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On Friday, November 22, 2024, Maeil Kyungjae reported that Min Hee-jin filed a lawsuit against Belift Lab's CEO Kim Tae-ho—who is also HYBE's COO—for alleged defamation. She also reportedly demanded 5 billion won (approximately $3.5 million) in damages.
Sejong Law Firm, representing the former ADOR CEO, Min Hee-jin, announced that the lawsuit was filed against Belift Lab CEO Kim Tae-ho, Vice CEO Choi Yoon-hyeok, Heo Se-ryeon, Lee Ga-jun, among others.
"Former CEO Min Hee-jin filed a complaint against BELIFT LAB CEO Kim Tae -ho, Vice CEO Choi Yoon-hyeok, Heo Se-ryeon, Lee Ga-jun, etc. at the Yongsan Police Station for defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act. In addition, she is filing a lawsuit against Belift Lab for 5 billion won in damages."
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The law firm continued that Kim Tae-ho falsely accused Min Hee-jin of defamation and said:
"CEO Kim Tae-ho falsely claimed that former CEO Min Hee-jin delayed the civil lawsuit filed by BELIFT LAB, but this is clearly false. The counterclaim filed by former CEO Min Hee-jin is expected to be heard at the first hearing in January next year, so we hope that BELIFT LAB will diligently participate."
Meanwhile, on November 18, 2024, Star News reported that the first hearing of their lawsuit would be held on January 10, 2025. For the unversed, BELIFT LAB reportedly filed a criminal lawsuit against the former ADOR CEO, seeking 2 billion won (approximately $1.4 million) in damages for accusing them and ILLIT of plagiarising NewJeans.
Why have BELIFT LAB and Min Hee-jin filed a lawsuit against each other?
As per the November 18 Star News report, BELIFT LAB alleged that the former CEO of ADOR falsely accused them of plagiarising NewJeans' planning proposal. Both BELIFT LAB and ADOR are HYBE subsidiaries. NewJeans is the only K-pop idol group under ADOR, which debuted in 2022, while ILLIT debuted in 2024 under BELIFT LAB as its first K-pop girl group.
Hankyoreh Newspaper reported on November 11 that BELIFT LAB came under fire for allegedly copying NewJeans' planning proposal for ILLIT as both documents had the same fonts, design, templates, content, and more.
However, the label refuted allegations and stated that they received NewJeans' proposal after ILLIT's proposal was finalized and approved by every HYBE executive. As per the abovementioned Star News report, BELIFT LAB stated:
"The branding strategy and concept of ILLIT were finalized and shared internally on July 21, 2023. The informant sent the so-called 'plan' after that, on August 28, 2023, so it could not have influenced ILLIT's concept."
In response, the former ADOR CEO accused HYBE and BELIFT LAB of "obstruction of business" and spreading "false rumors" about her. She said:
"It was HYBE and BELIFT LAB who brought out issues that could have been resolved internally, spread numerous false facts, and committed obstruction of business and defamation. They need to look back and see who it is that is claiming obstruction of business by using a new artist as a shield without considering the damage caused to NewJeans."
On November 20, 2024, Sports Kyunghyang reported that Min Hee-jin announced she would be resigning from HYBE. She also resigned as the in-house director of ADOR after being re-appointed in the role on October 17, 2024.
