“I encouraged her to speak up” — NewJeans' Hanni’s mother extends support ahead of her National Assembly appearance

On October 10, 2024, NewJeans' Hanni shared a lengthy, heartfelt message from her mother, in support of the singer's appearance at the National Assembly inspection for bullying and workplace harassment. In the message, her mother conveyed that while Hanni's family has been upset ever since the infamous incident at HYBE, they support and encourage her every step of the way.

The K-pop idol shared her mother's message on NewJeans' fan-communication platform, Phoning, which read:

"It felt this would be a narrative that would continue to play out in her life. We needed to stop this from repeating itself and I encouraged her to speak up."

Hype Boy singer's appearance at the National Assembly comes after NewJeans' emergency live YouTube broadcast on September 11, 2024. The idol revealed that the manager of another HYBE group asked them to ignore her when they passed each other in the company's building.

Henceforth, in response to the 'workplace bullying' issue, the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee summoned the CEO of ADOR, Kim Joo-young, and HYBE's Chief Human Resources Officer as a witness, and Hanni as a reference.

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NewJeans' Hanni's mother shares a heartfelt message

NewJeans' Hanni uploaded her mother's heartfelt message to Phoning, as she asked the singer to share it with Bunnies (NewJeans' fandom). The former wrote:

"This is a message my mom sent me. She wanted to share it with Bunnies, and since there was no other way (to send it), I'm posting here."

The message relayed the close-knit relationship between the idol and her mother, in which the latter expressed the fears and challenges of witnessing her child growing up in a difficult situation outside the house.

She further emphasized how the whole family is proud of Hanni for finding the courage to speak and stand up for herself. She also highlighted the significance of attending the National Assembly, as it will reflect on her daughter's past, present, and future. She wrote:

"Through this action; Hanni's past, present and future will play out so she can do better things in the coming years. Her strength will come from the real people that continue to love and admire her like her own family, everything other is to diminish!"

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Hanni to testify at the National Assembly

On October 9, the How Sweet singer personally announced to her fans that she will be testifying at the National Assembly, to speak on bullying and workplace harassment. She emphasized her determination to go through the parliamentary inspection alone and wrote:

"I'm doing this for myself and for the members, and also for the Bunnies! I've decided to do this for you too! No, it's not difficult! I want to do this!!"

While the singer never named any particular artist or group involved in the incident at the HYBE building, the company consequently specified them as Belift Lab's rookie girl group - IILIT. This resulted in IILIT receiving a lot of hate and backlash from the NewJeans fandom. On October 7, 2024, Belift Lab released its official statement regarding the issue, defending its staff and artists.

In response to the statement, on October 8, mothers of NewJeans members provided a joint statement to Daily Sports, refuting Belift Lab's statement due to multiple factual errors. Their joint statement also emphasized that the issue was never about someone not greeting; it was about another artist's manager telling them to ignore the singer.

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