On October 11, a hearing took place at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, concerning Min Hee-jin’s request for an injunction to convene an extraordinary ADOR shareholders’ meeting and to be reappointed as an inside director.
During the hearing, Min Hee-jin’s side delivered oral argument materials, stating, “According to pages 9 and 10 of the attached documents, an internal HYBE employee reported that ILLIT’s creative director requested NewJeans’ project proposal from the planning stage, and ILLIT’s project proposal was identical to NewJeans’.”
They continued, “The whistleblower provided the materials at the request of ILLIT’s creative director but expressed discomfort, saying, ‘I never imagined they would copy everything exactly. It seems like all the same materials were submitted to the court, and they keep denying it, even though they clearly used these references.’ The whistleblower was upset that Belift Lab continues to claim that the plagiarism allegations are false.”
Min Hee-jin’s side stated, “Despite the clear facts, Belift Lab continues to deny the plagiarism allegations, and HYBE has neglected this issue. Former CEO Min Hee-jin internally raised concerns about ‘ILLIT copying NewJeans’ on April 3, and it has been proven through objective evidence that her concerns were legitimate. HYBE responded to Min Hee-jin’s internal complaints with an audit, but this proves that the audit was an illegal and unjust process.”
As Min Hee-jin’s official stance has been made public, attention is now focused on what further statements HYBE and ADOR will release. Previously, HYBE and ADOR strongly denied Min Hee-jin’s claim that ILLIT was created by copying NewJeans.
Meanwhile, HYBE filed charges against Min Hee-jin for breach of duty on April 25 and appointed Kim Joo-young as the new CEO of ADOR on August 27.
Min Hee-jin, who was appointed CEO of ADOR in November 2021, lost her management rights after two years and nine months. Min Hee-jin claims she was unilaterally dismissed, while HYBE argues that the change in leadership followed proper procedures.
On September 13, Min Hee-jin filed an application for injunction with the Seoul Central District Court to convene an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting and to be reappointed as an internal director of ADOR.
HYBE is scheduled to hold an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on October 17 to discuss Min Hee-jin’s reappointment as an internal director. The five-year term proposed by HYBE for Min Hee-jin’s involvement in producing NewJeans coincides with the remaining duration of NewJeans’ contract.
Source: Daum
