The legal team of former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin has just responded to the lawsuit filed by Source Music, accusing her of defamation and demanding compensation for damages of about 500 million won (equivalent to 342,000 USD).
At the hearing at the 12th Civil Court, Seoul Western District Court, Source Music said that Min Hee Jin made false statements at the 2024 press conference, saying "I chose NewJeans" and "the promise to let them debut as HYBE's first girl group was not fulfilled". The company affirmed that they, not Min, were the member selection unit, while deniing any commitment to making the group the first female artist to debut under HYBE.
In response, Min Hee Jin's side emphasized that the context of the statement needed to be understood correctly. They said that since July 2019, HYBE and Chairman Bang Si Hyuk have publicly promoted Min as the first female group leader of the group. Accordingly, NewJeans members were selected in the N-team project led by Min, with the expectation that this will be HYBE's first debut group - something that was recognized in Source Music's own internal report.
Min's lawyer also pointed out that the delay in the group's debut came from HYBE, when this unit did not provide the musical concept as committed and decided to let S-team debut first, violating the original agreement. They affirmed that "the problem begins when the State Chairman fails to keep his promise".
Regarding the controversy over "taking over management rights", Min's side said that the accusations of plagiarism between NewJeans and ILLIT did not come from them but from the reactions of the public, critics and the media. When Min sent an internal complaint on behalf of the member's parents, HYBE called this action a "consensus to take over power".
Responding to the accusation of calling Source Music a broker, Mins team clarified that she did not directly use that phrase at the press conference. The mention of selling trainees is only to reflect the conflict in transferring and dividing benefits between HYBE subsidiaries.
Min Hee Jin's side emphasized that she did not defame anyone, but only reflected the reality: NewJeans had been left out of information for more than half a year - which was considered a sign of lack of interest. At the end of the presentation, the legal team affirmed that HYBE and Source Music " did not make enough efforts to help NewJeans debut as committed", while also denied all defamation as the plaintiff accused.
