Seven hours after HYBE, the agency of the K-pop phenomenon BTS, announced that it would report Min Hee-jin, CEO of NewJeans producer ADOR, to the police for breach of trust and accused her of scheming to take over the managerial rights of HYBE, the latter arranged a press conference on the afternoon of April 25.
It also said in a different statement that Min had been wrongly “coached” by a shaman on management issues while serving as the head of ADOR.
Min denied the accusations in an emotional press conference on Thursday afternoon, saying she had “no interest” in management rights.
“I have no idea where the ‘usurper’ frame came from. We just said these things and said, ‘HYBE has 80 percent of the company.’ You have to know all the stories to understand all this.” she said in the press conference
According to Min’s attorney, Lee Sook-mi: “It just cannot be a breach of trust. When you say ‘breach of trust,’ it’s when an action actually leads to damaging the company. There was no incident where Min tried to diminish the company value,” the attorney says. “You cannot ‘plot’ to breach trust. This just doesn’t count as that. I’m actually looking forward to the report they’re filing to the police.”
Min added that she became more tense with HYBE after accusing BELIFT LAB, one of their subsidiaries, of imitating NewJeans with their girl group through ILLIT.
“To be honest, I thought they were trying to kill NewJeans,” she said
“That’s why I brought up the issue, with the heart of a mother, to save them. It’s not merely a matter of imitation. It makes our distinct branding into something commonplace.
“It’s infuriating enough when others (copy us) from the outside, but discovering it was happening inside (the company) made me even more incensed.”
After Min’s press conference, HYBE issued a statement that called Min’s remarks “untrue” and demanded that she step down from her position.
“We can refute all claims with evidence, but we have decided not to mention them one by one as we judge that they are not worth responding to…We respectfully request CEO Min to stop lying that, “there was no offer for dialogue” and that, “there was no email response,” return the information assets as requested, and respond promptly to the audit. We urge her to resign promptly for the proper management of ADOR as she has already proven herself unfit to be in charge of management.”
During the press conference, Min also clarified that she had nothing to do with GFriend’s disbandment, denied the rumor circulating that BTS copied their ideas, and further explained the innocence of ILLIT by stating that the groups are innocent in this conflict between HYBE.
Min Hee Jin is one of the most successful producers in the K-pop scene. She entered the industry in the early 2000s, and has since worked with stars including Girls’ Generation, EXO, and SHINee, among others.
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