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Min Hee-jin, the former CEO of ADOR, was notably absent from the first court hearing concerning the compensation lawsuit filed against her by Source Music and Belift Lab, both subsidiaries of HYBE Corporation.
On January 10, 2025, News 1 reported that the 10th and the 12th Civil Affairs Department of the Seoul Western District Court conducted the inaugural hearing of the case where the former ADOR CEO was sued by HYBE subsidiary labels Source Music and Belift Lab for defamation and plagiarism.
Although Min Hee-jin was absent at the hearing, her representatives from the law firm Sejong were in attendance. Belift Lab's lawsuit against the former ADOR CEO seeks 2 billion won (around $1.36 million) in damages. However, Min Hee-jin filed a counter-lawsuit against Belift Lab seeking 5 billion won (around $3.47 million) in damages.
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Furthermore, on January 10, Tenbizt reported that Source Music sued the former ADOR CEO for 7 million won (around $1.36 million) in damages.
More about Min Hee-jin's ongoing conflict with HYBE and its subsidiary amidst allegations of poaching NewJeans
The conflict traces back to April 2024, when HYBE initiated an internal audit of Min Hee-jin and her executive team, accusing them of attempting to seize full control of ADOR. The former ADOR CEO refuted these allegations, asserting that such a takeover was implausible given HYBE's 80% ownership of ADOR.
She contended that the real issue stemmed from her concerns over creative similarities between NewJeans and ILLIT, a girl group under Belift Lab. She alleged that HYBE's chairman, Bang Si-hyuk, who oversaw ILLIT's debut, failed to address these creative overlaps, leading to tensions.
In the ensuing months, the situation escalated. HYBE released findings from their investigation, including KakaoTalk messages purportedly showing the former ADOR CEO discussing strategies to take control of NewJeans' activities.
Additionally, HYBE filed a complaint against her for breach of trust. In response, she held an emergency press conference in April 2024, accompanied by her legal team, denying any concrete plans to leave HYBE and expressing her frustrations over the company's internal politics.
Amidst the lawsuit was the accusation that Min Hee-jin attempted to poach members of NewJeans, a highly successful girl group under ADOR. HYBE alleged that the former ADOR CEO sought to persuade the members to terminate their contracts and join her in a new venture.
On January 9, 2025, The Korea Times reported that Chairman Park Jung-kyu of tech company Davolink claimed he had a discussion about tampering with the former ADOR CEO about tampering. For the unversed, contacting competitors to attract them to poach members/groups of another company is known as "tampering."
Amidst the escalating disputes, Min Hee-jin resigned from her position as the internal director of ADOR and terminated her association with HYBE on November 20, 2024. Before that, ADOR's board of directors removed her from the post of CEO and appointed Kim Joo-young as the new label head.
Sports Kyunghyang reported that in her resignation statement, she cited prolonged conflicts with HYBE, accusing the corporation of illegal audits and breaches of shareholder agreements. She expressed her intention to pursue legal action against HYBE for these alleged violations.
In other news, NewJeans announced the termination of their group contract with ADOR on November 28, 2024, which became effective on November 29. They cited unmet demands, internal conflict, and HYBE's failure to reinstate Min Hee-jin as the CEO of ADOR.
