The West Seoul District Court opened the 6th hearing in the civil lawsuit filed by BELIFT LAB to request Min Hee Jin to compensate for damages. The company said that the female creative director's statements had seriously affected the reputation of HYBE and ILLIT.
At court, Min Hee Jin's legal representative argued that the controversial statements were not aimed at "media orientation" or serving personal purposes. According to Min Hee Jin's side, these words appeared when she was under great pressure from the fight to gain internal control of ADOR and felt like she was "hunted for witchcraft".
Conversely, BELIFT LAB affirmed that the nature of the incident lies in Min Hee Jin wanting to put pressure on the parent company to gain control of NewJeans. The company representative said that she intentionally damaged the image of HYBE and ILLIT for personal gain.
BELIFT LAB emphasized that Min Hee Jin has many years of experience in the Kpop industry, so she understands the impact of using the word "copy". The company also likened her to "a lion hunting in the Serengeti swamp", saying that the female director searched for targets in the HYBE system and eventually targeted ILLIT.
BELIFT LAB also said that Min Hee Jin's statement was "an act of great harm to fragile young girls", referring to ILLIT members. In addition, the company announced that KakaoTalk messages showed a plan to orient public opinion in advance.
In response, Min Hee Jin's side denied all accusations. Her lawyer said that the statements related to ILLIT only appeared in about 5 minutes of answering at a press conference in April 2024 and were completely unprepared.
Min Hee Jin's representative also emphasized that public opinion and experts' comments that ILLIT has a style similar to NewJeans appeared before she spoke out.
Faced with the fierce confrontation between the two sides and a large amount of evidence, the court requested BELIFT LAB and Min Hee Jin to submit additional documents summarizing the key issues. The next hearing is scheduled to take place on July 10.
Previously, BELIFT LAB filed a lawsuit against Min Hee Jin demanding compensation of 2 billion won (about 1.3 million USD), and accused her of obstructing business operations and defaming the business.
