At 6pm on November 28, NewJeans held an emergency press conference to announce the termination of their exclusive contract with management company ADOR (a subsidiary of HYBE Group), according to TV Report . The contract will officially end on the evening of November 29.

During the press conference, when asked about whether compensation would be required when unilaterally terminating the contract, member Haerin shared: “I’ve seen some articles about the penalty issue. But I don’t think there’s any reason for us to pay a fine because we’re still trying our best and completing our schedules. Rather, this situation happened because ADOR and HYBE violated the contract. So of course, I think ADOR and HYBE should be held responsible.” The female idol affirmed that the incident would not affect the members’ future activities.

Regarding musical activities, Haerin added that the group has no plans to release an album or hold a concert. The members are still discussing this issue. The group hopes to continue working with Min Hee Jin, former CEO of ADOR.

NewJeans consists of 5 members, debuting in July 2022. Photo: Vogue.

NewJeans emphasized that the management company HYBE and ADOR did not listen or sincerely fulfill the wishes of the members. Only one hour before the press conference took place, they received a reply email from HYBE, however, the members did not feel the sincerity in the letter. The content of the email will be announced by the members on the morning of November 29.

Immediately after that, ADOR spoke up to say that the contract with NewJeans is still valid and there is no basis to terminate the contract. The company hopes to be able to talk frankly to resolve the problem with the members.

Over the past time, the incident between HYBE, ADOR with Min Hee Jin, NewJeans has attracted public attention. Min Hee Jin is the CEO of ADOR, but there have been many conflicts and disagreements between her and HYBE’s president, Bang Shik Hyuk, during the working process. The climax of the conflict was when Min Hee Jin accused Bang Shi Hyuk of covering up for ILLIT (a music group under Belift Lab, another subsidiary of HYBE) to plagiarize NewJeans. After that, HYBE accused CEO Min of wanting to take control of ADOR, leaking confidential information of the group…

The two sides then continuously exchanged words, presenting a series of other evidences to accuse each other. Regarding the incident, HYBE was accused of badmouthing a series of famous Kpop idol groups. Meanwhile, NewJeans members and parents sided with Min Hee Jin.

Before the storm, NewJeans was the top Kpop girl group. They were a phenomenon in the Korean music market, setting a series of records right after their debut.