Oh man.
In what I thought was a simple procedural thing, HYBE reps attended an audit by the National Assembly yesterday as like an extension of the HYBE/ADOR saga, and we may have seen why Bang Si Hyuk didn’t want anything to do with it. Instead, it was HYBE‘s COO and BELIFT LAB‘s CEO Kim Tae Ho who was the main character, and he was grilled about internal documents that contained effectively oppo research and led to more questions about sajaegi, amongst other things.
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Let’s start with the internal document called “HYBE Executive Report: Industry Trends Review”, which was a weekly report for C-level execs prepared by the editor-in-chief of HYBE’s subsidiary Weverse Magazine. It’s the thing causing probably the most mess right now online due to the fact that it effectively serves as oppo research on some fronts, as this summary explains.
The documents caused much dissent on social media. One such document revealed the company’s plans for negative media play regarding SM Entertainment groups such as aespa, RIIZE, and JYP Entertainment’s NMIXX. According to a snippet of their internal documents, they had planned negative media play for aespa’s Coachella live singing, releasing past photos of a RIIZE member, accusing NMIXX of pandering to feminists, criticizing ZEROBASEONE and DKZ‘s visuals, and more.
When Kim Tae Ho was asked whether it was true Bang Si Hyuk ordered this to be made a thing, he claimed he didn’t know.
On the NMIXX front, they talked about how they could use anti-feminist sentiment against them.
“There were reports that a book OOO was reading was introduced as a ‘feminist book’ in male-dominated spaces. This anthology features young domestic authors, and I wonder how many actively publishing young Korean writers aren’t feminists. This commotion seems less about significantly affecting OOO and more about how when the team struggles, it could be used to stir up drama around OOO trying to jump on the feminist coin.”
They also described ways to defend TWS by using RIIZE.
“In fact, most of the attacks on (TWS) can be defended with (RIIZE). If someone says a member is ugly, you can counter with old photos of (Sohee), and if someone criticizes (Hanjin)’s dancing, you can show (Anton), who’s still stiff. This has already become a repetitive pattern in online communities like DC Inside.”
That’s almost like mentioning they can use 4chan sentiment to their advantage.
Unsurprisingly, it seems like aespa was a big focus for HYBE, as on June 1, 2022 the document revealed ways they could use Coachella against them.
All this time, regarding [redacted]’s live singing skills, fans have been using this argument as a shield, claiming that they are good but the company does not let them do so, but it all crumbled at [redacted]. Now, their lip-syncing has become an issue again, and the fans are redirecting hate towards other directions rather than at the group itself. We think that SM fandoms are really fast at redirection and distracting from the issue for sure. The company has to be the villain in order to protect the members completely. It seems like in order to deal with the vibes of how they are falling relatively while other 4th generation girl groups are rising, blaming the company seems to be the easiest way.
Weirdly, they also evaluated SM Entertainment pre-debut girl group.
“There’s been some buzz about SM’s new girl group with about eight candidates, but surprisingly, none of them are pretty. Considering the reactions to the looks of the group ○○○ that debuted back then, you have to wonder if SM’s aesthetic sense has changed.”
That was called out by an assembly member, specifically because they were talking about minors in that way.
They also talked about former JYP Entertainment girl group members (I assume at least one is HyunA).
Furthermore, regarding JYP‘s former girl group members, the report said, “Members ○○ and ○○, who left group ○○○○, have had so much plastic surgery that they’re nearly unrecognizable. It’s clear they’ve been exposed to an environment that makes it hard to maintain their mental health, which especially shows in their looks and sexual appeal. ○○ seems to show similar signs.“
Not sure who these were about, but you get the gist.
The disclosed report included criticism of other idols’ appearances. It stated, “Being young isn’t everything. They debuted a group when the members are at their ugliest. No one looks like an idol, and they genuinely perform like a middle school talent show.” It further commented, “The other members are shockingly unattractive. It’s very clear why they haven’t succeeded.”
Regarding idols who appeared on a variety show, it said, “The synergy of their unattractiveness is unbearable.”
HYBE idols were also evaluated in the report, such as “○○, who seems to seek attention by often talking about their struggles.”
Well, they also evaluated their own groups, I guess?
HYBE was then questioned about why this was a thing, to which they denied it was their opinion.
During the audit, when asked by Democratic Party Representative Min Hyung Bae, “Why do you read such reports every week?” Kim Tae Ho, CEO of Belift Lab, responded, “As someone involved in the K-pop industry, I review many monitoring materials on the industry’s overall public opinion. This is not HYBE’s official stance or judgment, but rather a collection of online monitoring.”
A HYBE representative also clarified, “The content disclosed during the national audit is an edited version. It includes not only defamatory remarks but also various industry trends. These are monitoring results, not HYBE’s opinions.”
