South Korean entertainment giants HYBE ordered to submit detailed report in suspected cover-up of employee death believed to be due to overwork

SEOUL, Oct 16 — South Korean entertainment agency HYBE continues to be in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons — this time over allegations of covering up an employee’s death due to overwork.

The National Assembly’s Environment and Labour Committee yesterday conducted a hearing related to workplace harassment allegations brought by NewJeans member Hanni where subsidiary music label ADOR CEO Kim Joo-young and Hanni appeared as a witness and a reference, respectively, to respond to related inquiries from lawmakers.

“Is it true that a HYBE employee collapsed while working in the office in February 2022, was taken to a hospital, and later passed away?,” a member of the committee in Progressive Party member Jeong Hye-kyung queried CEO Kim Joo-young.

She had responded that to her knowledge, “the incident occurred in September 2022. Unfortunately, the individual collapsed, was found, and taken to a hospital but passed away a few days later due to a personal health condition.”

“The Committee sees this as a case of death from overwork," replied Jeong.

“At that time, HYBE’s subsidiary expansions led to employees managing multiple idol groups simultaneously, including overseas schedules, resulting in excessive working hours.

“There was no industrial accident claim filed with the Korea Workers’ Compensation & Welfare Service. It appears to be a case of overwork, and I question whether there was an attempt to cover this up.”

Kim denied any cover-up and that the decision not to conduct an autopsy was made by the deceased’s family.

Jeong however pushed on saying, “That’s how cover-ups happen, through agreements with the bereaved family. Please verify the details of the incident and provide us with an accurate report.”

Following the hearing, an individual claiming to be a former colleague of the deceased HYBE employee posted online, stating, “It was not a personal illness,” reported Allkpop.

“He was a young employee, and at the time, many colleagues attended his memorial and funeral.

“The bereaved family even wrote a message of gratitude on the company’s internal forum. It’s absurd to claim no industrial accident claim was filed. How could the deceased do that?”

Much criticism followed with one individual who identified themselves as working in the entertainment industry taking to X to say, “Overnight work is very common in the entertainment industry. In reality, deaths from overwork are not that rare. It’s just that nobody talks about it, and it’s kept quiet.”