NewJeans has officially hired legal representation amid a protracted battle over its Hybe/Ador contract. Photo Credit: SBS Radio
The better part of a year later, the NewJeans v. Ador dispute is uglier than ever, and the K-pop group has lawyered up amid a push to terminate its deal.
NewJeans, apparently posting on social media as “jeanzforfree” at present, took to Instagram to announce its new legal team. For those who’ve followed the underlying saga, the maneuver (and the conspicuous public disclosure thereof) won’t exactly come as a surprise.
Throughout 2024, we covered the convoluted showdown between Min Hee-Jin (the now-former CEO of Ador, which set sail under Hybe in 2021) and Hybe/Ador management.
Long story short, the professional home of BTS accused Min of conspiring to sell a stake in Ador and/or woo NewJeans to a new company. On the other side of the battle, Min dismissed the allegations as retaliation for criticism she’d made over the perceived image-related overlap between NewJeans and Illit (which is signed to another Hybe subsidiary).
A number of twists, turns, press conferences, and lawsuits later, Hybe pushed out Min as Ador’s CEO (but didn’t necessarily block her from working with NewJeans) in August 2024.
Min’s formal resignation followed in November and, to put it mildly, didn’t sit right with the K-pop group she’d produced.
NewJeans made as much abundantly clear with an ultimatum demanding Min’s reinstatement. And when that reinstatement failed to materialize – of course, the ship had sailed a long time beforehand – the “Super Shy” act publicly announced its unilateral exit, citing alleged contractual violations, from Ador.
Bringing the focus back to the current year, Ador is far from thrilled with the move, maintaining in more words that the contract remains valid into 2029. (Outlets including the BBC have reported the deal’s final year as 2027; the 2029 cutoff comes from multiple reports out of South Korea.)
Earlier in January, the company filed for an injunction to prevent NewJeans from inking additional agreements, including sponsorships, on its own.
(NewJeans – or at least the talent behind the group – yesterday went ahead and rolled out a Calvin Klein advert anyway; the aforementioned “jeanzforfree” profile already boasts 4.2 million Instagram followers. Meanwhile, the official NewJeans Instagram account is continuing to run sponsored posts for its 12.7 million followers.)
Enter the NewJeans members’ newly announced hiring of Seoul law firm Shin & Kim, which, per the Korea Times, is likewise repping Min.
NewJeans also took the opportunity to insinuate that Hybe and Ador had fueled media pushback, alleging that “groundless criticism poured in through the media and YouTube reaction channels, most of which contained information that could only have come from” the companies.
It probably didn’t need saying in light of the months-long confrontation, but the K-pop stars further underscored that they “have absolutely no intention of returning” to Hybe/Ador.
Stated differently, a resolution, amicable or otherwise, doesn’t appear to be in the near-term cards. However, the intensifying dispute is sure to deliver noteworthy developments as it keeps on playing out.
Enter a recent Korea Herald report suggesting that NewJeans could take a three-month break as it works around member Hanni’s expiring E-6 visa.
Born in Melbourne to Vietnamese parents, Hanni must either renew the employment-contingent visa through Ador or return to Australia before diving into “a lengthy and stringent process” for a new permit, per the report. (Though seemingly unlikely to finalize, the Ador renewal is already in motion on the company’s end in keeping with the stance that the contract is still in effect, per the report.)
Said process could take months and would require, among several other things, “an exclusive contract with one [K-pop] agency,” the Herald summed up. That may be difficult to secure if Ador opts to continue enforcing (or attempting to enforce) the existing agreement.