On September 2024, NewJeans, a widely popular girl group not just in Korea but globally, live-streamed an ultimatum to HYBE, their parent company. The livestream was groundbreaking—in an industry that censors almost all content released for public view, NewJeans decided to go live without informing any staff, hoping to share with their fans what they have been going through.
The case is complicated. To keep it straightforward, NewJeans expressed that they have been disserviced not just by HYBE but also by their own company, ADOR, a subsidiary of HYBE. After their creative director and CEO, Min Hee-jin, was fired, HYBE began releasing private content of NewJeans from before their debut in 2022—even their medical records. The group shared that they felt worried because their company was doing the opposite of what it was supposed to do: protect its artists.
The conflict between NewJeans and HYBE has been a longstanding “fight.” Hanni, a member of NewJeans, made history in K-pop by standing before the National Assembly in South Korea and 
Justin Mehlbrech, a senior at CHS and a big fan of NewJeans, says, “I feel bad that people were making fun of her even after she spoke out. I saw so many memes trying to make her look bad, and Koreans even made fun of how she couldn’t speak Korean well—she’s fully Vietnamese, and Korean is like her third language. They need to give her a break.”
NewJeans soon signed a letter to ADOR, simply asking for the breaches in their contracts to be fixed, stating that if their demands weren’t met, they would terminate their contracts. As expected, ADOR failed to fulfill their demands, and on November 28, 2024, NewJeans held an emergency press conference announcing they would officially terminate their contracts with ADOR.
Legally, this case is extremely multifaceted, yet straightforward. ADOR argues that NewJeans must pay a termination fee of about $225 million, but NewJeans believes they have no reason to pay such a fee because ADOR violated their contract, not them. Their contract includes a clause stating they have the right to leave if ADOR violates any part of it.
However, many people are skeptical, believing NewJean’s press conference was a hasty move. Even Korean lawyers shared on media platforms that a press conference is not how contract termination works. That said, many worry about the future of NewJeans because losing an agency is a huge setback for an artist. At the end of the day, no matter how passionate somebody is about music, it is still a business. Without an agency, there is no team that can back the artist up.
Personally, I feel bad for NewJeans. All they wanted was to make music and pursue their dreams without being disrespected by their own agency. Justin Mehlbrech agrees. He says, “Considering their talent and everything, it’s really upsetting. Plus, they’re so young—I don’t think they really had anyone to guide them through this.”
NewJeans is also fighting to retain their name, but Danielle, another member, mentioned they might not be able to use it legally anymore. This seems likely—HYBE is an incredibly powerful multibillion-dollar company, managing some of the world’s biggest groups, such as BTS. There’s no telling how far they might go with lawsuits.
