NewJeans’ debut was one of the most successful debuts in K-pop history. The company that takes credit for this debut is mainly HYBE, known for groups like BTS, TXT, and ENHYPEN, but the group is managed by its subsidiary, ADOR. They sold hundreds and thousands of albums just a few weeks after their debut, and won first place in many music shows even after their promotions ended. Everything was perfect, they were topping the charts with their music, and the company was doing just as great, but things took a large turn in their lives.
HYBE, also known as HYBE Labels, is a company with many subsidiaries, including BigHit Music (known for its group BTS), Belift Lab (known for its group ENHYPEN), Source Music (known for its group Le Sserafim), Pledis Entertainment (known for its group SEVENTEEN), KOZ Entertainment (known for its group BoyNextDoor), and lastly ADOR (known for its group NewJeans), all collectively known as HYBE Labels.
The founder and chairman of HYBE, Bang Si-Hyuk, signed his contract with Min Hee Jin, CEO of ADOR, to share their company’s profits and help each other as financial partners. Min Hee Jin left her job as the Creative Director at SM Entertainment, another major K-pop company known for its groups Red Velvet, NCT, and Aespa, hoping to achieve her dream would come true about making her own company and group. In her recent years with HYBE, she praised the company a lot while expressing her gratitude to the company, for giving her the most freedom possible and her first very own group, NewJeans.
NewJeans is a five-member girl group making their debut on July 22, 2022. HYBE claims that they did not have any idea how to debut NewJeans. A usual K-pop debut consists of an announcement usually posted on the company’s official YouTube channel and other social media platforms that a new group is coming soon, continued with separate introductory videos for each member, followed with a few pre-debut performances and maybe even a few pre-debut songs, finally releasing their debut song. But the way NewJeans debuted was far from this. HYBE and ADOR didn’t do anything extra, they went and released NewJeans’ debut song’s music video on HYBE’s official YouTube channel, without giving a single sign of a new group coming up. Fans’ theory on doing such an abrupt debut is that HYBE’s official YouTube channel is the same channel that HYBE releases all its other groups’ music videos, the idea for doing this might be that the companies were heavily dependent on other groups’ fanbases, and that if a smaller and less popular company attempted this tactic, they would have most probably failed.
The members of NewJeans are Kim Minji, known as Minji, her nationality being Korean, was born on May 7, 2004, and debuted as the oldest member of NewJeans at the age of 18, Pham Hanni, known as Hanni, her nationality being Vitameese-Australian, was born on October 6, 2004, and debuted at the age of 17, Danielle Marsh, known as Danielle, her nationality being Korean-Australian, was born April 11, 2005, and debuted at the age of 17, Kang Haerin, known as Haerin, her nationality being Korean, was born on May 15, 2006, and debuted at the age of 16, and lastly, Lee Hyein, known as Hyein, her nationality being Korean, was born on April 21, 2008 and debuted as the groups youngest member at the age of 14.
After their outrageous success, fans and authorities were highly pleased until April 22, 2024. HYBE launched an audit on its sublabel ADOR regarding Min Hee Jin, the CEO of ADOR, wanting to take over ADOR completely, disregarding HYBE and ADOR’s shares, which were 80% to HYBE and 20% to ADOR. HYBE also sent documents to Min Hee Jin asking her to step down as ADOR’s CEO and leave HYBE completely. In response to the audit, ADOR released a detailed statement, in this statement ADOR mentioned that Illit, a girl group that debuted in March 2024 under HYBE’s sublabel Belift Lab, was copying NewJeans’ concept, marketing, and even the signature sounds used in NewJeans’ music. ADOR also highlighted in their statement that short-term profits blinded HYBE which led to them copying and pasting NewJeans’ popular concept to make Illit. It also mentioned that Bang Si-Hyuk was personally involved in Illit’s debuted and copying of NewJeans, so Belift Lab wasn’t solely the one to blame. HYBE kept ignoring these complaints and concerns coming from ADOR. ADOR claims that HYBE has been exploiting NewJeans and using their concepts and ideas just to create Illit and when Min Hee Jin raised her concerns regarding this issue, HYBE ignored it and used the audit as an excuse to fire Min Hee Jin and keep copying NewJeans without a problem.
Three days later, on April 25, HYBE released a statement saying that they would be reporting Min Hee Jin to the police for breach of trust and other related allegations. They also said that they have enough evidence to show that Min Hee Jin was trying to seize ADOR in attempting to take the full company independently into her own hands. They also included a text conversation between Min Hee Jin and the Vice CEO of ADOR, which was very cropped and vague and didn’t show any connection to the current situation.
