On September 26th, in a phone call with news outlet Money Today, Jang Hyung-woo, who recently released a recording alleging that HYBE is downplaying NewJeans, stated, “I have resigned from Seoul Shinmun,” adding that his “employment at Kakao Mobility has not been confirmed.” When contacted, Kakao Mobility representative responded that “Nothing has been decided” regarding Journalist Jang’s potential hiring.
Addressing criticism that he violated journalistic ethics by arbitrarily providing the HYBE recording to parties involved in the dispute, Jang explained, “I did not give it directly to Min Hee-jin.”
He also denied rumors of being close to former CEO Min Hee-jin, asserting, “I don’t know her.” Instead, he claimed that an acquaintance had passed the recording on to Min Hee-jin.
The fact that Jang Hyung-woo is no longer employed by Seoul Shinmun came to light through a video titled “A Current Journalist’s Lie… Hybe’s Recovery Plan” on former entertainment journalist turned YouTuber Lee Jin-ho’s channel on September 25th.
In the video, Lee Jin-ho remarked, “On the D-day that the NewJeans members warned about, a significant revelation emerged.” He continued, “Seoul Shinmun journalist Jang Hyung-woo appeared on CBS Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show, presenting himself as a current journalist exposing something important.”
Earlier that morning, Jang Hyung-woo had appeared on “Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show,” where he shared a recording of his conversation with Hybe’s PR representative. He claimed that “HYBE intentionally undermined the sales of NewJeans’ Japanese debut album.” The recording included HYBE’s PR representative contacting him to correct information he had written, stating that NewJeans’ Japanese debut album had sold 1.02 million copies. The representative clarified that “only 38,000 (about 50,000) were sold in Japan and over 900,000 were sold in Korea.”
On the news show, Jang Hyung-woo justified his report by saying, “I thought it was illogical for HYBE to distort and downplay NewJeans’ Japanese performance”, adding, “I thought it was unfair treatment (of NewJeans members) after watching the members’ video on the 11th.”
In response, Lee Jin-ho pointed out that the journalist failed to correct the factual error, instead suggesting that it might be acceptable to exaggerate the numbers for HYBE’s benefit. He warned that this could lead to backlash from Japanese readers.
Lee Jin-ho also pointed out that Jang Hyung-woo’s claim of deciding to expose the situation after watching a NewJeans members’ live broadcast in September was a lie. This is because former CEO Min Hee-jin had already confronted Hybe on July 22 with the same audio recording that Jang revealed on the news show on July 25. The recording itself was made on July 17. Min Hee-jin reportedly told Hybe that she had received the recording from a journalist when asked how she obtained it. She reportedly said, “I received it from the journalist.”
Expressing his frustration, Lee Jin-ho stated, “This is a serious violation of journalistic ethics. Journalists should listen to both sides and write articles objectively. But giving a recording of what they heard from one side to the other side, especially to a party involved in a dispute? It’s something I’ve never considered before. It has set a dangerous precedent for junior journalists.”
He further revealed, “The title of ‘current journalist’ is also false,” explaining that Jang “submitted his resignation to Seoul Shinmun a week ago and was confirmed to be joining Kakao Mobility as a director. He has been in discussions with Kakao, and typically, Kakao employees sign contracts on their first day of work.”
Additionally, Lee noted that NewJeans’ Minji had visited the “Munch Exhibition,” leaving a photo, but the organizers of the exhibition turned out to be Seoul Shinmun, KBS Media, and others. He pointed out that idols rarely visit exhibitions due to public scrutiny.
Following the release of the YouTube video, “Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show” amended the title of their segment featuring Jang Hyung-woo from “A Current Journalist’s lie” to “A Former Journalist’s lie.”