The report contains similar projects and keywords.
November 11, 2024, news Hankyore obtained a report entitled “Belift Lab’s New Girl Group Plan (ILLIT)” and another report titled “2021 Team Launch Plan (NewJeans)“through a tip-off. Reports showed that although both groups were 3 years apart from each other, the structure of the report, as well as other keywords, were eerily similar. This once again raised the suspicion of plagiarism.
The reports had similar formats and styles, as in the following diagram.
Hankyeore reported that the two reports had similar designs, as if they used the same model. However, it wasn’t a common or company-wide model, like Min Hee Jin she previously said she personally designed the report graphics in May 2020 on Keynote, when she was active as HYBE’s CBO (brand officer). Hankyeore confirmed that although HYBE provides reporting and presentation templates, these are unique to each label. Since ILLIT is operated by Belift Lab rather than ADOR, they would not have had access to the model. Min Hee Jin gave his report to the Belift Lab earlier on HYBE’s instruction.
The NewJeans report used a circular diagram to indicate the “areas of expansion in the international market“, aiming”Standard Asian and North American K-Pop fandom” Through “lifestyle” AND “aesthetic.”
The NewJeans report also proposed marketing a “sense of kinship (dongjilgam)” AND “sense of desire (donggyungshim)” to differentiate NewJeans from other artists.
ILLIT similarly chose the keywords for sense of kinship and sense of longing in Korean. They also reflected”influence on lifestyle” as related.
Once again, ILLIT’s report was eerily similar to NewJeans’ in terms of design.
Hankyeore pointed out that this was suspicious as market trends would change over the course of three years. NewJeans was designed in 2020, while ILLIT in 2023. The similarities once again raised suspicion of plagiarism.
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