Min Hee-jin denies involvement in NewJeans’ contract termination
Former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin has denied that she’s involved in NewJeans‘ contract termination plans, filing new lawsuits against two HYBE executives and two Dispatch reporters for defamation.
Yesterday (December 2), Min Hee-jin’s legal counsel issued a new statement announcing that the music executive has filed new defamation cases against two Dispatch reporters, along with HYBE’s ex-CEO Park Ji-won and PR chief Park Tae-hee.
In the complaints made to police, Min accused Park Ji-won and Park Tae-hee of violating South Korean communications laws. She alleged both HYBE executives “actively utilised illegally obtained private conversations, adding false claims to create public negative opinion” of Min, per The Korea Times.
Meanwhile, the two Dispatch reporters, identified as Kim Ji-ho and Park Hye-jin, were accused of defamation. She alleged that the reporters “published false articles with the intent to defame”, while being “fully aware of the malicious intentions behind HYBE’s actions”.
Min’s newly filed complaints come shortly after Dispatch published an article on December 2 accusing Min of being a “hidden hand” in NewJeans’ public pushback against HYBE in recent months.
According to Korea JoongAng Daily, these include their unsanctioned livestream in September calling for Min’s return to ADOR as CEO, member Hanni’s appearance at the National Assembly in October and their press conference last week announcing plans to terminate their contracts with ADOR and HYBE.
In the December 2 article, Dispatch also claimed that Min had been manipulating NewJeans to leave HYBE, claiming she previously “tried to seduce” HYBE executives to achieve her goals. Per Korea JoongAng Daily, it also notably featured Min’s private text conversations in the article, one of which reportedly involving a NewJeans’ member’s parent.
“Kim and Park, even today, wrote an article that is far from the truth. They wrote the article based on a one-sided story without verifying the facts,” Min’s lawyers wrote in the press statement. “We hope the police report will uncover their serious lies and that they are held liable.”
NewJeans held an emergency press conference on November 28 announcing that they were terminating their exclustive contracts with ADOR. It came two weeks after the band issued the agency a legal notice, stating that they would terminate their contracts if ADOR did not resolve alleged contract breaches.
ADOR since refuted NewJeans’ claims, saying their contracts are still in effect. “We regret that the press conference regarding the termination of the exclusive contract was planned and conducted without sufficient review, prior to receiving a response to the legal notice,” it said in a press release.
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Carmen Chin
NME