Exactly seven hours later, Min Hee Jin held a press conference in southern Seoul, this is exactly the point in time where this matter blew up. In this press conference among the crowd of reporters, Min Hee Jin said that things have been hard for her, and she has been attacked by the company for the past few days. She completely denies HYBE’s claims about her trying to seize control over ADOR and claims she has no idea where this angle came from. She also said that HYBE has 80% of the company and it would be nearly impossible for her to take control of ADOR from HYBE. She mentioned that HYBE launched a smear campaign against her following the ADOR audit announcement. She claims the chat leaked between her and the Vice CEO was framed and taken out of context to make her look hostile towards HYBE. She revealed chats between her and Bang Si-Hyuk which showed Bang Si-Hyuk praising her and telling her that she will get more importance under the company. She name-dropped some other groups under HYBE such as BTS, Le Sserafim, and Aespa, but everything she said was very indistinct to the situation. She stated again that HYBE used NewJeans to make Illit. One important piece of information to note down from the name drops is regarding Le Sserafim, Min Hee Jin claims that HYBE promised her that NewJeans would be the first girl group in the company. Still, instead, HYBE debuted Le Sserafim as the first girl group in the company. This betrayal made Min Hee Jin establish ADOR and debut NewJeans under that sublabel. She also said that HYBE showed some favoritism towards Le Ssereafim and even during NewJeans’ debut HYBE was more focused on Le Ssereafim’s promotions.
After the press conference ended, HYBE responded through a statement that all Min Hee Jin’s claims were false. They also claimed she distorted the facts and the timeline and recited a false narrative to the public. They also said that they had all the right facts and evidence to back up their claims but they decided not to add that to the statement because it was not “worth their time”. They ended the statement by asking Min Hee Jin to just resign from her position as CEO and to stop mentioning other artist and their parents. On May 2, 2024, ADOR released a very long and in-depth statement using a lot of corporate terms. But basically what they tried to say with this statement is that HYBE is the one who’s lying and ADOR is telling the truth. At this point, this turned into a back-and-forth argument where HYBE says that ADOR is lying and trying to take full control of NewJeans, while ADOR is saying that HYBE is lying and sabotaging and plagiarizing NewJeans.
On May 13, 2024, the parents of the NewJeans girls sent a letter to HYBE regarding this situation. They mentioned how Illit has been copying NewJeans concepts and choreographies and asked HYBE and Belift Lab to clarify this. They also raised their concerns on similar things that Min Hee Jin claimed in her press conference regarding Le Sserafim while asking why would they sabotage their artist. The letter makes it very clear that in this conflict the parents of NewJeans are on the side of Min Hee Jin.
After these copying allegations against Illit were flying everywhere after the conference, it was expected that Illit would send out a response soon. On May 22, 2024, Belift Lab, another sublabel under HYBE and home of Illit, sued Min Hee Jin for defamation. They announced that they had filed a lawsuit against Min Hee Jin for obstruction of business and defamation. They also denied all accusations that Min Hee Jin made against Illit by saying that all accusations were baseless and were just made to harm Illit and distract everyone from the ongoing conflict. This case is still ongoing and the decision is still pending as defamation cases in Korea are not solved easily, especially when there is no solid evidence which is true for this case.
On May 30, 2024, there was an official hearing in the Seoul Central District Court regarding this issue between HYBE and Min Hee Jin. Both of them filed one request each in court. HYBE filed a demand that Min Hee Jin should be dismissed from her position as CEO of ADOR as soon as possible, while Min Hee Jin demanded an injustice to prevent HYBE from exercising their voting rights to dismiss at the next shareholder meeting. The court on the other hand ruled in favor of Min Hee Jin stating that the evidence provided by HYBE was not convincing enough to prove that Min Hee Jin had conspired against the company. For now, Min Hee Jin won, and although HYBE owned 80% of ADOR’s shares still couldn’t kick her out of the company because the court prevented them from doing so. HYBE accepted the legal ruling and Min Hee Jin would be allowed to serve as CEO of ADOR for now, but they also announced that they would be taking further actions regarding this situation at the proper time.
On May 31, 2024, on an episode of Music Bank, a K-pop award show, Minji and Danielle of NewJeans thanked Min Hee Jin during their group’s winning speech for their new single. This was the first time the group acknowledged the ongoing dispute, and if anyone was confused on which side they were in this conflict this made it very clear that they were on Min Hee Jin’s side, their CEO. So at this point, the fight was basically between HYBE, the large media company against ADOR, their sublabel, Min Hee Jin, the CEO of ADOR, and NewJeans, the group they were fighting over. It looked good for Min Hee Jin right now, the court ruled in her favor, the group supported her, and even the parents of the group members supported her, But unfortunately for Min Hee Jin things would go very wrong, very soon.
