

Park said he needed some time before moving on, indicating that his return was not imminent.

``He is now looking back on himself. He needs some time,'' said Park. ``What I can do for him is to help him not to lose his talent as a singer in the meantime.''

chojh@koreatimes.co.kr