The Latest on ADOR’s Situation

A summary of updates on the dispute between ADOR and parent company HYBE.

On April 25, 2024, ADOR founder and CEO Min Hee-jin held an emergency press conference with her lawyers, during which they responded to HYBE’s latest claims about her management of the subsidiary. Here are the main takeaways from the conference:

HYBE’s Claims

HYBE claimed that the audit of ADOR turned up evidence of Min Hee-jin taking steps to sever ADOR from HYBE completely, so it plans to sue her for breach of trust.

• Min Hee-jin’s legal team argued that, first of all, if the audit did turn up the evidence HYBE claimed it did, that would be proof of taking steps to engage in a breach of trust, not the actual breaching of trust. In other words, they argued there is no legal standing for something that did not actually happen.

• She said the statements HYBE cited as evidence of trying to seize full control of ADOR were things said in moments of frustration, joking remarks, and other out-of-context comments.

• Min Hee-jin also argued that any attempt to take total ownership over ADOR would be justified, since doing so would be solely to protect and support the girl group she created, NewJeans.

She revealed some text exchanges with HYBE’s higher-ups while telling the story of how their relationship soured.

• She hoped to start from scratch but was encouraged to make a new girl group with rookies already affiliated with HYBE.

• She said she was encouraged to not promote NewJeans until after LE SSERAFIM’s first promotional push, causing NewJeans’s members’ parents to voice concerns that NewJeans’s debut would end up scrapped entirely.

• While material support was boosting up the subsidiary Source Music’s new group, LE SSERAFIM, she said the financial support for NewJeans was far below the value HYBE publicly claimed it was. In other words, she implied that NewJeans became an afterthought more than the public was led to believe.

Refuted Rumors

Min Hee-jin shot down a host of rumors, including that she:

• Sought outside investors. In reality, she said they contacted her. Relatedly, she said it is completely false that she sought money from Saudi Arabia.

• Abandoned HYBE. She recalled her exit from SM Entertainment and how she was portrayed as walking out on them, too, when she actually stayed in limbo with them for three months before leaving after inaction on SM’s part.

• Acted on advice from a shaman. While acknowledging that she knows a shaman, that is far from the “acting on the questionable advice of someone claiming spiritual powers” narrative.

The Emotional Toll

Min Hee-jin described this week as “hell” and cried while telling her version of events.

• Her lawyers compared this situation to a divorce, with her and HYBE reaching the point of irreconcilable differences.

• She characterized HYBE’s hostility as, at least in part, retaliation for an internal complaint she filed with HYBE years ago.

After the Press Conference

According to The Korea Herald, shortly after the press conference, HYBE filed a police report, still claiming breach of trust.

• The company released a statement saying the press conference was full of lies and misrepresentations, strengthening its stance that Min Hee-jin should resign.

• HYBE said it can prove that Min Hee-jin lied throughout the press conference but will not detail that proof because it is not worth its time.

Meanwhile, Min Hee-jin said she is determined for NewJeans’s schedule to be unchanged by this drama.

Hope’s Take

As I argued earlier this week, two things can be true at once. I do not think ILLIT copied NewJeans to the extent that some people do and think that more of the copying could have been unintentional than anyone realizes. However, that ought to remain its own conversation, separate from discussing if HYBE has neglected ADOR and its leader.

Continuing to debate whether or not ILLIT copied NewJeans and/or to what extent they did is unproductive. The focus now ought to be on Min Hee-jin’s arguments and what should happen when the promised creative and material support from a parent company does not materialize.

I have no reason to doubt the sincerity of Min Hee-jin’s pain over feeling like her dreams have been restricted, and I hope that coverage focuses less on trivial and headline-grabbing details (like the shaman rumors and her exhausted appearance) and more on the reasons behind her tears. 

Future updates will be covered in this newsletter and on the 17 Carat K-Pop podcast.

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