On March 7, the Newjeans group (NJZ) answered the questions of journalists while leaving the central district court of Seocho-Gu, Soul, after completing an audition regarding the request of the injunction agency to “preserve management rights and ban advertising contracts”.
The legal expert criticizes the judgment of the court
A legal expert criticized the decision of the Court regarding the dismissal of the members of Newjeans (NJZ) for an injunction relating to their exclusive contract.
Jang Seo-Yeon, a lawyer at the Gonggam Public Interest Human Rights Law Foundation, declared the 23rd in an article entitled “because a high degree of trust is important in the exclusive contracts of the idol k-pop” which “The idols are human beings before being members of a specific group and should have the right to decide on their own with those who commit themselves in artistic activities.“
The lawyer Jang stressed that most idols signs restrictive contracts of seven years such as minors, often in unequal dynamics of power and that the growing investments of agencies lead to an increase in job requests and health problems.
Citing the replacement of the CEO Min Hee-Jin, of which Newjeans trusted, as a key violation of trust, Jang called him a substantial contractual change. He also sentenced Hybe for having traveled private messages and personal information, further endangered the idols and fueling xenophobia. Jang concluded that forcing idols to remain in unsafe agencies violates their dignity and limits their professional freedom.
Title: Because a high degree of trust is important in the exclusive K-Pop Idolo contracts
Recently, the Court has granted the injunction presented by Ador Co., Ltd. against the members of Newjeans (NJZ) to preserve the management rights of the agency and prohibit entertainment activities (Seoul Central District Court, decision 2025kap20037, 21 March 2025).
Currently, the members of Newjeans (Njz) suspended their activities and filed an appeal. As a K-Pop fan who has followed this case since last year, I hope this accident will become an opportunity to examine the issues of subjectivity and human rights of idols, which have been obscured by the growth of the K-pop industry and large entertainment companies.
The exclusive long -term contract “seven years”
In K-Pop, idols generally sign exclusive contracts of seven years at the debut, a standard based on the guidelines of the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism, which composes the duration of the contract at seven years. While this period of charity of the agencies ensuring long -term control, there is little concrete justification for the reason why they must be seven years.
The main question lies in the imbalance of the contract. Although the idols are clearly linked to exclusivity for the entire term, the responsibilities and limits of the agency are vaguely outlined. The key details, as a workload, working hours and nature of the services, are left not specified, leaving idols to operate in contractual “blind points”. As a result, young idols often enter these long commitments based only on trust, without protections or guarantees by the agency.
How much control have idols on their work (or life)?
K-pop idols should work well beyond music, constantly creating monetized content and living as public characters for seven years. This reality obscures the border between work and life, despite the fact that contracts mention only “cultural and artistic services”. While the contract states, “the singer can express his opinions regarding the management activities of the agency at any time”, the idols often lack real autonomy due to the structure of the group and the control of the agency.
With greater investments, higher expectations arrive, more tours, longer hours of work and increased risk of injuries or deterioration of mental health. These structural problems are widely known but remain inadequately addressed. Even the efforts to introduce institutional guarantees have blocked.
In particular, the 21st National Assembly has attempted to legislate the restrictions on working hours for minor entertainers in the “law on the development of popular culture and the arts industry”, but the bill failed due to the rejection of sector groups such as the Korea Entertainment Producers Association. Consequently, systemic reforms have slowly passed from the point of view of the idols themselves.
Building exclusive activities against free will violate personal rights
In the absence of institutional guarantees, entertainment agencies must be legally obliged to support a “high degree of trust” in exclusive contracts to protect the fundamental rights of idols. The Korean Supreme Court said this, decreeing that “forcing an entertainer to work exclusively against their free will when the relationship of trust has been broken is an excessive violation of the personal rights of the entertainer” and that these contracts can be interrupted if mutual trust is lost (2017Da258237, 10 September 2019).
This is particularly critical in k-pop, in which many idols sign seven years of years like minors, putting them in a significantly weaker position. Since these long -term agreements strongly favor the agency, the law should also request agencies equally to support this trust, or allow idols to go out when it is broken.
Break the taboos for idols
What distinguished himself in the case of Newjeans was the way he broke the usual idol taboo: the members openly requested a return to the original Ador with Min Hee-Jin, underlining their trust in his leadership. Unlike the typical contractual disputes deriving from a lack of trust, this derived from a change in trusted personnel.
Min Hee-Jin had been the CEO and the creative force behind their debut, forming a strong link with the members. But after his replacement by Hybe’s managers, the agency felt completely different from the members, despite the fact that the Court cited the continuous support of the agencies and no violation of settlements as reasons for the approval of the composition. Basically, the court has neglected that the trusted leadership had been changed without the consent of the members.
Distorted media landscape and harmful public opinion in legal disputes
Hybe repeatedly leaked private messages unrelated to the media and has subjected the members to an intense media control, rather than engage in legitimate legal battles in court. The videos of the internships of the members of the Newjeans and the sensitive personal information are leaked to certain media entertainment and “demolitions” and reported as “exclusive”. Other points of sale have hurried to reprint these exclusive stories and few media have underlined the sources or violations of privacy.
The members of the Newjeans were subjected to dozens or even hundreds of relationships daily on minor issues and when visa problems arose, they were ridiculed by “illegal stars” frames and xenophobic attacks. In such circumstances, can Newjeans’ members feel safe with an agency whose management has been replaced by Hybe’s managers?
Building exclusive activities in an agency in which idols do not feel safe is an excessive violation of their personal rights and an injunction that prohibits activities involves a limitation of their freedom to work.
Hoping that this will become a new chapter of Idol Human Rights
The five members of Newjeans (Njz) knew that this journey would not have been easy, but “raised their voices to defend their values ​​and others”. It is important to remember that idols are human beings with dignity and rights before being members of a group or specific entertainers.
Their privacy must be respected and must have the right to decide with those who work and engage in artistic activities. Ensuring the protection of personal information and a safe work environment is fundamental. If a agency violates these obligations, the contract should be resolved. This is the reason why I hope that the case of Newjeans (NJZ) becomes a new chapter of Idol human rights.
