ENTERTAINMENT
HYBE's direct rebuttal
HYBE emphasized in an official statement on the 10th, "We would like to inform you that the audit of a team leader named Adore conducted by our audit team on the evening of the 9th was conducted legally in a non-coercive atmosphere with the consent of the auditee."
At the same time, a detailed explanation was provided that the audit process for the team leader was not illegal or coercive. The audit was conducted from 7 PM with the person's consent, and the team leader expressed his intention to submit the laptop at home to the company, so he accompanied the person and received the laptop back. He added that he did not request the return of his personal cell phone because he did not respond to the return.
“CEO Min was very aware that a large amount of money had been received with his connivance,” he said. “When HYBE HR inquired about the matter, CEO Min treated it as if it was no big deal, even though he knew the seriousness of the matter.” He raised his voice, saying, “We are using HYBE as an excuse to stop the team leader’s bribery.”
Previously, on this day, CEO Min Hee-jin claimed that HYBE illegally conducted an audit on Adore employees.
HYBE informs you.
We would like to inform you that the audit of a team leader named Adore conducted by our audit team on the evening of the 9th was conducted legally, with the consent of the auditee, in a non-coercive atmosphere.
We would like to clearly explain CEO Min Hee-jin's false claims as follows.
▲Regarding the claim that the audit lasted from 7 p.m. until past midnight.
The team leader came to work at the company yesterday at 6pm. The audit began when I was contacted by the audit team while commuting to work, and the team leader responded that he would respond to the audit starting at 7 p.m.
▲Regarding the claim that he followed a female member to her home late at night after 10 p.m. and forced her to do so.
During the audit, the team leader acknowledged that he had received hundreds of millions of won worth of money and valuables from an outsourcing company over several years with the approval of CEO Min Hee-jin. He then expressed his intention to submit his laptop, which he had left at home, to the company. Accordingly, with my consent, only our female employees accompanied me into the team leader's home and returned my laptop.
▲ Regarding the claim that consent to the use of personal information was forced
The team leader, who was being audited, agreed to the use of personal information, expressed his intention to cooperate, and even submitted his laptop.
▲Regarding the claim that he requested the return of his cell phone, which was a personal asset.
CEO Min Hee-jin and some members of Adore have not used the company's official work messenger at all and have conducted all business conversations exclusively through KakaoTalk. Accordingly, we requested to submit the data stored on the mobile phone, but the team leader did not respond, and the HYBE audit team did not request further submission.
▲Regarding the claim that it is a normal advertising industry practice and embezzlement cannot be established.
There is no practice in which a company's full-time employees directly profit hundreds of millions of won from advertisers. The fact that amounts that should be recognized as company sales were handed over privately and that the CEO knowingly tolerated this for several years is not a practice, but an outright illegality. Moreover, as CEO, CEO Min has not taken any follow-up measures, such as recovery or punishment for illegally received amounts. We hope that the direction of the hundreds of millions of won worth of unfair profits received by the team leader will be clearly revealed during the future investigation.
We are disclosing part of the conversation between CEO Min Hee-jin and Adore management related to this matter, which was confirmed during the audit process, as an appendix below.
Representative Min is very aware that a large amount of money was received with his connivance. When HYBE HR inquired about the matter, CEO Min treated it like it was no big deal, even though he knew the seriousness of the matter. And then internally, they are talking about using HYBE as an excuse to stop the team leader's bribery.
We express our strong regret to Representative Min, who once again attempted to mislead the public by issuing a statement based on false facts. This is serious defamation of the company.
We also express strong regret for not protecting the team leader in question, but instead identifying the individual and announcing it to the media. This audit was conducted on Adore employees, not executives, and HYBE had no plans to disclose this matter to the media. However, when CEO Min issued a statement, the entire nation became aware of the fact that the employees were being audited. If CEO Min had any intention of protecting his employees as a boss, he should not have done this.
We would like to inform you that we will take all possible civil and criminal measures in this case.
Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr
