NewJeans members declared that they would terminate their contracts, citing mistreatment, discrimination, and breaches of contract by HYBE and ADOR, and have since begun independent activities.
ADOR, on the other hand, insists that they have done everything they were supposed to and expressed their hope that the NewJeans members would return to ADOR.
However, looking at the situation, something seems very strange.
ADOR has never properly addressed or resolved the issues that NewJeans has raised or claimed to have suffered from. They have never even shown any real effort to do so. Instead, they have merely shifted responsibility and made excuses, avoiding accountability.
Hanni told the ADOR CEO that an ILLIT manager told her to “ignore” something. However, ADOR claimed that the CCTV footage from that day had been erased due to the storage period expiring. (Yet, strangely enough, the footage of ILLIT greeting the NewJeans members on the same day was successfully preserved.)
HYBE’s PR team (Park Tae-hee or Cho Sung-hoon) allegedly told a journalist that NewJeans was not doing well in Japan. (There is even a recording of this conversation.) Has HYBE or ADOR taken any action to hold these employees accountable?
NewJeans’ trainee-era videos were leaked, and information about each member receiving 5.2 billion KRW in settlements was also leaked. Did HYBE or ADOR ever make any effort to identify the source of these leaks?
HYBE and ADOR have never once tried to find the individuals responsible for leaking these materials, nor have they issued any apologies or promised measures to prevent recurrence.
When HYBE’s weekly music industry report was leaked, they immediately released a statement declaring that they would identify and punish the person responsible. Yet, in NewJeans’ case, they have remained suspiciously silent.
Given these circumstances, one cannot help but wonder: Could it be that HYBE and ADOR themselves were behind these leaks?
Kim Ju-young’s Adore claims to have paid the 5.2 billion KRW settlement, but in reality, it was a result of the performance during Min Hee-jin’s leadership.
Moreover, the settlement money is paid based on the contract terms, from the money earned by the artist, not as a special favor from the company.
Additionally, Kim Ju-young’s Adore has been criticized for helping inflate Hive’s revenue through internal transactions between Hive subsidiaries, specifically with Hive IM.
The 4.1 billion KRW generated from updating New Jeans in Hive IM’s rhythm game was taken by Hive IM, not Adore.
To summarize, while NewJeans (NJZ) is raising concerns about Ador after the dismissal of CEO Min Hee-jin, Kim Ju-young’s Ador is mixing the achievements of Ador and claiming them as their own.
Furthermore, regarding the Ailite manager’s personnel issue and Hive’s malicious internal report, Kim Ju-young has continuously avoided responsibility by claiming that, as Adore’s CEO, he has no authority. At the same time, he has used his position to make decisions that support Hive’s group-wide internal interests rather than Adore’s.
This behavior is very similar to how Yoon Seok-youl acts as though he is the state itself, avoiding responsibility while only enjoying the benefits.
During the time when ILLIT was facing severe backlash, their agency, BELIFT LAB, took immediate legal action against malicious commenters, making it clear that there would be no leniency or settlements.
When the members of FIFTY FIFTY accused their agency ATTRAKT’s CEO, Jeon Hong-jun, of embezzlement, ATTRAKT initially took a wait-and-see approach, hoping the members would return. However, after determining that reconciliation was no longer an option, they filed a 13-billion KRW lawsuit against the members.
The two actions above seem very reasonable and normal.
Meanwhile, ADOR, even after winning an injunction in court, claims they are waiting for NJZ (NewJeans) and want to have a conversation. Yet, at the same time, they remain passive in the face of numerous malicious news articles and online hate comments targeting NJZ.
Isn’t this precisely the time when ADOR, as an agency, should be stepping up? Shouldn’t they be making every effort to protect NJZ’s image so that they can resume activities under the name “NewJeans”? Isn’t it the agency’s duty to do everything possible to protect its artists?
ADOR only takes action when its own interests are at stake. They defend and explain themselves when necessary, but in all other matters, they avoid responsibility and adopt a passive stance. In reality, they are doing absolutely nothing for NJZ.
It has come to the point where Team Bunnies, a NewJeans fan club, is raising money to hire a lawyer and personally sue malicious commenters.
Meanwhile, ADOR deliberately spread news to the media that their employees went to the location of NJZ’s Hong Kong concert but were unable to meet them. The way this was reported makes it seem as if ADOR is eager to reconcile, but NJZ coldly refused, setting the stage for NJZ to receive further criticism.
There is a clear discrepancy between ADOR’s words and actions. Their responses are aggressive, yet they pretend to be calm and understanding. This hypocritical and deceptive behavior must be chilling for NJZ members to witness.
Shouldn’t ADOR immediately track down those who leaked the members’ information, report them to the police, sue the journalists who write malicious articles and the malicious commenters, and issue a strong warning through an official statement?
Even without revisiting past controversies, ADOR’s current attitude and actions perfectly illustrate the very mistreatment that NJZ members have been speaking out against.