During the midst of the audit, they released a statement that basically states their response above, also threatening to find the leaker. That was then pulled down, presumably when they realized they were still in the middle of an audit.
The National Assembly then criticized them for not taking this seriously.
Jeon Jae Soo: This National Assembly audit is being conducted lawfully under the South Korean Constitution. You have come here as a witness and have ample opportunity to speak. Therefore, it is very inappropriate for the company to respond in such a manner regarding the inquiries and responses between the committee members and the witness while the audit is ongoing. As head of the committee, I must express how inappropriate that was and that you should apologize. How can HYBE issue a statement like that while the audit is in progress?
Kim Tae Ho: I’m terribly sorry, but I have not been able to see the said statement yet.
Jeon Jae Soo: Member Min Hyung Bae read it to you.
Kim Tae Ho: Was that the whole statement? I don’t have any information on it, so…
Jeon Jae Soo: It doesn’t matter if that was the whole statement or not. You were chosen as a witness by the committee and the committee is currently engaged in a Q&A session. For the company to issue a statement in any way while the audit is being conducted makes the audit seem meaningless and undermines the authority of the National Assembly. Is that acceptable? Is HYBE not taking the National Assembly seriously?
HYBE eventually apologized for the statement due to growing backlash.
We released the statement because, during today’s National Assembly audit, there were numerous media inquiries regarding our stance on the topics related to us, to the extent that it was difficult to respond to each one individually.
Additionally, we assessed that content not addressed in the National Assembly audit, as well as content that was shown blurred during the audit, were being distorted and spread online at a significant speed.
Thus, we decided to post the statement to promptly respond to media inquiries and prevent the amplification of incorrect information.
As I mentioned earlier, we certainly did not intend to disrespect the National Assembly. We hereby acknowledge that issuing the statement during the National Assembly audit was a clear mistake on our part.
Well, certainly didn’t see that mess coming. And unlike the previous step on aespa thing that could be played off for jokes, the contents here are more malicious in nature, so fans obviously are more outraged despite the denials.
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Perhaps even more notably, they were questioned on the allegation of sajaegi, and when confronted with evidence didn’t really seem to have answers that showed they hadn’t done it at least in the past.
At first, Kim Tae Ho denied having conducted sajaegi through bulk-buying and returning CDs, only to be shown a corporate exchange in an internal HYBE channel about plans for the matter. Although Kim Tae Ho has admitted to some of the staff members using the returns method to push sales after being shown documented evidence, he continued to claim that the company itself does not agree with it and ergo has never tried to conduct sajaegi to push numbers. His contrary words have led to fans believing that he accidentally admitted to the suspicions.
The conversation somehow makes it look more sketchy.
Kim Tae Ho: “We have never done deals where we buy up albums on the condition of returning them later [in order to push numbers].”
Assemblyman: “Then we will show you an internal document. There is an email dated February 4, 2023. If you look here, it clearly states ‘returns proceedings project.”
Kim Tae Ho: “The content you have shown is regarding what I have just mentioned. The albums that were sold in 2023, were returned in 2024, and after reviewing this, in the future we will no longer be using such methods for sales.”
Assemblyman: “Let me show you one more [document]. An additional order of a minimum of 70,000 albums bought on the condition of returns, with the maximum purchase being 200,000. What is this about?”
Kim Tae Ho: “After we received many queries about such things, we have realized that we cannot do this and-”
Assemblyman: “So are you saying that you have been doing this all this while, but right now you’re not?”
Kim Tae Ho: “As I have said previously, this is not our company’s direction. However, we have confirmed that a portion of the staff decided to use this returns method, and in accordance with our company’s rules, we have laid down guidelines to prevent this from happening in the future.”
It’s somewhat amazing how there’s so many rogue employees that do these things that only benefit HYBE as a corporation instead of them individually. At some point it kinda feels like Colonel Jessup on the stand with all this technical defenses that they didn’t do sajaegi specifically, just something … a lot like it to boost sales on paper over a certain time period presumably for mediaplay.
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In a bit of irony, HYBE’s defenses for this sound a lot like Min Hee Jin’s when her internal stuff gets leaked that makes her look terrible. That it’s basically true but has been manipulated and/or is missing context, and basically publishing the cyberwrecker research to other c-suites throughout the company and not being able to refute sajaegi solidly are brutal looks.
As far as what’ll actually happen as a result of all this? I’m honestly not sure. I mean this stuff is political show to some extent now, and there’s no guarantee anything will happen other than politicians trying to score points for one agenda or another. Thus, like many things in the entertainment business, the actual cost for HYBE is another hit to their reputation and perception, not only due to the revealed contents but how they’ve handled this entire saga.