On July 15, 2024, Source Music, another sub-label under HYBE and home to the group Le Sserafim, filed a 500 billion Won ($348,157,896.50) lawsuit against Min Hee Jin following the footsteps of the Illit’s label. The subject of this lawsuit cited after defamation of Le Ssearafim after the infamous press conference. Of Min Hee Jin. Things were now starting to look bad for Min Hee Jin, with multiple lawsuits coming at her from Source Music and Belift Labs and even worse accusations coming to her.
On August 27, 2024, ADOR announced that Min Hee Jin is going to be stepping down as CEO and will be replaced by Kim Joo-young, a board member and HR specialist at HYBE. Initial reports said that Min Hee Jin would continue to be the producer for NewJeans, however, days after her resignation, the former CEO announced that she had rejected HYBE’s offer for the position stating thatthee companies terms were “unreasonable”. After this announcement, certain NewJeans members went out on digital fan platforms to voice out their frustration. Danielle posted that she’s been in a state of mental breakdown, while Minji posted that she was frustrated at herself for not being able to fix anything. Later on the day, Min Hee Jin gave out a statement to the media stating that she was pushed out of her position of CEO against her will. Now, things started looking good for HYBE, as they achieved what they wanted by getting rid of Min Hee Jin and replacing ADOR’s upper management members who supported Min Hee Jin with people who they trusted. ADOR was on their side now and the conflict somewhat came to an end as HYBE was the victor. However, weeks later NewJeans would do something that shocked the entire industry.
On September 11, 2024, the five members of NewJeans opened a YouTube account and did a live stream that was around 30 minutes long which was since deleted from the platform but fans were really quick to take recordings and post them everywhere. In the video, the members expressed how much love and respect they have for Min Hee Jin and claimed that she was the most sincere person they knew, not only as a music producer but someone who makes NewJeans what they are. They further stated that Min Hee Jin is an integral part of NewJeans and her identity is irreplaceable. They also voiced their concerns about Min Hee Jin saying that she has not been well ever since HYBE filed the audit. They added that all the harassment makes HYBE look like such an inhumane company. They said how shocking it was for them to learn about the dismissal of their CEO as they found that out through an article. They shared that it was all very sudden and unexpected by members and they had a very hard time processing. They expressed their disappointment on HYBE that they did not even think once of consulting them while dismissing their CEO whom they were so close with. They also opened up about their issues against HYBE saying that they fostered a toxic work environment for them. They claimed that they faced subtle bullying and mistreatment from the company’s employees and executives. Following all the statements, NewJeans put out an ultimate demand asking HYBE to reinstate Min Hee Jin as CEO of ADOR by September 25. Two days later the live stream HYBE responded by saying they will take care of NewJeans demands with calm measures and according to their rules.
On November 28, 2024, The five members of NewJeans held an emergency press conference. They started by saying that the YouTube Live that they held in September and the certification of contents we sent demands for rectification within a time of two weeks were both decided and prepared by the five of the members. They state that the reason they are holding this emergency press conference is because the period with demands of rectification from the certificate of contents ends at midnight tonight. They added that although today’s work hours are over HYBE and the current ADOR don’t seem to be showing any will to listen to their request. They said that tomorrow morning they had to leave for Japan for scheduled activities planned abroad and weren’t sure what kind of media manipulation HYBE and the current ADOR would do at that time, so they wanted to make their thoughts and opinions clear. They claimed that the reason they are leaving ADOR is that ADOR is obligated to protect NewJeans as their artist, as that is the most basic obligation the company has. They add that ADOR does not have the will or ability to protect them and if they decided to stay it would be a waste of their time and their mental distress would continue. They also included that there is nothing that they can gain in terms of work, so there is no reason for them to stay.
After this, they get into the termination of their exclusive contract, which is a basic seven-year contract that includes some terms and conditions the artist has to comply with and a statement that says they would have to stay an artist under this company for at least seven years. They said that as a result, the exclusive contract with NewJeans and ADOR will be terminated as of November 29 at 12 a.m. Korean Standard Time (KST). They added again that work hours have already passed and less than four hours remain until midnight, they said that they are tired of the company’s insincere attitude and felt that the company has no sincerity to them. So, they would terminate their contract immediately at midnight tonight.
Now, they talk about what their plans are after they leave ADOR. They mention that when they terminate their contract with ADOR the five of them will not be artists of the company anymore, breaking away from the company as a whole. They said that they plan on continuing their activities freely, however, they would carry out the promised and contracted activities as scheduled, and the advertisement deals as planned. They also thanked the brands that always supported them and told them to not worry as they would make sure that their termination does not harm them as they do not want that.
