KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 — South Korean music label ADOR chief executive officer Min Hee-jin has denied allegations of trying to take over parent company HYBE Co majority shares.
Min, along with an unnamed ADOR’s executive was accused of trying to leak confidential company information and encouraging outside investors to buy ADOR shares in a move to depart from HYBE , reported The Korean Economic Daily.
Min is also the creative director behind famous K-pop group NewJeans, currently under ADOR.
She said that the conflict between HYBE and ADOR stemmed from another HYBE subsidiary label Belift Lab and their newly announced girl group ILLIT.
Min accused Belift Lab of copying NewJeans’ identity, styling, choreography and music video concept through ILLIT.
ILLIT’s debut album Super Real Me, which was released earlier in March, was also produced by HYBE’s chairman Bang Si-hyuk.
If you're the creative director of newjeans, can you honestly not angry when someone did this to your works and getting away with it?pic.twitter.com/BdmrHLCRij
— MoDani's tomato shirt (@danimo_mahome) April 22, 2024
“Blinded by short-term profits, leading K-pop powerhouse HYBE has no qualms about taking advantage of successful cultural content.
“ADOR has never allowed anyone to steal NewJeans’ achievements, or heard of anyone doing so,” she said, adding that the ‘idea theft’ done by Belift was with the consent of HYBE.
She also said that ADOR had sent an official letter to HYBE last week, demanding that the parent company clarify its stand on the plagiarism that harms NewJeans’ brand value and to come up with a solution.
Min has since been suspended from her job and HYBE is taking steps in firing her.
Previously, HYBE ordered an internal audit towards ADOR to collect evidence to prove Min’s alleged powerplay.
Min joined HYBE back in 2019 as its chief brand officer and was largely credited with NewJeans' global fame for directing and producing the group’s self-titled debut EP in 2022 under ADOR.
NewJeans consists of five members including Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyejin and they have been making waves with songs such as Super Shy, Hype Boy and Ditto, which have become international hits.
HYBE also owns multiple K-pop labels including Big Hit Music- who have supergroup BTS signed under them as well as ENHYPEN under Belift Lab.
