“We will work hard to reclaim our name” — NewJeans reaffirm their position on their future projects after terminating their contract with ADOR

On November 28, 2024, Korean media publication Sports Kyunghyang noted that NewJeans held a press conference in order to disclose the termination of their contractual relationship with ADOR. They announced that their conditions were not met by HYBE and its subsidiary ADOR by the time frame specified, hence they would be terminating their partnership on November 29, 2024.

"The deadline for our corrective action request ended at noon today, but it appears that HYBE and its current agency Adore will not make any improvements or accept our demands," the girl group said.

In addition, the girl group announced during the press conference that they would strive to maintain the ensemble name "NewJeans" even after they had left the company. The girl group stated:

“And we will not give up the ‘NewJeans’ name. We will work hard to reclaim our name.”

The five member band also stated that they would make an effort to move on with their next activities, and they declared their intention to keep releasing new music during the course of the following year.

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NewJeans sent the legal notice to ADOR on November 14

On November 14, the debut girl group dispatched an official letter to HYBE and its sublabel, ADOR. They insisted on the reinstatement of Min Hee-jin as the CEO of ADOR, along with additional demands. The group established a deadline of November 28, 2024, to meet their conditions, failing which they would revoke their agreement.

“All major breaches of the exclusive contract be corrected within 14 days from the date of receipt of this letter, failing which we will terminate the contract,” the legal notice stated.

In addition, the legal notice stated a number of demands, including:

• A formal apology from management to Hanni, who purportedly told people from another group to "ignore her."
• The removal of images and video content exploited without the consent of the members.
• A resolution addressed the problems caused by "chart manipulation" activities.
• The closure of problems with Dolphiners Films' director, Shin Woo-seok.
• Guarantee of protection for NewJeans' unique character and artistic contributions.

Therefore, following the failure of ADOR in fulfilling these demands the girl group decided to leave the agency. At the press conference, NewJeans member Minji also stated:

"We once again felt that HYBE’s indifferent attitude was exhausting and that they had no intention of accepting our demands. Since no corrective action has been taken, the five of us will terminate our exclusive contract as soon as the 29th."

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Min Hee-jin's resignation as ADOR CEO on November 21 heightened the HYBE-Min Hee-jin dispute. In her resignation letter, which was distributed through her representative, she described her attempts to resolve the matter, notably sharing internal whistleblower emails and working to protect the K-pop ensemble. She then apparently met pushback from HYBE. Furthermore, she claimed that she intends to file legal action against HYBE following her resignation.

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