Earlier today, ADOR’s CEO Min Hee Jin held an emergency press conference about her ongoing conflict with HYBE attempting to clarify her situation and clear herself from the various accusations HYBE has said about her the past couple of days.
In this article, we shall summarize the key points of Min Hee Jin’s press conference, it will not be an extensive recap since the press conference lasted over two hours.
Earlier today, HYBE announced that they had caught evidence of an attempted takeover of the management rights of ADOR’s management team, including Min Hee Jin, and that they would conduct an internal audit. They also plan on suing her and have demanded she steps down from her position.
Note: just ahead of the emergency press conference, HYBE alleged Min Hee Jin consulted a shaman in all major decisions she’s made as the head of ADOR and exposed several conversations she’s had with the shaman.
Table of Contents
The beginning of Min Hee Jin’s press conference
Min Hee Jin, accompanied by two lawyers from the law firm Sejong who represented her, appeared in front of the cameras, visibly uncomfortable with the flashing lights.
Min Hee Jin began to talk about her time at SM Entertainment. During this process, Min Hee Jin revealed the messenger conversations she had with HYBE’s chairman of the board, Bang Si Hyuk, and HYBE’s representative, Park Ji Won. The names of other girl groups from different agencies were also exposed in their conversation. After that, Min Hee Jin mentioned several girl groups and boy groups several times.
The answers to the anticipated issues of attempted takeover and other related matters were occasionally mentioned in this long narrative. In summary, according to Min Hee Jin’s claims, she originally joined HYBE from SM Entertainment with the intention of producing girl groups.
Min Hee Jin alleges LE SSERAFIM overshadowed NewJeans with their earlier debut
At that time, she planned to create the “HYBE’s 1st girl group” through a collaboration project between HYBE and Source Music. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the launch schedule was delayed. In the meantime, Sakura and Chaewon, who are currently members of LE SSERAFIM, joined Source Music, and Park Ji Won stated that they would create the “HYBE’s 1st girl group” centered around them. The “Min Hee Jin’s girl group” no longer means the “HYBE’s 1st girl group.”
According to Min Hee Jin, she had decided to leave at that time, and it was during the process of HYBE’s board members trying to persuade her to stay that ADOR and NewJeans could emerge. She also claimed that HYBE blocked the promotion of NewJeans until the debut of LE SSERAFIM.
Min Hee Jin comments on the shaman and mentions BTS
In whats related to this matter, she stated, “The acquaintance is a shaman. What’s wrong with consulting a shaman? I’m not someone who usually goes to fortune-telling. I used to go to a psychiatrist because of HYBE, but I still couldn’t feel refreshed. When I went there, wouldn’t I ask questions out of curiosity? I consulted about my concerns.”
She continued, “Honestly, since BTS is so popular, it would make it easier to plan NewJeans’ promotional strategies if they go to the military. That’s why I asked (about it).”
Min Hee Jin mentions ILLIT
She insists that ILLIT directly copied NewJeans’ formula is also due to this. She argues that HYBE, who created a situation where “imitation groups” come out one after another following NewJeans’ success, is the one who betrayed her. In the end, Min Hee Jin’s allegation was an “internal disclosure” to raise awareness in HYBE, and the stories of securing external investment with the deputy representative of ADOR were just her grievances as a “salary CEO” of the company.
Bang Si Hyuk mentioning aespa to Min Hee Jin
Throughout this process, she used rough language such as “bastard” and “sh*t” and also revealed the contents of his KakaoTalk conversation with Chairman Bang. The conversation exposed Chairman Bang making statements like “Can we step on aespa?” and exposed how he allegedly wanted their group to be much more popular that aespa by a certain time frame.
Min Hee Jin hints that NewJeans members are distressed and they support her
Min Hee Jin shed tears as she mentioned the support she receives from the members of NewJeans and their parents. Emotionally agitated, she mentioned “death” several times. The lawyers sitting on both sides of her also tried to calm her down at times. Min Hee Jin’s appeal is that she wants to prevent the members from being shaken, and the sudden divorce [i.e. how HYBE wants her to leave the agency] notification has made her emotional.
When asked about the current situation of NewJeans members, Min Hee Jin immediately teared up. She stated, “The members’ hearts are going through a lot right now,” adding, “NewJeans and I are more than what you think, we comfort each other a lot.”
She continued, “Hani said, ‘CEO, you seem to be having a tough time, I’ll be there for you,’” recalling, “I recently cried so much because Hae-rin usually doesn’t talk much. She had a video call in the middle of the night. A kid who doesn’t usually talk much called and said, ‘I wanted to send a text, but I couldn’t speak.’ I just wanted to hear her voice, so I called. Is this what it’s like to raise children?” She sobbed.
She further added, “Hye-in cried for 20 minutes. When I said I would communicate with the fans about this, Hye-in’s mother, crying, told me not to do it.”
She said, “Mothers were very worried about me. Did they think I’ve gone crazy and died? The first and second days were too hard. (NewJeans) mothers requested HYBE to stop the badmouthing. Then Park Ji-won said, ‘We won’t mention NewJeans, we’ll only mention Min Hee Jin. We think of NewJeans,'” she said, visibly upset.
Min Hee Jin addresses HYBE’s claims of her takeover attempt
In this nearly two-hour press conference, the legal argument from Min Hee Jin’s side is that there is no attempt crime in the case of betrayal. In other words, even if HYBE possesses evidence of the “attempted takeover of management rights,” it means that they couldn’t actually execute it. Additionally, she hinted that her shares contain undisclosed secret contracts, making it difficult to achieve a takeover or realize profits.
She also said, “It’s not that I betrayed HYBE, but HYBE betrayed me. It’s a frame designed to suck me dry and crush me.” Additionally, CEO Min’s lawyer asserted, “With HYBE holding 80% ownership and Min holding 20%, usurping management control is impossible. breach of trust occurs when actions undermine the company’s value, but there’s no evidence of such actions being planned or executed.”
