“A Vietnamese is changing Korea”: Jason reacts to NewJeans' Hanni's testimony at the National Assembly audit against HYBE’s work culture

On October 15, 2024, the Twitch streamer FaZe Jason reacted to NewJeans' Hanni's testimony at the National Assembly audit against HYBE's work culture. The testimony is available on JTV's official YouTube channel. After watching the testimony, he shared his thoughts and stated:

"A Vietnamese (person) is changing Korea."

For those unversed, on October 15, 2024, Hanni appeared at the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee audit for her speech on HYBE's alleged bullying and workplace harassment.

The female artist mentioned that she was sure that the company disliked NewJeans. She talked about the incident where she felt ignored by the manager of one of the K-pop groups and pondered why she had to go through such a situation in a professional setting.

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NewJeans' Hanni confessed that she attended the National Assembly to avoid the occurrence of workplace harassment

The Twitch streamer Faze Jason live streamed his reaction to NewJeans' Hanni's speech on bullying and workplace harassment through his Twitch account. The streamer mentioned that HYBE had messed up the situation and claimed that Hanni would win the case against the corporation as she had the people supporting her.

During her speech, at the National Assembly, Hanni talked about the incident where she was ignored by her fellow employees during a live stream she conducted with group members. The female artist mentioned that while she was getting her make-up and hair done, she greeted one of the members of the other K-pop group.

However, when she came out, NewJeans' Hanni witnessed their manager advising them to ignore her and pretend they did not see her. The female artist further questioned that she felt bewildered facing such a situation and mentioned, as translated by X user @kchartsmaster:

"I don't understand why I had to face this, and I don't understand why such things were said in a working environment. So I came today because I know that if I didn’t, this topic would be buried and these type of things may continue happening in the future, and I believe that this should not happen to colleagues, seniors, juniors, or trainees.”

Hanni further disclosed that someone superior from the company had ignored her greetings multiple times. She stated that not responding to someone's greetings was discourteous, regardless of one's profession.

The female artist further elaborated that she recently witnessed hateful and discriminatory remarks regarding NewJeans members on the South Korean anonymous professional community application Blind.

She added that the employees from HYBE were allegedly swearing at NewJeans members and mentioned, as translated by @AboutMusicYT:

"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 confirmed that what I was feeling wasn’t just a feeling I knew that [HYBE] hated us."

She continued criticizing HYBE Corporation's sub-label ADOR, stating that the subsidiary did not do its best and had no real intentions to protect her. The singer added that ADOR should have apologized and taken immediate action. The female artist further demanded immediate resolution for the matter before any plans were discussed.

NewJeans' Hanni's speech at National Assembly (Image via @AboutMusicYt/X)

Meanwhile, the present CEO of ADOR, Kim Jooyoung, confessed that she thought she did everything as an in-house director. She wondered if there was something she could have done better when Hanni said she felt bullied and harassed at the workplace.

In response, Hanni reportedly added that she felt Kim Jooyoung could not do everything to protect the group. She mentioned that Kim Jooyoung did not have the will and ability to protect and take the initiative to safeguard the group.

"Sorry, but I dont't think you did your best! (...) You keep saying you’ll protect us, but if you really want to, you have no choice but to fight for us. Yet, you don’t fight for us, and there’s no real action, so I don’t believe you did your best," Hanni said.

However, the present ADOR CEO stated that she would listen to the artist's voice and strengthen communication.

The political figure Park Hongbae from the Democratic Party of Korea added that the chairman of HYBE, Bang Si-hyuk, was absent from the National Assembly's audit meeting. He added,

“Bang Si-hyuk, the chairman of HYBE, who caused the controversy, is not here. I think we need to realise the seriousness of the situation withing the company, not just be huffing and puffing about it in the US.”

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NewJeans is a five-member K-pop girl group featuring Hanni, Minji, Hyein, Haerin, and Danielle.