Trigger Warning: This article includes mentions of pedophilia that some readers might find disturbing.
HYBE/ADOR’s Creative Director and CEO Min Hee-jin is currently under fire for apparently glamorizing pedophilia and her sexualization of minors even in the past. It is a well-known fact that Min Hee-jin was the former Creative Director for SM Entertainment, where she spearheaded the concepts of Girls’ Generation, SHINEe, f(x), EXO, Red Velvet, and NCT until 2018.
By 2019, Min Hee-jin began working under HYBE Corporation as its Chief Brand Officer and was appointed as CEO for its subsidiary label ADOR in 2021. She is also the mind behind the creative direction and development of HYBE and ADOR’s first ever girl group, NewJeans, who as of writing, has amassed a large following after the release of their songs and concept.
In an interview about NewJeans, Min Hee-jin drew concern from netizens after her comments about the girl group’s youngest member (aged 13) had pedophilic undertones and hinted in their sexualization. This led to a forum where Korean netizens have been discussing whether or not Min Hee-jin was glamorizing pedophilia.
OMG, the source of Min Heejin's hanging paintings in her house may have been found. It's a movie called Le farò da padre(I will be her father). It’s about a dad marrying his 15-year-old daughter and full of sexually suggestive scenes🤯🤯 https://t.co/eAeS8zmPNJ pic.twitter.com/OKJhJLBNMN
— Barbara 74 (@Barbara16664094) July 27, 2022
And in a week everyone will forget about this and go back to buying their albums and watching their mv’s. Y’all are part of the problem, I am judging everyone https://t.co/TdIxlf0Qhc pic.twitter.com/VdbXBymhC0
— sora ‧₊˚✩ (@karebearclub) July 27, 2022
https://twitter.com/yeojinniess/status/1552168962808504320?s=20&t=jyJ_ztaw3Rc0TdoGRAZOfg
https://twitter.com/chuusdykegf/status/1552133094118985729?s=20&t=jyJ_ztaw3Rc0TdoGRAZOfg
mind you new jeans fans been treating min heejin like a god and praise her more than those kids 💀 https://t.co/XzjRgodqX8
— #1 arianators (@rkflsa00) July 27, 2022
What https://t.co/CoeQwtYxxB pic.twitter.com/C5gcdjLGtG
— 👁️👁️ (@missingellieee) July 27, 2022
attention mv really gave me these vibes. it made me feel like i was watching something i wasn’t supposed to see. like i was peeping. so much points to like, corruption of innocence and shit like that. https://t.co/rJzu5iVEhi pic.twitter.com/QPLqltCmPz
— ¹² (@sweetchoerryluv) July 27, 2022
minors should not be debuting into such a toxic industry, especially where child exploitation and ped*philia are fairly common, and min heejin is a whole freak that needs to stay far away from children https://t.co/7aZ3LFJhR6
— ່ (@ningcentric) July 27, 2022
https://twitter.com/chuusdykegf/status/1552097674362605574?s=20&t=pAJi8k6ktQE6SEI7AJYJCA
Here’s a detailed thread on the current situation surrounding ADOR’s CEO Min Heejin and her group NewJeans.
It includes official sources, provides context and is not biased. Consider retweeting this so it can reach a bigger audience.#NewJeans #뉴진스 #MinHeejin
— ✩ (@expmhj) July 28, 2022
After some digging, some of Min Hee-jin’s “mood boards”, Instagram, and past actions have come to light that made people feel a little more unsettled, especially with her past work with SHINEe’s Taemin, former f(x) Krystal, Red Velvet’s Yeri, and NCT’s Jisung when they were all still minors.
When she was still working in SM Entertainment, Min Hee-jin had given SM Artists like SHINEe’s Taemin, Krystal, Red Velvet’s Yeri, and NCT’s Jisung some questionable concepts. In their “Sherlock” era, Taemin was told to not work out so he could retain his “boyish image.” f(x)’s “Pink Tape” and Red Velvet’s “Red Flavor” eras were given the ‘Lolita’ concept.
Regarding Min Heejin’s alleged inappropriate comments towards NCT DREAM’s Jisung
She did not even work with DAZED for their photoshoot with NCT DREAM. The post was made by Ji Woong Choi (person in charge of photography and film) and the post is still up. pic.twitter.com/6QAtNTVDRi
— ✩ (@expmhj) July 28, 2022
Regarding Min Heejin’s inspiration for WMagazine being a movie with an incestuous relationship plot.
This is clearly fake. No WMagazine interview has ever mentioned this. Someone on pann saw a few similarities and decided to post it. pic.twitter.com/nK2Jx7CdtI
— ✩ (@expmhj) July 28, 2022
Regarding Min Heejin’s usage of teacher + student concepts on SM groups.
• Featured works:
– f(x), me+u (no MV)
– NCT Dream, My First and Last (MV Directed by Hee-won Shin)
– NCT Dream, Chewing Gum (MV directed by Kim Beomchul)— ✩ (@expmhj) July 28, 2022
https://twitter.com/K1TTYCHOC0/status/1552140725432864768?s=20&t=pAJi8k6ktQE6SEI7AJYJCA
i need min heejin in JAIL https://t.co/HVSO1ssHDu pic.twitter.com/xxI5D8Fu7x
— jw #sunwoolover (@canvasjh) July 27, 2022
Minors in the K-Pop industry have always been a topic that never seems to see an end since Korean entertainment agencies still debut them regardless of the backlash. And with NewJeans being handled by someone like Min Hee-jin who is most likely a pedophile, these minors might be taken advantage of or may not even know what these things mean yet.
Pedophilia in the first place isn’t even something that should be fantasized about or glamorized. How is having sexual thoughts toward children something attractive? How is telling children to be as natural as they are and then film them in an inappropriate manner okay?
That is not okay. It will never be okay. These minors need to be protected from those kinds of people. Hopefully, the K-Pop industry will become better in this aspect. Heck, maybe they could even wait for these children to turn 18 or older before they debut into the industry.
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