NEWJEANS Members’ Parents Expose HYBE For 'Ignoring And Mistreating' K-Pop Girl Group

The long-running dispute between the entertainment businesses ADOR and HYBE has taken a new turn. The label that holds an 80% share in ADOR, HYBE, has been accused of mistreating and exploiting the members of the K-pop girl group NewJeans, which is under the management of ADOR. The accusations were made by members’ parents in an email addressed to ADOR's current CEO, Min Hee-jin, and then shared to BE:LIFT LAB, a joint venture between JCM and Big Hit Entertainment.

What did NEWJEANS members’ parents say?

The parents of NewJeans members shared their thoughts and concerns about ILLIT's (another girl group) launch. The parents also criticized HYBE's marketing approach and enquired as to whether Min Hee-jin had given ILLIT permission to use NewJeans dance. 

The members' parents and legal guardians claim in the lengthy letter that HYBE and BELIFT LAB purposefully made ILLIT look like Newjeans in order to undermine the former. There are far too many similarities between the groups—from concept images to fashion, choreography, and music video direction—for it to be just a coincidence.

They have also directly accused Bang Si Hyuk, who managed ILLIT's production, of being complicit in NewJeans' plagiarism. Min Hee Jin was previously assured by the chairman that NewJeans would be the first group to make their HYBE debut. However, he renounced his original intentions, signed with Source Music, and debuted LE SSERAFIM first instead.

HYBE-ADOR conflict

When word leaked out that ADOR was trying to divide managerial rights, HYBE performed an audit, including that of CEO Min Hee Jin, which sparked the dispute between the two organizations. Min Hee Jin was asked to resign from the role in a letter from HYBE. Min Hee Jin, however, refuted the accusations and stated that the primary concern is that BELIFT LAB stole ideas from NewJeans for their recently created girl group, ILLIT.