People have been discussing how much would it cost for NewJeans to terminate their contracts since the start of this conflict as they expected NewJeans to terminate their contract at one point in this situation, and they estimated some very high numbers. NewJeans mentioned this in the emergency press conference by saying that they have read several articles about the penalties for their breach of contract. They claim that they have not violated the contract and never did so in the past, they have always put their full effort into carrying out their activities so they think that there is no reason for them to pay any penalties. They say that HYBE and the current ADOR are the ones who violated the contract and are at fault leading to this current situation.
Following this they spoke out of concerns regarding their name “NewJeans”. They said that when midnight tonight hits there is a possibility that the five of them won’t be able to use their name “NewJeans” for the time being despite their will. They added that however the essence of them being NewJeans will not change and they have no thoughts on giving the name up. They also included that “NewJeans” might just mean a name and a trademark issue to some people but they don’t feel the same. They say that the name means everything they’ve been through and achieved from the first day that the five of them met till today, and they would continue to work and secure their rights to the name “NewJeans”.
Later on, they talked about mistreatment from the company. Hanni said that it’s not only them who the company is mistreating but also the staff who are facing similar problems. She adds that HYBE is no longer a company that cares about the art of music that is created, and is rather a company that focuses on appearing like a well-known company and only has its mind on making money, it also has no idea about the negative effects their non-authentic choices create. She includes that this is not the type of work ethic they respect or want to be part of, and if they continue to work under a company that has no intentions of protecting NewJeans would only cause them harm. So they decided to leave ADOR and to clearly express themselves before any misleading information is released, they decided to the emergency press conference on this day, November 28.
After Hanni, Danielle continues to summarize their decisions, thoughts, and opinions. She says that the five of them will terminate their contracts with ADOR at midnight tonight and leave the company and that afterward they will pursue the activities they desire freely. They will continue to carry out already scheduled activities without any complications. They wish to produce music for Bunnies (their fandom name) as soon as possible and would love to get an opportunity to meet their fans across the world. Lastly, she mentioned that they won’t be able to keep the name “NewJeans” but they would still fight for the name. A quote from Danielle that quickly spread on the internet was “NewJeans never dies”.
Minji concluded their conference by saying that they got the courage to do this emergency press conference from Min Hee Jin and that she will always be a role model for NewJeans no matter what. She also said that they deeply appreciate the support given to their fans, each other, and the staff that was always with them. She hoped that their doing this today would result in a better tomorrow for others in their footsteps and wished that no one anywhere should feel and should be treated the way they felt and got treated.
ADOR sent in an email an hour before NewJeans’ emergency press conference but it was considered late as NewJeans made the same demands back in September plus the 14 days they were given. The response from ADOR also didn’t give any straight decision and consisted of them saying how 14 days was not enough time for them to make a decision and that some of their demands were not in the hands of ADOR.
ADOR made an official announcement saying that they regret that a press conference was planned by NewJeans before getting any response from us and without sufficient review. They claim that the company has not violated the contract and that leaves them with no reason for termination of the contract. They add that the exclusive contract between NewJeans and ADOR is still valid and that they expect the artist to continue scheduled activities with ADOR as they have been doing until now. They state that they have requested several meetings with NewJeans but they never happened. They hope to have a popper sincere conversation with the group to sort matters out and they will continue to support and help the group to grow as global artists.
After this, we come down to recent days. On December 14, 2024, NewJeans created a new Instagram account with the name “jeanzforfree”. They were seen posting normal silly stuff and casual pictures without any reason for their new account. On December 15, 2024, NewJeans performed at the Music Bank Global Festival in Japan as one of the pre-scheduled activities. A few things that were noted were their greeting, which is usually “Hello, we are NewJeans”, they chose to introduce themselves individually by name. They also covered the name “NewJeans” that were on their clothing with stickers. This information made fans think that maybe NewJeans did terminate their contract with ADOR as they can’t seem to use the name “NewJeans” anymore. But this is just a guess and cannot be confirmed as there is no actual announcement that states so. Some people also speculate that the five members of NewJeans would be blacklisted from the K-pop industry, as no company would want a group that is willing to speak out against their own company so much. But again none of this is confirmed.
In the end, this situation seems to be ongoing somewhat as there have been no official statements made by either side of the conflict. Min Hee Jin is still facing multiple lawsuits with all of them ongoing. HYBE and the current ADOR seem to be on one side and NewJeans are against them. There isn’t any official decision made yet, as the situation is ongoing. This crisis turns out to be the K-pop industry’s largest argument.
