HYBE has filed a petition with the Seoul High Court requesting the cancellation of the "coercive enforcement" related to the share payment that Min Hee Jin is requesting. This is considered a tougher step than requesting a postponement of judgment enforcement, because if approved, the ruling of the first-instance court may no longer be enforceable.
The dispute between the two sides revolved around the "put option" clause in the shareholder agreement. This clause allowed Min Hee Jin to sell her shares back to HYBE at a pre-determined price.
Previously, on February 12, the Seoul Central District Court issued a ruling favorable to Min Hee Jin. The panel chaired by Judge Nam In Soo confirmed that the "put option" clause was still valid and requested HYBE to pay about 25.5 billion won (equivalent to about 19 million USD).
However, at a press conference on February 25, Min Hee Jin suddenly made a reconciliation proposal. She declared her willingness to give up the entire amount of more than 25.5 billion won if HYBE agrees to end all civil and criminal lawsuits against her, her associates as well as the NewJeans group.
According to Min Hee Jin, instead of continuing to dispute in court, the parties should "return to the creative stage", focusing on artistic activities.
However, HYBE's new legal move shows that this group still prioritizes appealing and seeking to reverse the first-instance ruling rather than accepting compromise.
To avoid Min Hee Jin being able to immediately recover the money according to the ruling while the appeal process is ongoing, HYBE previously paid a guarantee amount of about 29.25 billion won (equivalent to 21.8 million USD, nearly 540 billion VND) to the court.
According to legal observers, HYBE's shift from requesting a temporary suspension of enforcement to requesting the cancellation of enforcement shows that the group is aiming for a final ruling to completely invalidate the first-instance judgment. Meanwhile, Min Hee Jin still affirms that the "put option" clause in the shareholder agreement is valid and legally valid.
The dispute between the two sides is therefore predicted to last, continuing to attract public attention in the K-pop industry.
