On October 11, Min Hee-jin, the former CEO of ADOR and chief producer of the group NewJeans, and representatives from HYBE clashed in court, accusing each other of betrayal and destroying trust.
In particular, Min Hee-jin claimed that “HYBE betrayed and dismissed” her, while HYBE countered that “Min Hee-jin attempted to use NewJeans to make ADOR independent.”
The legal battle began with a hearing at the Seoul Central District Court regarding Min Hee-jin’s request to be reinstated as the CEO of ADOR. The dispute stems from HYBE’s decision to remove Min Hee-jin from her position on August 27 and replace her with Ju Young Kim, a corporate director. However, ADOR stated that Min would still retain her role as an internal director and continue to oversee NewJeans’ production.
Min Hee-jin opposed the decision, calling it an unfair contract, and filed for an injunction to hold a temporary shareholders’ meeting and be reinstated as an internal director of ADOR. She argued that her dismissal violated the shareholder agreement between her and HYBE and went against a court ruling that prohibited HYBE from exercising voting rights in such matters.
Min’s legal team claimed that despite her success in driving ADOR’s revenue to 110.2 billion KRW (approx 81.6 million USD) and generating an operating profit of 33.5 billion KRW (24.8 billion USD) within two years, HYBE treated her unfairly and violated their agreement. They accused HYBE of various acts of betrayal and harassment, including allowing another label’s girl group, ILLIT, to copy NewJeans, creating negative viral campaigns against NewJeans, covering up workplace bullying against NewJeans member Hanni, and orchestrating media smear campaigns.
Min’s team even presented evidence from an internal HYBE employee who alleged that I-LIT had been copying NewJeans from the start.
On the other hand, HYBE argued that it was Min and ADOR’s vice president who attempted to sever ties and control ADOR independently, which broke the trust between the parties. They further accused Min of instructing the vice president to accuse ILLIT of plagiarism and of using NewJeans members and their parents to launch a public relations war, causing irreversible damage.
HYBE also denied Min’s claim that they launched an audit in retaliation for the plagiarism accusations, saying that they had been investigating Min’s independent attempts long before the allegations surfaced and that the audit was necessary to protect the company’s value.
The court then pointed out, “It seems like (both sides) are making independent claims, so what problem does the legality and legitimacy of the dismissal, sexual harassment in the workplace, and taking New Jeans away have with this case?” and “What is regrettable about both sides is that there was an injunction on May 30, but they are repeating it again. It is a shame to waste precious argument time.”
They also stated that they would try to conclude the hearing by the end of October if possible.
Previously, the court had once accepted an injunction filed by former CEO Min Hee-jin against HYBE in May to prohibit him from exercising his voting rights.
To specify, in May, the court had ruled in favor of Min’s injunction to prevent HYBE from exercising its voting rights, finding that while Min had explored ways to make ADOR independent, her actions had not gone beyond mere planning, nor could they be considered a breach of duty. The court ruled that HYBE’s voting rights should be restricted, thus halting Min’s dismissal at that time.