On October 24, Korean media reported that former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin founded a new entertainment company called OK (or OOAK).
OK Company was registered to be established on October 16, with business areas including artist management; music and album production and distribution; event organization, production and performance.
Based on the registration, the company is said to be located in the Sinsa-dong Garosu-gil area in Gangnam. A building is currently under construction at this location.
The establishment of the new company marks Min Hee Jin's first step since she resigned as CEO of ADOR Company (under HYBE Group) in November 2024.
According to the media, on October 30, the court will issue a verdict on the lawsuit to validate the exclusive contract between 5 NewJeans members and management company ADOR. If they win the lawsuit, NewJeans can look for a new management company to continue their entertainment activities.
Industry insiders believe that Min Hee Jin founded the company to prepare for this situation if the 5 NewJeans members escape ADOR.
The media analyzed that HYBE will find it difficult to accuse Min Hee Jin of violating the non-competitive agreement.
HYBE has terminated its shareholder contract with Min Hee Jin and is currently litigating to confirm the termination of the contract. The non-competitive clause was originally included in this shareholder contract, and after the contract was canceled, the two parties did not sign a new agreement.
Therefore, the future of OK company largely depends on the court's verdict in the lawsuit between NewJeans and ADOR.
NewJeans may join Min Hee Jin's company if they win the lawsuit. However, if the court faces ADOR, NewJeans will continue to be bound by the contract with this company until July 2029.
In addition, in the case of a victory in the lawsuit, NewJeans may still face a request for compensation for contract damages from ADOR with the reason that the group "unilaterally stopped operating".
NewJeans held a press conference to announce the termination of their contract with ADOR from November 2024. After that, the group created new social media accounts, planning to operate under the name NJZ.
But in March this year, the court approved a temporary ban request submitted by ADOR, making it impossible for NewJeans to sign an advertising contract and participate in music-related activities outside ADOR. Immediately after this decision, NewJeans announced a temporary suspension of operations.
In May 2025, the court continued to accept ADOR's request for an indirect fine against NewJeans. If NewJeans conducts separate entertainment activities without ADOR's consent, until a first-instance verdict on the lawsuit confirms the validity of the exclusive contract, each NewJeans member will have to pay ADOR 1 billion won for each violation.
If 5 members (Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, Hyein) participate in independent activities together, the compensation will be 5 billion won.
Experts note that NewJeans is at a disadvantage in the lawsuit with ADOR, so the group's future is difficult to speculate.
