NewJeans and ADOR Clash Over Trust Issues in Contract Validity Lawsuit

The K-pop girl group NewJeans and their agency ADOR faced off in the first hearing of their lawsuit over the validity of their exclusive contract, focusing on the correlation between 'Min Hee-jin's producing' and trust.

On the morning of the 3rd, the Seoul Central District Court's Civil Agreement Division 41 (Chief Judge Jeong Hoe-il) held the first hearing of the lawsuit filed by ADOR against NewJeans. Unlike the previous month's injunction hearing, where the five members of NewJeans appeared despite not being required to, they were absent this time.

During the hearing, ADOR's representative argued, "The NewJeans members claim they cannot continue without former CEO Min Hee-jin, but the idea that NewJeans cannot exist without her is unreasonable." They emphasized, "ADOR is a subsidiary of HYBE, the top company in our industry, and it is entirely possible to find a globally influential producer."

They also referenced the Hong Kong ComplexCon event held last month, stating, "The fact that NewJeans independently prepared and successfully completed this stage shows that claiming only Min Hee-jin can produce them is contradictory."

In response, NewJeans' representative stated, "Regardless of Min's absence, there was no communication about preparing alternatives. ADOR claims other producers are possible, but if they intended to do so, they should have prepared before Min's dismissal." They added, "With Min Hee-jin ousted and new management in place, ADOR now holds fundamentally different values from when the original contract was signed."

They further argued, "Even if each issue isn't a standalone reason for contract termination, the trust has irreparably broken down."

ADOR countered, "Min wasn't ousted; she left on her own accord. The company had no time to prepare alternatives, and there was no communication with the members, leaving us with no options."

The two sides had differing views on reaching a settlement. ADOR expressed a desire for an agreement, while NewJeans indicated that such a resolution seemed unlikely.

The court addressed the 'breakdown of trust' claimed by NewJeans, stating, "Typically, a breakdown of trust involves not settling accounts or similar issues. We will consider how to view trust in long-term contract management and producing in this case."

The second hearing is scheduled for June 5th.