Photo: Korea Pool/AFP via Getty Images
Since grabbing the world’s “Attention” with their July 2022 debut, NewJeans — the K-pop group made up of members Hanni, Minji, Haerin, Danielle, and Hyein — has topped the Billboard 200, scored collabs with Apple and Coca-Cola, and inspired some truly … unforgettable covers. But since late April, they’ve been wrapped up in something of a family feud: Their parent company, HYBE, is fighting to get rid of their label ADOR’s then-CEO, Min Hee-jin. On September 11, NewJeans themselves livestreamed an ultimatum for HYBE to reinstate Min as CEO within two weeks. “She is integral to NewJeans’ identity, and we all feel that she is irreplaceable,” Danielle read. The September 25 deadline has come and gone without Min’s return to the position, but she hasn’t given up yet.
Depending on who you ask, this is either the story of an exec who got greedy and girlbossed too close to the sun, or of a brave creative who is being punished by a corporation for trying to protect her artistic vision. One thing’s for sure: K-pop stans are tuned in. Since this battle went public on April 22, ILLIT, BTS, Le Sserafim, and other HYBE groups have been name-dropped left and right. Meanwhile, artists from other companies, like SM Entertainment’s Aespa, were brought up in all this drama-ma-ma-ma. And what’s all this about a cult and the alleged reliance on a shaman? Even Jungkook’s dog is now part of the discourse.
In case you haven’t had time to watch a two-hour press conference or keep up with all the back-and-forth responses, here’s how this battle started, what Min’s current status is at ADOR, NewJeans’ response, and what this all might mean for the group’s future.
Has Min Hee-jin been kicked out of ADOR?
It’s complicated. She is no longer the CEO of the label, after months of efforts to remove her from that position. ADOR confirmed in a statement to Vulture that the label convened an August 27 board meeting where Min was replaced as the label head. The new CEO is Kim Ju-young, HYBE’s chief HR officer and an existing member of ADOR’s board of directors. “With these personnel and organizational changes, we aim to provide strong support for the continued growth and success of NewJeans,” ADOR said.
At the time, ADOR added that Min would still serve as NewJeans’s producer and remain on the board of directors. However, two hours after initial reports about her departure from the role, Min issued a statement to Korea JoongAng Daily claiming that ADOR had decided she would keep producing for NewJeans without discussing it with her. She also suggested that the board of directors dismissed her as CEO against her wishes, which she described as a “grave violation of the shareholders’ contract.” (ADOR countered to JoongAng Daily that Min virtually took part in the meeting held in accordance with the law, during which the board “made the optimal decision for the future of ADOR and NewJeans.”)
Min’s legal team stated on August 30 that she will not agree to a two-month contract to stay on as a producer, per Korea JoongAng Daily. She claimed that the contract contained “toxic clauses,” which the label denied. On September 13, Min filed an injunction to try to get herself reappointed as a board director before her term expires on November 2, 2024. In a statement translated by Soompi, her legal team said her plan is to first secure her spot as an internal director, and then take steps to become CEO again. Min’s injunction argues that HYBE has violated a shareholder agreement that she claims is still valid but that HYBE argues has already been terminated.
ADOR said that the request for Min to return as CEO “is currently not acceptable,” in a statement on September 25 (the ultimatum deadline set by NewJeans), according to a Soompi translation. However, the label said it would convene a shareholder meeting to reappoint her as an internal director. ADOR said it also offered her a five-year contract as NewJeans’ producer on September 11, and that discussions about specific terms would take place in the future. Representatives for Min responded by reaffirming her intention to become CEO in a September 25 statement that also alleged that the proposed five-year contract included “numerous toxic provisions,” per a Soompi translation.
Under a previous contract with HYBE, Min was set to be ADOR’s CEO until November 2026. According to SPOTV News, HYBE terminated the contract at some point in July. This isn’t necessarily surprising, given that July was another contentious month in this feud (Min underwent eight hours of police questioning on July 9 tied to a breach-of-trust complaint filed by HYBE; Yonhap News reported on July 24 that she had filed her own complaint with the police against five HYBE execs). Without the contract, Min reportedly lost a put option in the agreement that gave her the power to ask HYBE to purchase 75 percent of her ADOR stocks. SPOTV estimates that Min’s put-option rights were worth around $75 million.
Is NewJeans on Min Hee-jin’s side?
They’re definitely Team Min, yes. In a September 11 livestream on a since-deleted YouTube channel, all five members of NewJeans called for Min to be reinstated as CEO by September 25. “CEO Min Hee-jin is not only the person that produces our music, but someone who makes NewJeans who we are,” Danielle said. “She discusses even the smallest details with us and explains them in ways that we can understand clearly. NewJeans has a distinct color and tone, and this was created with CEO Min Hee-jin.”
