NewJeans member Hanni testified before the Environment and Labor Committee of South Korea’s National Assembly during an audit on workplace harassment in the entertainment industry, which ADOR’s new CEO, Kim Juyoung, also attended.
Hanni’s testimony on October 15 arrives just over a month after the members of NewJeans hosted a since-deleted live YouTube broadcast, where they asked for their former CEO, Min Heejin, to be reinstated and where 20-year-old Hanni also alleged that a manager for another group at HYBE, ADOR’s parent company, had instructed its members to “ignore” her after she greeted them while crossing paths at HYBE’s headquarters.
According to Korea JoongAng Daily, which shared translated quotes from Hanni’s testimony, the singer described a sense of animosity in the workplace. “There’s this air in the company, which is really hard to describe, and so we couldn’t really tell anyone,” she reportedly said. “I thought it was all in my head, but everything that has been happening makes us realize that the company just dislikes us.”
According to BBC, Hanni shared more details about the incident with the manager during the hearing. She reportedly shared that she was waiting in the hallway on the HYBE HQ floor where artists get their hair and makeup done. After completing her glam, she saw three artists from another group pass her by with their manager. Hanni claims she said hello to them, and then, on their way back, the manager told the other artists to ignore her as they passed her by again.
“I don’t understand why I had to endure this or why such words were spoken in [the work] environment,” Hanni reportedly stated, claiming the situation was not a one-time situation, according to a translation from the Korea Times. “This has happened more than once,” Hanni said, the news outlet reported. “I know that if I don’t speak up, the issue will quietly fade away. I came forward because I don’t want anyone else in the industry — whether they are seniors, juniors, peers, or trainees — to go through the same thing.”
Kim Juyoung challenged Hanni’s arguments, saying HYBE “took necessary measures such as consulting the staff at the label regarding the manager in question” and “received the answer that no such thing took place,” per Korea JoongAng Daily.
Kim said she took “the best possible measures, such as asking whether we could restore the surveillance footage,” but concluded that “the situation is regretfully seeing two conflicting claims from the two parties,” according to the news outlet.
The CEO added that she “believe[d]” Hanni and has been “trying to find a way to prove her claims” but said that “we have unfortunately failed to do so,” Korea JoongAng Daily reported. Per the Korea Times, Kim also expressed some regret about the situation. “Hearing Hanni’s concerns, I wonder if I could have done more,” she reportedly said.
Kim also vowed to “listen more closely” to the record label’s artists in the future, per a translation from BBC. She promised that the company would “cooperate fully with the ongoing labor ministry investigation to uncover the truth,” the Korea Times reported. (As noted by the Korea Times, ADOR and HYBE are currently under investigation by South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor for allegations of workplace bullying, which were “prompted by a complaint filed by a NewJeans fan following the group’s unexpected livestream in September.”)