"I knew that HYBE hated us" — Hanni raises concerns over HYBE’s alleged mistreatment towards NewJeans at the National Assembly audit

On Tuesday, October 15, 2024, NewJeans' Hanni attended the National Assembly audit along with ADOR's new CEO, Kim Joo-young, to discuss workplace bullying. The hearing was supposed to be held on October 25 but was moved up by ten days. During the audit hearing, Hanni shared new information alleging that she saw HYBE employees badmouthing NewJeans on the Blind app.

For the unversed, the Blind app is an anonymous app where all HYBE employees, including the employees from all subsidiary labels, can discuss any matter. The user identities remain anonymous for privacy and safety. Hanni stated that after reading the alleged comments, she was certain that "HYBE hated" them.

"Recently I saw on Blind, the [HYBE] employees cursing at NewJeans, and I heard the recording of the HYBE PR downplaying our Japan debut success. Seeing this, it confirmed that what I was feeling wasn’t just a feeling I knew that [HYBE] hated us."

The National Assembly audit had previously summoned NewJeans' Hanni as a witness to discuss workplace bullying after the group members shared being allegedly mistreated by HYBE employees in a livestream. The livestream was held via YouTube on September 11, 2024, and was unauthorized, and the group members voiced their displeasure at the firing of Min Hee-jin as ADOR's CEO.

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Hanni testifies at the National Assembly audit stating the need to shed light on workplace bullying

During Hanni's voluntary testimony at an Assembly audit on workplace harassment in the entertainment business, the 20-year-old singer described how a manager from another HYBE subsidiary allegedly disregarded her.

During the YouTube livestream on September 11, Hanni claimed that she greeted another HYBE group as they came out of the hair and makeup room. She allegedly heard the group's manager instruct them to "ignore her." The Vietnamese K-pop idol from NewJeans, under ADOR—a HYBE subsidiary label—further claimed that the new CEO, Kim Joo-young, dismissed her concerns earlier.

The Korea Times reported that the manager belonged to BELIFT LAB and the idol group was ILLIT from the same label. Meanwhile, the NewJeans member continued that she demanded Kim Joo-young check the CCTV footage from the particular day, however, the CEO stated that the CCTV clip was auto-deleted.

"I checked the footage and it only included an eight-second clip. The rest—about 50 minutes—was missing. When I asked why, (Kim's) explanations kept changing throughout the meeting. At one point, she even said the video had been deleted."

During the audit, ADOR's CEO, Kim Joo-young, claimed that the manager belonged to a different HYBE subsidiary label. She had requested CCTV footage and verification from the other label, however, retrieving the CCTV footage was unsuccessful as the stored data was past its expiration date.

For the unversed, CCTV footage gets auto-deleted after a 30 to 90-day period and cannot be retrieved further.

"The manager involved is from another HYBE subsidiary, not Ador. We have requested confirmation from that label's artists and staff. Afterward, we took every possible step, including attempting to retrieve the CCTV footage, though it had expired. Hearing Hanni's concerns, I wonder if I could have done more," Kim Joo-young said.

On October 7, BELIFT LAB issued a statement highlighting that they and ADOR investigated Hanni's incident in June 2024. However, the CCTV footage retention expired and could not be retrieved. BELIFT LAB stated that the incident occurred on May 27, 2024, and they tried to retrieve the CCTV data on August 14, 2024, again in front of ADOR representatives and NewJeans members.

However, they failed to retrieve the data after checking a month-long footage due to the CCTV footage exceeding the 30-day retention period.

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In other news, Min Hee-jin was dismissed as ADOR's CEO by the label's board of directors on August 27, 2024. Kim Joo-young was appointed as ADOR's new CEO.