During the half-hour broadcast, which has since been re-uploaded by fans,
the girls questioned how they can continue to work if Min is not running both the production and management sides at ADOR. They also suggested that while Min fought to protect them from alleged mistreatment at HYBE, the label’s current management isn’t bringing the same energy. For example, Hanni said she and another group recently greeted each other in the HYBE building, only for their manager to later instruct the idols — while in front of Hanni — to “ignore her.” She claimed that ADOR’s new CEO made her feel like a liar when she recounted what happened. The members additionally pointed to a recent dispute over NewJeans content and the reveal of their trainee videos as reasons to wonder who really has their best interests at heart. They further hinted that they have experienced other uncomfortable incidents that they can’t discuss owing to their contract. It’s not clear where the September 25 deadline came from or what the members plan to do now that the date has passed and Min still isn’t CEO, but Hanni said the members of NewJeans “are not going to follow HYBE’s every orders blindly.” She added, “We are more than well aware that this is getting in the way of our work and that we should be treated much, much better than how we are right now.”
While the livestream was NewJeans’s first official statement on the internal company battle, the group has expressed love and gratitude to Min in acceptance speeches at music shows and awards ceremonies. Per The Korea Times, all members of NewJeans submitted court petitions in May siding with Min’s injunction, meaning they don’t want her to leave. (That month, screenshots circulated that allegedly showed Min making disparaging comments about NewJeans’s work ethic and a member’s weight. In a May 19 statement, Min said the messages were edited and taken out of context, adding that the NewJeans members themselves sent her comforting texts right after the screenshots began circulating.) According to Min, the girls have been deeply affected by unfolding events. During her first press conference back in April, Min said NewJeans’s youngest member, Hyein, cried for 20 minutes about wanting to speak out on the group’s fan app, Phoning, and that other members called or asked to visit.
Meanwhile, even the girls’ families have gotten involved. Parents of NewJeans members publicly sided with Min in a Sports World interview in July, and Ilgan Sports also obtained a copy of a letter reportedly sent by the parents to Min in April that alleged that HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk had ignored their daughters in the company building multiple times, among other concerns. (HYBE denied the claims in a press release.)
Back up. Who is Min Hee-jin, and why is she fighting HYBE?
Before she was nicknamed the “mother” of NewJeans, Min Hee-jin was a creative director at SM, where she worked on visuals for groups including Girls’ Generation, EXO, f(x), and SHINee. Over the course of her career, some of her concepts have been criticized as age-inappropriate. In 2022, she denied allegations that her past Instagram posts had glamorized pedophilia.
In 2019, Min joined Big Hit Entertainment, BTS’s agency, as chief brand officer. She helped it reintroduce itself as today’s HYBE Corporation, which operates a multi-label system where HYBE artists work with different subsidiary labels. (The Big Hit label, for example, is home to BTS and TXT, while Le Sserafim is under Source Music.) In 2021, HYBE announced that Min was becoming the CEO of NewJeans’ eventual label, ADOR, short for All Doors One Room. HYBE owns an 80 percent stake in it.
This conflict first went public on April 22, when news broke that HYBE had begun an audit of ADOR over allegations that CEO Min Hee-jin was planning a hostile takeover for independent management rights of the label (and thus NewJeans). ADOR released a statement on the same day, denying that it was trying to seize control. From the label’s point of view, this mess actually started because Min had brought up concerns that ILLIT, a five-member girl group under fellow HYBE label Belift Lab, had copied NewJeans in styling, choreography, music videos, and more. ILLIT debuted in March with an EP produced by HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk, which sold 500,000 units in the first four weeks. So far, they’ve taken home 12 music-show wins for lead single “Magnetic.”
ADOR said it made an official internal complaint to HYBE to protect the “cultural achievements” of NewJeans, but alleged that the company chose to try to drive Min out instead of giving a solid response. (HYBE later denied this in a statement, claiming that it actually sent her a six-page answer.)
The next day, HYBE confirmed to Billboard that it was investigating top execs at ADOR and had sent an “official letter” asking Min to step down. Per multiple local reports, HYBE’s audit involved questionnaires and requests for assets such as company files and laptops. The company said in an April 25 press release that the investigation found evidence that Min was conspiring about how to break away from HYBE and getting staff involved According to HYBE, there were plans to pressure HYBE to sell its shares of ADOR, with one auditee allegedly admitting to creating documents to attack HYBE. The audit reportedly also revealed that Min had given instructions to prepare for a war of public opinion starting in May. HYBE declared in its press release that it was going to report Min to the police for breach of trust, which prompted her to call a press conference to personally deny wrongdoing.
