In the latest legal proceedings held on July 24, 2025, at Seoul Central District Court, the third hearing ensued between ADOR and NewJeans over the exclusive contract dispute. Both parties presented detailed 30-minute PPT arguments, each bringing new points since their last hearing about a month ago. ADOR emphasized ongoing judicial protection of its agency status and prohibition of new advertising contracts by NewJeans, arguing that the group failed to provide any valid reason to terminate their exclusive contract. ADOR asserted that maintaining their contract would enable NewJeans to pursue their career optimally. They furthermore implicated former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin as orchestrating the contract termination, pointing to controversies like plagiarism accusations and an incident dubbed ‘Ignore it’ as fabricated excuses to invalidate the contractual relationship. ADOR also shared internal KakaoTalk messages from March 2021 suggesting Min’s plans to poach NewJeans members, which NewJeans criticized as intentionally leaked during a public trial.
Conversely, NewJeans leveraged the recent no-charge decision regarding allegations of Min Hee-jin’s breach of trust in an audit initiated by HYBE in April 2023. This audit, framed as an attempt by HYBE to remove Min from ADOR’s management, was denied substantiation by investigators, who concluded Min took actions duty-bound to protect the group rather than betray them. NewJeans employed vivid metaphors during their presentation — likening Min to a loyal general speaking truth to a king (HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk), who cruelly ‘cut off the general’s head.’ They compared the agency post-Min leadership to a phone that has had its SIM card replaced, symbolizing loss of original trust and identity. Additionally, NewJeans rejected the notion that returning to ADOR and by extension HYBE was viable, equating it with forcing victims of school bullying to return to their tormentors. Such statements underscore the deep mistrust and fractured relationship between the parties.
Despite the first-time public announcement of NewJeans’ comeback conditions—requesting that members either be released from ADOR or returned to the agency as it was trusted in April 2024—the court mediation proceeding scheduled for August 14 is expected to be tense and challenging. Should mediation fail, the case will proceed to a trial verdict tentatively set for October 30. This high-profile dispute not only shapes the future trajectory of NewJeans, one of K-pop’s fastest-rising girl groups known for member Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein, but also highlights ongoing tensions within HYBE’s expanding agency network and management approach. Fans and industry watchers await the outcome keenly, as it may set precedents for artist-agency relations in the fiercely competitive K-pop business.
