The claim by former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin and the girl group NewJeans (NJZ: Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein) that HYBE intended to abandon NewJeans and start fresh with another girl group has lost credibility. This is due to the court disclosure of the full content of the HYBE report that contained the controversial line.
On March 21, the Seoul Central District Court’s Civil Agreement Division 50 (Chief Judge Kim Sang-hoon) ruled in favor of ADOR’s injunction request to preserve its status as the agency and to ban the members from signing independent ad contracts or conducting entertainment activities without prior approval.
The court stated, “Until the ruling on the validity of the exclusive contract is made in the first trial, the creditor (ADOR, a HYBE label) shall temporarily retain its status as the management agency over the debtors (Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein). The debtors must not engage in entertainment activities through themselves or third parties without the creditor’s prior approval. Legal costs are to be borne by the debtors.”
The court did not accept the arguments made by NewJeans members that ADOR had violated their exclusive contract, nor did it recognize the evidence they submitted as factual.
What shocked K-pop fans was the mention of the term “New-I-LE” — a term used to group NewJeans, IVE, and LE SSERAFIM. The ruling revealed that Min Hee-jin and the members had distorted the context of a HYBE report, falsely portraying it as an attack on NewJeans.
According to the judgment, the court acknowledged the existence of the phrase “ditch NewJeans and start fresh” in the report. However, it explained that this phrase was written in the section about another HYBE-affiliated group, LE SSERAFIM. The report analyzed how LE SSERAFIM was falling behind other groups on music charts and album sales and suggested that it would be strategically better to position LE SSERAFIM in a different category than “New-I-LE.”
The report included general comments about NewJeans such as “It would be good to create some minor buzz before NewJeans’ comeback,” and even advised preparation to counter potential negative attention due to heightened competition among girl groups. Furthermore, it emphasized NewJeans’ popularity, stating: “In the artist preference survey, NewJeans still ranks No.1 at 35%. The group maintains high public favorability, and it’s crucial to leverage this to continue their winning streak.”
Importantly, Min Hee-jin, who was ADOR’s CEO at the time, received this report but did not raise any objections. Therefore, the court concluded that ADOR did not violate any critical contractual obligations, even if they did not protest the report.
Previously, on November 13 last year, NewJeans sent a certified letter to ADOR claiming a breach of their exclusive contract. They demanded that ADOR rectify the violations within 14 days or they would terminate the contract, citing Clause 15, Section 1 of the agreement.
In the letter, they pointed to the line “ditching NewJeans and starting fresh,” which had surfaced during a parliamentary audit, as evidence of HYBE’s discriminatory treatment and loss of trust. They warned that if no corrective action was taken, they would consider the contract terminated.
The HYBE music industry report that sparked the controversy was periodically sent by a former editor of Weverse Magazine to HYBE executives, including Chairman Bang Si-hyuk and then-ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin. It contained candid assessments not only of their own artists but also of competitors, leading to industry-wide shock when it was disclosed.
NewJeans demanded a thorough investigation to identify who ordered and carried out the alleged instructions to abandon them and called for civil and criminal accountability for any wrongdoing discovered. They also requested the findings be compiled into a report and shared with the group.
Additionally, NewJeans raised eight more issues, including an official apology from a manager who allegedly said “ignore Hanni,” deletion of unauthorized photos and videos, compensation for damages from forced album pushing (“sajaegi”), and resolution of disputes with music video director Shin Woo-seok from Dolphin Kidnapper, whose departure allegedly led to lost production materials.
These allegations gained massive support from K-pop fans. However, the court revealed that the basis of their claims was misinterpreted, meaning the support was founded on distorted or incomplete information.
Before the court hearing, ADOR had already released an official response on November 29 last year, addressing the misunderstanding over the controversial phrase. They explained that NewJeans had interpreted the “ditch NewJeans” remark as HYBE planning to abandon them in favor of newly debuting groups like ILLIT and LE SSERAFIM.
ADOR clarified that the phrase appeared in the LE SSERAFIM section of the report and was written even before ILLIT’s debut program aired. Therefore, the “New” in “New-I-LE” could not refer to ILLIT. Instead, the report’s author was simply suggesting that LE SSERAFIM be repositioned outside of the “New-I-LE” category to better differentiate their strategy, as comparisons with NewJeans and IVE were resulting in negative feedback.
ADOR added, “Following the report, NewJeans continued to receive full support from both ADOR and HYBE. After May 2023, they released albums with strong success and even held a fan meeting at Tokyo Dome following changes to ADOR’s board of directors.”
They concluded, “The phrase ‘ditch New’ referred to categorization strategy, not artist abandonment. HYBE confirmed this, and as the majority stakeholder in ADOR, it is unreasonable to assume they would order the dismissal of the label’s only artist.”
Despite the court’s acceptance of ADOR’s injunction, NewJeans members still insist they cannot remain with the label. In their emergency press conference on November 27, they declared they would no longer continue under ADOR if the issues were not resolved within 14 days of the notice. They further announced that their exclusive contract would be considered terminated as of November 29.
The first hearing for the main lawsuit to determine the validity of their exclusive contract is scheduled for April 3.