Five major music organizations in South Korea—the Korea Management Association, Korea Entertainment Producers Association, Korea Music Labels Industry Association, Korea Phonograph Record Industry Association, and Korea Music Content Association—have expressed concerns about the independent activities of NewJeans and Min Hee-jin, the former CEO of ADOR.
On February 19, these organizations issued a joint statement, urging the government and National Assembly to provide policy support to eliminate tampering and address conflicts that are pushing the K-pop industry into crisis.
They clarified that they were not aiming to comment on disputes between specific agencies and artists but rather wanted to highlight the harmful impact of such disputes on the K-pop industry. They stated, “We want to bring attention to how such private conflicts, when publicly disclosed, damage the K-pop industry, and we aim to find a solution to the root causes of these disputes.”
They continued, “In the past 10 months, we have seen press conferences and media campaigns led by Min Hee-jin, as well as NewJeans’ Hani attending national audits and the group’s independent activities, where private matters are not being settled through mutual consultation or legal procedures but instead through media campaigns and unilateral declarations. This trend is becoming more common.”
The organizations expressed concern that government and legislative bodies were beginning to treat these private disputes as systemic issues of the K-pop industry, leading to the introduction of various regulations. For example, following Hani’s attendance at the National Assembly audit in October last year, a workplace bullying ban bill for artists was proposed.
While the organizations affirmed that artists must be respected in their working environments, they pointed out that public backlash had followed, with many questioning whether K-pop artists were being used to generate media attention. They urged for more effective regulations based on legal grounds that take into account the working conditions of not just artists but also other industry workers.
If related laws are passed without proper consideration of the industry’s needs, they warned, the K-pop industry as a whole could be subject to frequent regulations that harm its stakeholders, and the consequences could impact all participants in the industry.
The organizations emphasized the importance of addressing tampering, which refers to approaching artists under exclusive contracts with other companies. They highlighted that tampering prevention begins with honoring exclusive contracts. The FIFTY-FIFTY incident has been linked to tampering in the industry.
They further stated, “Considering the importance of exclusive contracts in the industry, just like the semiconductor industry’s legal frameworks to protect national core technologies, we need institutional support to identify and stop tampering activities, and we must foster an environment where exclusive contracts are faithfully followed.”
Additionally, they expressed concern about NewJeans publicly announcing new activities under a different name, “NJZ,” while still under contract with ADOR. They warned that if such contracts are not legally protected and can be unilaterally terminated, it would threaten the very foundation of the K-pop industry.
NewJeans had announced on November 29, 2023, that they had terminated their exclusive contract with ADOR, and they recently claimed they would be working under the name “NJZ” temporarily, as the NewJeans trademark is owned by ADOR.
On the other hand, ADOR has maintained that the exclusive contracts with NewJeans members are still legally valid, and they have requested that the official group name “NewJeans” be used for any activities. ADOR also confirmed that the contracts are valid until 2029 and has taken legal action. The first hearing for the injunction filed by ADOR against the NewJeans members regarding their agency status and advertisement contracts will take place on March 7. The lawsuit regarding the validity of their exclusive contracts will be heard on April 3.