Min Hee-Jin of ADOR sues HYBE executives for defamation and illegal acts
ADOR CEO Min Hee-Jin, whose label manages the girl group NewJeans, has filed a lawsuit against HYBE CEO Park Ji-Won.
On the 24th, ADOR announced that Min Hee-Jin, along with others, filed a lawsuit at Yongsan Police Station against Park Ji-Won, the CEO of HYBE, Lim Soo-Hyun, the chairman of the audit committee, Jung Jin-Soo, the chief legal officer, Lee Kyung-Joon, the chief financial officer, and Park Tae-Hee, the chief communications officer. They have been accused of obstruction of business, unauthorized access to electronic records, violation of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection (related to information and communications network intrusion), and defamation under the same act.
According to ADOR, the accused have repeatedly leaked private messenger conversations and personal information obtained illegally, editing and manipulating them to serve their own purposes. ADOR stated, “In April, the accused forcibly obtained ADOR’s business laptops under the pretext of ‘parent company subsidiary audit’ to remove CEO Min Hee-Jin following her two internal whistleblowing reports.“
Through this, they secured personal KakaoTalk messages and illegally acquired private conversations by forensically analyzing a laptop that Min Hee-Jin had reset and returned after joining ADOR in 2022. ADOR further claimed, “The accused edited and distorted the acquired private conversations to create and distribute press releases containing false information about Min Hee-Jin’s management and business conduct, thereby creating negative public opinion against her.”
ADOR has made multiple formal and informal requests for the accused to stop their actions, which harm artists and ADOR members and cause public confusion. However, the illegal activities have continued up to the present. “We can no longer tolerate the damage caused by these illegal activities to our artists and ADOR members, so we are taking action,” ADOR stated.
Official Statement from ADOR:
ADOR’s CEO Min Hee-Jin and others have filed a lawsuit at Yongsan Police Station against HYBE CEO Park Ji-Won, audit committee chairman Lim Soo-Hyun, chief legal officer Jung Jin-Soo, chief financial officer Lee Kyung-Joon, and chief communications officer Park Tae-Hee on charges of obstruction of business, unauthorized access to electronic records, violation of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection (related to information and communications network intrusion), and defamation under the same act.
The accused have repeatedly leaked private messenger conversations and personal information obtained illegally, editing and manipulating them to serve their own purposes. In April, the accused forcibly obtained ADOR’s business laptops under the pretext of ‘parent company subsidiary audit’ to remove CEO Min Hee-Jin following her two internal whistleblowing reports. Through this, they secured personal KakaoTalk messages and illegally acquired private conversations by forensically analyzing a laptop that Min Hee-Jin had reset and returned after joining ADOR in 2022. The accused edited and distorted the acquired private conversations to create and distribute press releases containing false information about Min Hee-Jin’s management and business conduct, thereby creating negative public opinion against her.
ADOR has made multiple formal and informal requests for the accused to stop their actions, which harm artists and ADOR members and cause public confusion. However, the illegal activities have continued up to the present. We can no longer tolerate the damage caused by these illegal activities to our artists and ADOR members, so we are taking action.
SEE ALSO: K-netizens criticize Min Hee Jin of gaslighting the NewJeans members
