"This is not to restrict their activities" — ADOR issues statement refuting allegations of sabotaging NJZ's activities outside the label's discretion

After a recent escalation of the dispute between K-pop girl group NJZ (formerly known as NewJeans) and their former agency, ADOR, the agency has issued a statement, denying allegations that it attempted to obstruct NJZ's independent activities following their contract termination.

On March 6, 2025, Maeil Kyungjae reported that the agency clarified that their injunction against the girl group was regarding their unauthorized engagement with advertisers outside ADOR's discretion.

The agency said:

"While the injunction to preserve the status of the agency and prohibit the signing of advertising contracts, etc. is in progress, Ador inevitably expanded the purpose of the injunction application because NewJeans has expanded their activities, such as releasing new songs and announcing large-scale overseas concerts."

ADOR stressed that it "is not to restrict their activities" rather their attempt in maintaining their contract with the group.

"This is not to restrict their activities, but rather to continue their entertainment activities ‘together with Ador’ and ‘while keeping the contract.’ As we have already made public, we have never pressured the concert organizers and have not expanded the purpose of the application as a retaliatory measure."

The agency stated that they will clear all "misunderstandings" in court on March 7, 2025, during the injunction hearing and establish that ADOR "is the agency that manages NewJeans."

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The genesis of ADOR vs. NewJeans (NJZ) and legal proceedings

The feud started on November 29, 2024, when NewJeans said they were done with their exclusive deal with ADOR.

The girl group claimed that since ADOR didn't do their job in protecting them and didn't fulfill their demands of reinstating Min Hee-jin as the label's CEO, they terminated their contract.

ADOR disagreed with the allegations and said the contract was still valid. The label sued NewJeans on December 3, 2024, to prove the validity of the contract between them.

Following this, on February 7, 2025, NewJeans rebranded themselves as NJZ and officially announced the new name via their secondary Instagram account, @njz_official. They also confirmed their first appearance as NJZ at the ComplexCon from March 21 to 23, 2025.

On February 19, 2025, The Korea Times reported that the group's parents claimed that Bang Si-hyuk, HYBE's Chairman, tried to mess with the group's performance at ComplexCon in Hong Kong.

Apparently, he called some U.S. officials and pressured them to cancel the girl group's upcoming show.

"We heard from a ComplexCon official that HYBE's Chairman Bang Si-hyuk personally called some U.S. officials, pressuring them to cancel NJZ's performance," the parents said.

The parents expressed their shock and said that they were annoyed, saying HYBE only cares about making money off the group members and isn't helping them succeed.

The parents accused HYBE (ADOR's parent company) of sabotaging the group's career.

"We were deeply upset and angry. HYBE still sees the members purely as a means to make money, showing no support for their success and instead trying to obstruct and undermine them. We've also received reports that Ador attempted to interfere in multiple ways."

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The injunction and lawsuit dates of NewJeans (NJZ) vs. ADOR are set on March 7 and April 3, 2025, respectively.

The court will be looking at ADOR's request to restrain the group from securing advertising deals outside the label, while the lawsuit is about whether those exclusive contracts are even valid.