What happened at Min Hee-jin’s press conference?
During the emotional two-hour event on April 25, Min Hee-jin cried, cursed, suggested that people in her life have worried that she would try to kill herself because of this situation, and made a weird comment about NewJeans’s Minji being way prettier when she was younger. If you want a play-by-play, Korea JoongAng Daily has a lengthy summary, but Min’s main message was that she cares about protecting NewJeans and is not planning to take them away or break her contract with HYBE. Regarding HYBE’s alleged evidence, she argued that private conversations are being presented out of context. For example, HYBE claimed Min had considered involving foreign investors to facilitate a takeover plan. “We were just messing about when we mentioned the Saudi Arabia fund,” Min said, per Korea JoongAng Daily’s translation. “Would that even be possible?” In another case, she said she asked a venture-capitalist friend about contract terms, which HYBE portrayed as her reaching out to an external consultant. Basically, she’s arguing that no plans were ever put into action and that certain scenarios just reflect the way an employee complains about their job and boss.
Min name-dropped several other K-pop groups in her claims that HYBE also slighted NewJeans and ADOR prior to ILLIT’s debut. Notably, she feels NewJeans was initially shunted aside to promote Le Sserafim (which Source Music has denied). At one point, Min pulled up screenshots of texts allegedly showing Bang Si-hyuk responding sarcastically to NewJeans’ global success. She also implied that she is under an unfair contract (which HYBE has, of course, denied). Her attorney, Timothy SK Lee, stepped in to note that the terms of Min’s contract were being renegotiated before this situation unfolded. “We asked [Min] not to make the internal report because it would worsen their relationships,” he said. “She went forward because she said that she wanted to make things right.”
In the wake of the press conference, articles and press releases were pumped out on a daily basis. On May 2, several outlets reported that, per an industry source, Min had previously asked HYBE for the right to terminate ADOR’s contract with NewJeans without board approval. (HYBE reportedly suspects this was a shady step to ultimately make ADOR an “empty shell” that she could buy back later when its value dropped.) According to a same-day statement from Min’s lawyer, Min asked in a January 25 meeting for the right to “make important decisions” regarding contracts with NewJeans as a way to protect the label’s independent management rights and “resolve the unfair interference” from HYBE during the group’s debut process. Since then, there’s been plenty of other back-and-forth allegations about salaries, stocks, shamanism, financial negotiations, and the way the audit went down, but the gist is all the same: HYBE claims it has proof Min engaged in illegal or unsavory business behavior in a way that can’t be written off as a joke or casual conversation, while she alleges that the company is lying, taking things out of context, and coercing staff to try to dig up dirt. In August, Min’s attorneys denied a former employee’s allegations that Min had berated her for filing a sexual-harassment complaint at the company and tried to cover up the case.
So how did Min Hee-jin lose her CEO status?
It definitely didn’t happen A-S-A-P, baby. HYBE tried for months to reduce Min’s role, but she wasn’t going without a fight. After initiating the April 22 audit, HYBE asked ADOR to convene its board of directors, who have the power to call a shareholders’ meeting that could approve Min Hee-jin’s dismissal. But guess who was still on the board? Per the Chosun Ilbo, Min sent HYBE an email on April 29 refusing to call a board meeting, arguing in part that the request was outside the authority of an audit. Naturally, HYBE disagreed — but it also had a backup plan. The company had already filed an April 25 court request for permission to call an emergency shareholders’ meeting to replace board members and get Min removed that way.
Ultimately, ADOR’s board met on May 10 and agreed to convene a shareholders’ meeting on May 31. Since HYBE owns 80% of ADOR, Min’s prospects of staying suddenly seemed slim. But per The Korea Herald, Min filed an injunction with the Seoul Central District Court in hopes of nullifying HYBE’s ability to vote in the meeting before it happened. Before the first hearing on May 17, The Korea Times reported that all five members of NewJeans submitted court petitions siding with Min. According to News 1, BTS producer Pdogg, Pledis CEO Han Sung-soo, Source Music CEO So Sung-jin, HYBE executive creator Son Sung-deuk, BTS and Le Sserafim creative director Kim Sung-hyun (a.k.a. Nu Kim), and TXT producer Slow Rabbit submitted petitions in support of HYBE.
