Audits, allegations of copying, an emotional press conference, confused fans – the latest controversy shaking the K-pop world has it all.
At the centre of it all – popular group NewJeans, the woman who is their creative director, and one of South Korea’s biggest, most influential record labels.
The infighting between Hybe, the entertainment giant behind the success of BTS, and the head of its subsidiary label Ador has gripped the country for days now.
The tension peaked when Min Hee-jin, CEO of Ador, gave a two-hour press conference where she sobbed several times and used expletive language.
“It’s not me who betrayed Hybe, it’s Hybe that betrayed me,” the K-pop veteran said in the live-streamed event. I don’t know what you think, but I wanted to focus on NewJeans.”
It all started when Hybe announced that it was launching an audit on its subsidiary label Ador and its executives including Ms Min. Hybe also called on her to step down.
Hybe, which represents massive K-pop groups such as BTS and Seventeen, is South Korea’s largest music firm. Ador was founded in 2021 as an independent label under the company and NewJeans is the only group it manages.
According to local media, Hybe accused Ms Min and others of plotting to go independent and take over control of the label, as well as leaking confidential information to attract investors.
Ms Min owns an 18% stake in Ador and Hybe owns an 80% stake. The other 2% is owned by other top executives in Ador. Ms Min denied the allegations and had accused Hybe of launching another girl group Illit that was copying NewJeans’ music and appearance.
Ahead of Ms Min’s highly-anticipated press conference, Hybe told the media that it would report Ms Min to police for “a breach of trust and other related allegations”. The company said on Friday that the complaint had been filed.
The company also said it would continue to provide attentive mental and emotional support to NewJeans.
At the press conference, Ms Min again disputed Hybe’s side of the story and repeated her previous accusations. She also talked about creative differences with Hybe, and denied allegations that she had said BTS had copied NewJeans.
Min Hee Jin’s Allegataions
The ADOR‘s CEO Min Hee Jin has made a few shocking allegations against Hybe Corporation’s chairperson, Bang Si-Hyuk, better known as Bang PD. She held a press conference in South Korea after Hybe organised an audit of her company, ADOR (home to the girl group NewJeans). HYBE has an 80% stake in the company while Min Hee Jin and her allies have the remaining 20%. At the press conference, she denied the various allegations made by Hybe and share her chats with Bang PD.
Min Hee Jin claimed that Bang PD wanted to make a new girl group label and decided that buying Source Music would be a good plan. Min Hee Jin said she was not on board at first but decided to be cooperative since she was new to the system.
Min Hee Jin said, “I thought that he was a really generous person, but I found that he was different on the outside from how he was on the inside.”
Mixed reaction from K-pop fans
Seemingly every twist and turn has made headlines on South Korean news papers and K-pop fans’ social media feeds.
While both Hybe and Min Hee-jin have stressed their priority is to protect NewJeans, fans are understandably concerned about their idols, who have remained silent on the dispute.
Fans also appear to be divided.
Some fans are cheering for NewJeans and BTS members so that they can make their comeback smoothly ignoring all the drama. On the other side, there are some who are bashing both Bang PD and Min Hee-jin.
Korea’s general public has also been watching the situation closely. The press conference was broadcast on all three major broadcasters and YouTube. The shirt and cap she wore to address the media sold out on the same day.
Many are relating to the situation as they see it as an example of workplace conflict, and one with an angle of gender dynamics.
