According to Allkpop, on October 16, the Seoul Western District Court ruled that Min Hee Jin's actions against a former ADOR employee (called A) constituted a crime of workplace harassment. The court upheld the previous decision of the Seoul Department of Labor to fine Min Hee Jin for harassing employee A.
Previously, in 2024, A filed a complaint with the Seoul Department of Labor, admitting that she suffered psychological damage due to being insulted and insulted by Min Hee Jin (then CEO of ADOR) at work. After reviewing the complaint, the Seoul Department of Labor admitted that Min Hee Jin "ft the mental injury" to A and asked her to pay the fine in March this year.
Min Hee Jin's side later appealed the order and took the case to civil court. After reviewing the original verdict, the court has now sided with the Seoul Department of Labor, keeping the fine valid.
In addition to the lawsuit with her former employee, Min Hee Jin is currently involved in legal disputes with subsidiaries of HYBE Group including Source Music (the management company of LE SSERAFIM group) and BeLift Lab (the management company of ILLIT group) over accusations of plagiarism and other internal disagreements.
Meanwhile, the Kpop fan community is also watching the lawsuit to confirm the validity of the exclusive contract between ADOR and NewJeans - a girl group founded by Min Hee Jin.
The two mediation sessions between ADOR and NewJeans in August and September were both unsuccessful. 5 NewJeans members still maintain the view of not returning to ADOR if former CEO Min Hee Jin is not reinstated.
NewJeans believes that the dismissal of Min Hee Jin - the creative director behind the group's success - and the replacement of ADOR's board of directors with HYBE's executive directors have fundamentally changed the company they initially signed a contract with. The group claimed that they had lost faith in the company after nearly 18 months of litigation, making it impossible to return to ADOR.
After two unsuccessful mediations, the court will issue a verdict on October 30 deciding whether NewJeans must continue to operate under the management of ADOR, or whether the group has enough grounds to terminate the contract with this company.
NewJeans has announced a temporary hiatus from operations since March 2025, after the court approved ADOR's request to temporarily prohibit NewJeans from signing advertising contracts and participating in music-related activities outside ADOR.
