The affirmation of the former CEO of Ador Min Hee-Jin and the Newjeans women’s group (Njz: Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein) that Hybe intended to abandon Newjeans and start with another group of girls has lost credibility. This is due to the dissemination of the Court of the entire content of the Hybe report containing the controversial line.
On March 21, division 50 of the Court of the Central District of Seoul (chief judge Kim Sang-Hoon) has pronounced himself in favor of the request for injunction by Ador to preserve their agency status and to ban members to sign independent advertising contracts or to carry out entertainment activities without prior approval.
The Court said, “Until the sentence on the validity of the exclusive contract is issued in the first process, the creditor (Ador, an Hybe label) will temporarily maintain his status as the management agency on debtors (Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein). The debtors must not engage in entertainment activities through themselves or third without the creditor.
The Court did not accept the topics made by the members of Newjeans that Ador had violated their exclusive contract, nor did he recognize the evidence they presented as factual.
What shocked K-Pop fans was the mention of the term “New-i”-a term used to group Newjeans, Ive and the Sserafim. The sentence revealed that Min Hee-Jin and the members had distorted the context of a Hybe relationship, falsely describing it as an attack on Newjeans.
According to the sentence, the Court recognized the existence of the sentence “Ditch Newjeans and starts again” in the relationship. However, he explained that this sentence was written in the section on another group affiliated to Hybe, the Sserafim. The report analyzed the way the Sserafim was at the top of the other groups on musical graphics and album sales and suggested that it would be strategically better to place the Sserafim in a different category than “New-I-le”.
The report included general comments on Newjeans such as “It would be nice to create a minor buzz before the return of the Newjeans”, And even the preparation to counter the potential negative attention due to the exciting competition between groups of girls. In addition, he underlined the popularity of the Newjeans, stating: “In the survey on the preferences of the artists, Newjeans is still at number 1 at 35%. The group maintains a high favorable to the public and it is essential to take advantage of this to continue their series of victories.”
It is important to underline that Min Hee-Jin, who at the time was CEO of Ador, received this relationship but did not raise any objection. Therefore, the Court concluded that Ador did not violate any critical contractual obligation, even if he did not protest in the relationship.
Previously, on November 13th of last year, Newjeans sent a certified letter to Ador by claiming a violation of their exclusive contract. They asked that Ador rectify the violations within 14 days or to terminate the contract, citing clause 15, section 1 of the agreement.
In the letter, they indicated the line “Leaning Newjeans and starting from the head”, which emerged during a parliamentary audit, as proof of the discriminatory treatment of Hybe and the loss of trust. They warned that if no corrective action had been undertaken, they would consider the contract terminated.
The report of the musical industry Hybe who triggered the controversy was periodically sent by a former publisher of the Weverse magazine to Hybe Executives, including President Bang Si-Hyuk and the then CEO of Ador Min Hee-Jin. He contained candid evaluations not only of his artists but also of competitors, leading to shock at the sector level when he was disclosed.
The Newjeans requested an in -depth investigation to identify those who ordered and performed the alleged instructions to abandon them and have asked for civil and criminal liability for any discovered offense. They also requested that the results were compiled in a relationship and shared with the group.
In addition, Newjeans raised eight other issues, including the official excuses of a manager who presumably said “Ignore Hanni” Deleting unauthorized photos and videos, compensation for damage from the forced chebing pushing album (“Sajaegi”) and the resolution of disputes with the director of music video Shin Woo-Seok of Dolphin Kinper, whose birth has led to lost production materials.
These accusations have obtained enormous support from K-Pop fans. However, the court revealed that the basis of their statements was erroneously interpreted, which means that the support was based on distorted or incomplete information.
Before the hearing of the Court, Ador had already published an official response on November 29 last year, facing the misunderstanding on the controversial phrase. They explained that the Newjeans had interpreted the “Ditch Newjeans” Known as Hybe which plans to abandon them in favor of recently debut groups such as Illit and Sserafim.
Ador clarified that the phrase appeared in the Le Sserafim section of the report and was written even before IlLit’s debut program was transmitted. Therefore, the “new” in “New-I-le” could not refer to Illit. Instead, the author of the report was simply suggesting that the Sserafim was repositioned outside the “New-I-le” category to better differentiate their strategy, since the comparisons with the Newjeans and Ive were causing negative feedback.
Ador added, “Following the report, Newjeans continued to receive full support from both Ador and Hybe. After May 2023, they released albums with great success and even held a fans’ meeting in Tokyo Dome following the changes to the Board of Directors of Ador.”
They concluded, “The phrase” ditch new “referred to the categorization strategy, not to the abandonment of the artist. Hybe confirmed this, and as a majority stakeholder in Ador, it is unreasonable to assume that they would order the dismissal of the only artist of the label.”
Despite the acceptance by the Court for the injunction of Ador, the members of the Newjeans still insist that they cannot stay with the label. In their emergency press conference on November 27, they said they would no longer continue under Ador if the problems had not been solved within 14 days of the notice. They also announced that their exclusive contract would be considered terminated on 29 November.
The first hearing for the main cause to determine the validity of their exclusive contract is scheduled for April 3.
