Min Hee Jin says she had even planned a NewJeans world tour “Terminating their contract brings me no benefit”

Former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin spoke about the declaration of NewJeans exclusive contract termination during her latest court appearance.

On November 27, the Seoul Central District Court’s Civil Agreement Division 31 (Presiding Judge Nam In Soo) held the third hearing for Min Hee Jin’s lawsuit against HYBE, which concerns confirmation of the termination of the shareholder agreement and her put-option claim. As it did in September, the court continued its direct examination of Min Hee Jin.

During the session, Min Hee Jin addressed HYBE’s claim that NewJeans’ declaration of contract termination was carried out under her instructions. “You’ve seen my KakaoTalk messages. I had even planned a world tour for NewJeans, and terminating the contract would bring me no benefit,” she said.

She added, “If I stay still, I can exercise the put option. And is it even possible for an exclusive contract to be terminated just because someone says so?”

She also criticized what she described as copying by Source Music, saying, “I think they’re insisting on this because they want to harass me. When I talk about redefining the relationship, I mean they shouldn’t look down on us. I wondered if they felt they could openly copy and disregard me just because I didn’t have Bang Si Hyuk's backing. Being copied by a label within the same company felt like complete disrespect.”

Min Hee Jin continued, “I emailed Chairman Bang Si Hyuk asking whether they recruited me just so they could freely copy my work, or if they thought I wouldn’t be able to do anything once I was inside. It meant: don’t underestimate us. I wanted corrective action.”

Meanwhile, after announcing in November 2024 that she would resign from her position as an inside director at ADOR, Min Hee Jin immediately notified HYBE of her intent to exercise a put option worth approximately 26 billion KRW (about 19 million USD). She then filed a payment claim, with the total amount in dispute reaching around 28.7 billion KRW (about 21 million USD).