On May 30, local outlets reported that Min had won the injunction, with the court ruling that it did not have enough evidence to justify her dismissal. The court concluded that Min was finding ways to lessen HYBE’s control over ADOR, but that it’s difficult to say she followed through on any plans and actually committed a breach of trust. This meant that HYBE couldn’t kick her out at the May 31 meeting (or at least not without the court ordering it to pay $14.5 million). HYBE said it would comply with the ruling, but would take follow-up legal action. Still, the company reportedly did use the shareholder meeting to remove some of Min’s allies. According to The Korea Herald, HYBE voted to dismiss two ADOR board members who were close with Min and appointed three HYBE execs. Looks like those new members may have helped finally sway the balance against Min.
Will this affect NewJeans?
Fans have been anxious for months that NewJeans will be the collateral damage of this internal company battle, which went public during a NewJeans comeback season — and still seems to be affecting their potential upcoming activities. Both Min Hee-jin and HYBE have acknowledged that plans for a surprise NewJeans fan meeting in Korea were canceled and album production for the group is on hold. Naturally, they have blamed each other: Min suggested in a September 25 JoongAng Ilbo interview that this is part of HYBE’s “obstruction” of business against NewJeans, while a September 26 statement from HYBE to ChosunBiz blamed Min’s alleged negligence and delayed decision-making.
When ADOR confirmed to Vulture on August 27 that Min had been replaced as CEO, the label noted that it aims “to provide strong support for the continued growth and success of NewJeans.” The girls don’t seem too sure about that, though. “It was our dream to perform the music we wanted to make together with Min Hee-jin, and we were working hard for that dream,” Danielle said in NewJeans’s September 11 livestream in support of Min, per a Soompi translation. “But now we can no longer achieve those dreams, and we may not even get to carry out all the plans we’ve made.”
Min previously confirmed in a May 31 press conference that NewJeans had been preparing to go on a world tour in 2025, which she said would require the group to release a new album by the end of this year. Yet she suggested that it’s been difficult to focus on these plans amid her dispute with HYBE. During the livestream, NewJeans empathized with that sentiment. “Despite her being in the midst of all this current legal conflict, she’s expected to plan and creatively produce our future endeavors in just only two months, which I personally think makes no sense at all,” Hanni said in English, an apparent reference to reports that ADOR asked Min to sign a two-month contract to continue producing for the group after her removal as CEO.
Music-video director Shin Woo-seok alleged in early September that ADOR’s new management had told him to remove already released NewJeans footage and not upload planned content. According to the Korea JoongAng Daily, ADOR claimed that it only asked him to take down one video for copyright reasons. Shin has since restored affected content and announced plans to take legal action against the label. “What scares us the most is that it’s not just our future that’s being threatened, but also the work that we’ve made so far,” Minji said in the NewJeans livestream, per a JoongAng Daily translation.
What’s happened to ILLIT?
Min Hee-jin has made it clear that her beef is with the adults at HYBE and Belift, not the 16- to 20-year-old members of ILLIT who were selected to debut after competing on the survival show R U Next?. But when the quintet returns on October 21 with their second mini-album, I’ll Like You, it seems inevitable that they will face additional scrutiny over how the choreography, visuals, and sound compare to NewJeans. They previously wrapped their music-show stage promotions for “Magnetic” and “Lucky Girl Syndrome” in late April, meaning they were due for a break shortly after the drama began. Still, fans remained worried about the emotional toll of this situation, especially after a member appeared to be reading and deleting negative comments during a livestream.
On May 22, Belift announced that it had filed a criminal complaint over the plagiarism allegations, accusing Min of interference with business and defamation. According to a Soompi translation, Belift later said in a June 10 statement that it was also filing a civil lawsuit to hold Min “accountable” for damages to Belift artists and members, “as well as participating creators who have been burdened and silenced by the stigma of plagiarism.” ILLIT’s next release has not been announced, but the group members have remained active on social media.
Okay, now how did BTS get involved?
Now even a pet is in it. An Instagram account for Jungkook’s dog, Jeon Bam, used colors associated with each of the NewJeans members in a September 13 post captioned, “💙🩷💛💚💜💪🏻 Artists are not guilty.” A follow-up post the next day added, “Don’t use them.” Big Hit Music said in a statement that it had checked with the BTS member himself and confirmed he made the posts because he believed “under no circumstances should a young artist be dragged into a dispute and used as a shield.”
