The Korean public and media expressed shock at the news that an employee of HYBE Group died last June. Currently, the Korean public is divided in opinion about this news.
On October 15, the Environment and Labor Committee of the Korean National Assembly held a hearing regarding bullying and harassment in the workplace, with the participation of female idol Hanni of NewJeans group and CEO of ADOR Company - Kim Joo Young.
Jeong Hye Kyung - a member of the Environment and Labor Committee - asked ADOR CEO Kim Joo Young (who is also HYBE's HR Director): "Around June 2022, we received a report that a HYBE employee collapsed while working at the office and died after being taken to the hospital. Is that true?"
CEO Kim Joo Young replied: “The incident happened in September 2022. The employee said he was going to take a short break at the office, and went to his bedroom around 5 p.m. to rest. Unfortunately, someone found him unconscious and took him to the hospital, but he died a few days later due to personal illness.”
Jeong Hye Kyung retorted, "You said you died of a personal illness, but members of the Environment and Labor Committee said it was a case of death due to overwork.
At that time, HYBE was significantly expanding its subsidiaries and had to take care of many groups with overseas schedules at the same time, so the staff often had to work day and night.
When we checked with the Workers' Compensation and Welfare Agency, there was no application for work-related injury benefits. You said it was due to illness, but we think it's a matter that needs to be investigated. Is the company covering up the death of an employee due to overwork?"
CEO Kim Joo Young denied the allegations and stated, “There was no cover-up.” She explained that the decision not to conduct an autopsy was made by the deceased’s family.
In response, Jeong Hye Kyung said, “Yes. It is a common cover-up method through agreements with the bereaved family. Please verify the facts accurately and send them to us.”
According to Allkpop, after the National Assembly hearing, an individual - who claimed to be a former colleague of the deceased HYBE employee - said: “It was not a personal illness. He was a young employee; at that time, many colleagues attended his memorial service and funeral.
The family of the deceased was so heartbroken that they even wrote a thank you message on the company’s internal forum. It is absurd to claim that no work accident complaint was filed. How could the deceased do such a thing?”
Another individual, who identified himself as working in the entertainment industry, shared on Twitter: “Working the night shift is very common in the entertainment industry. In fact, death from overwork is not uncommon. It’s just that no one talks about it, and it’s kept quiet.”
In Korean online communities, the public was surprised because the news of the death of an employee at HYBE Group was not reported by any media at that time.
Some other opinions say that the summoning of Hanni NewJeans and CEO Kim Joo Young is actually to investigate larger allegations related to HYBE Group.
