ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin addresses allegations of badmouthing NewJeans members in new press statement

On Sunday (May 19), ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin – who is currently embroiled in a conflict with parent company HYBE over accusations of breach of trust – refuted several allegations made by HYBE and members of the media in a statement to the press.

Accusations levied against Min include her meeting up with executives from South Korean corporations Naver and Dunamu to convince them to buy HYBE's shares of ADOR as well as insulting members of K-pop girl group NewJeans, who are managed by ADOR.

In her statement, Min claimed that an acquaintance of hers, Mr A, invited her to a dinner on Mar 6 with some of his old friends who were "friendly" people. During that dinner, Mr A's friend invited another acquaintance, Mr C, to join in. 

"At first, I didn't even know who [Mr C] was. When he introduced himself, I realised that he was from Dunamu, and I remembered that he previously said he wanted to meet me through [HYBE chairman] Bang Si-hyuk. [Mr C] said he knew I was at this dinner and that he wanted to attend too. He said he was very interested in NewJeans and he was curious about me as a producer."

Later on, another person – dubbed Mr B from Naver – joined the dinner.

"Unbeknownst to me, everyone at the table had connections with Mr B. The meeting ended as a private event unrelated to investment, and all attendees on the day can testify to this."

She clarified that Mr C wanted to attend NewJeans' upcoming fanmeeting in Tokyo Dome and their interactions were only about the fanmeeting. On the other hand, her interactions with Mr B were about "personal concerns".

"[Mr B, Mr C and I] met each other for the first time by chance at a dinner with acquaintances. Does the acquisition proposal make sense, based on common sense? I emphasise again: If we need to confirm the facts about this, we request a face-to-face meeting with all four parties, including HYBE. I have never made such an offer to Naver or Dunamu, so HYBE should check to see if they have ever received an acquisition offer from Naver or Dunamu.

"Please do not receive confirmation of the meeting as is, but rather receive confirmation of the purpose of the meeting and the conversations that took place."

Min also addressed reports that she had badmouthed members of NewJeans in private texts. The allegations were first made by YouTuber Lee Jin-ho on May 17 who revealed chat logs that were supposedly between Min and the vice president of ADOR.

In the chat logs, Min allegedly wrote – referring to members of NewJeans: "Fat elementary schoolers who can't lose a single pound and get scolded to death...Wow, [redacted NewJeans member] is so fat and ugly."

Min claimed that the chat logs were taken out of context and attributed them to her way of speaking.

"Complex human affairs and relationships cannot be explained simply with a few randomly cut and pasted KakaoTalk characters. There is no reason to make excuses, and it is not a matter that requires explanation. It's not something that people who don't know my personality, my usual way of speaking, my style of joking or playing around with, the situations I've been in, or the person I'm talking to can simply judge me on.

"NewJeans and I have been through many things and various situations that you may not know about. Not only can I not explain them all here, there is no reason to explain them, and useless additional explanations are unnecessary because they require me to reveal other people's personal information and create further divisions, which will continue to cause hurt."

She added that since the release of the chat logs, the members of NewJeans sent her "text messages of consolation" that were "full of love".

"If you are someone who cares about NewJeans at all, the best thing you could do is ensure the members are not dragged into unrelated issues.

"HYBE has already caused so much trouble for NewJeans. To be honest, I feel terrible and disgusted by the people who brought things to this point. Humans are not dolls. We shouldn't be controlled by someone’s judgement or stigma. Because each person's life is precious, it is not something that should be decided through a trial by people who have never worked together. No matter how much HYBE wants to turn me into a witch, they don't know me any better."

Min Hee-jin ended her letter by asking the public to wait for the judge's decision and apologised for "any disturbance caused".

A few hours after Min's letter, HYBE published a statement refuting her claims.

"We express regret over the behaviour of CEO Min Hee-jin, who distributed a statement that put personal feelings first at a time when an important legal judgement is about to be made.

"Our company has never pieced together any data. We told the court that we obtained the relevant data through legal procedures and submitted the original text...Rather than using the artistes as a shield or issuing statements to the media, we hope that CEO Min will respond to the audit and faithfully participate in the investigation and judicial procedures."