Previously, Yonhap News reported that HYBE’s April audit found that Min Hee-jin privately told other people Bang Si-hyuk had copied her to make BTS. Naturally, this vague allegation did not sit well with the BTS Army. In her press conference, Min denied ever saying this. Minutes before the conference, HYBE also claimed it had obtained transcripts of Min consulting a shaman she believed was possessed by her dead sister about company business decisions, including who to hire and which trainees to accept. But the part that went viral was a conversation allegedly about BTS’s military service. “I think it would be better for me if BTS went, what do you think?” Min said, per a Korea JoongAng Daily translation, to which the shaman responded, “I’m trying to send them.” Min claimed that the shaman is simply a friend of hers. Regarding the chat about BTS, she said she was curious about how to plan if the company’s “ace team” would be gone.
And what’s all this about a cult?
In late April, a conspiracy theory began circulating online that Min Hee-jin wanted to leave HYBE because it has ties to Dahn World, which has also been associated with the names Brain & Body, Dahn Hak, and Dahn Yoga. Reports from Rolling Stone and Forbes include allegations that the group is a pseudo-religious cult. Much of the speculation about HYBE’s ties is based on “clues” perceived to be planted in song lyrics and music videos. Special attention has been paid to NewJeans’ “OMG” video, because Min showed a screenshot during her press conference claiming that she was threatened by HYBE execs over it. Multiple viral posts pointed out that six of the seven BTS members graduated from Global Cyber University, which was established by Dahn World founder Ilchi Lee (real name Lee Seung-heon). But it’s worth noting that many K-pop idols, including those who aren’t under HYBE, have degrees from that same school. Perhaps a virtual education simply offers a more flexible schedule?
On May 2, Dahn World issued a statement denying that it is a cult or has ties to BTS and HYBE. That same day, HYBE’s Big Hit label announced that it has taken legal action over posts spreading the “completely false” allegation that BTS is affiliated with Dahn World “or any religious cults.” The company said it had filed a criminal complaint over the cult claims, as well as resurfaced allegations of chart manipulation (which Big Hit also denied).
What’s up with Source Music and that Dispatch exposé?
Source Music has consistently denied Min Hee-jin’s claim that NewJeans was pushed aside to let Le Sserafim be HYBE’s first girl group. On July 15, Korea JoongAng Daily reported that Source Music had recently sued Min for defamation and disruption of business over alleged damages to Le Sserafim. Per Soompi, ADOR responded by not only denying that Min had stolen the NewJeans members, but also further accusing Source Music of copying a launch strategy Min had presented to HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk. Source Music firmly denied this and said it would pursue further legal action against Min on top of its existing lawsuit. Parents of NewJeans members then responded via a Sports World interview in which they maintained their loyalty to Min and ADOR, while also leveling allegations of mistreatment and misinformation against Source Music and HYBE.
On July 23, Dispatch published a lengthy report alleging that Min Hee-jin had consulted with a shaman and decided to delay NewJeans’ debut at Source Music so that she could take the trainees to her own label. Alleged screenshots of Min’s texts appear to show her deciding to eliminate trainees from the lineup based on the shaman’s advice, with one girl seemingly removed because the shaman thought she looked possessed by a ghost. The report includes a video of a seven-person “Attention” dance practice with two faces blurred out. In NewJeans’ September 11 livestream, Haerin expressed discomfort with the release of predebut content and HYBE’s inaction.
What other K-pop groups have been mentioned?
In addition to the claims about BTS, Yonhap News reported that HYBE’s audit allegedly found that Min had also accused boy groups TWS and RIIZE of copying NewJeans. Min denied this in her press conference and went on to name-drop a lot of other groups while explaining the ways she felt ADOR and NewJeans have been wronged. She denied speculation that she had to do with the disbandment of Lil Uzi Vert’s ult K-pop group, GFRIEND, which was under the HYBE-acquired Source Music. She claimed that HYBE promised that the members of NewJeans would be HYBE’s first girl group, but that Source Music debuted Le Sserafim first in May 2022 instead. Min and HYBE have offered very different explanations for this decision. Min alleged that HYBE wanted to confuse the public into believing that Le Sserafim was her group, while HYBE has attributed the delay to corporate restructuring needed to fulfill her request to create the ADOR label.
Min suggested that Bang Si-hyuk was insecure about Le Sserafim’s competitive prospects, given the success of IVE (which, like Le Sserafim, includes two former IZ*ONE members). She also shared screenshots that allegedly show him asking if she thought she could “crush” the SM girl group Aespa. Finally, she distanced herself from comparisons to another messy industry situation: “I saw what happened to Fifty Fifty, I’m not dumb.”
For its part, HYBE brought up a few groups while hitting back against claims that it did not promote NewJeans enough. According to HYBE, its comms team distributed 273 press releases for NewJeans last year. In comparison, 365 were released for Pledis, which has four teams including boy band Seventeen. While fromis_9 stans might not agree, HYBE maintained that it does its best to promote all of its artists.
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