Former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin’s legal team has once again argued that NewJeans members were promised they would debut as HYBE’s first girl group, saying the members’ parents also recognized that such a promise had been made.
On August 21, the Seoul Western District Court held another hearing in Source Music’s damages lawsuit against Min Hee Jin. Source Music is seeking approximately 500 million KRW in damages over statements it claims caused reputational and business harm.
Source Music filed the lawsuit in July 2024, disputing several claims previously made by Min Hee Jin. These included statements about who recruited the NewJeans members, whether Source Music had promised to debut them as HYBE’s first girl group, and whether the members had been neglected while they were trainees.
During the latest hearing, Min Hee Jin’s side focused on the alleged promise concerning NewJeans’ debut.
Her legal representatives stated, “This is also something that the NewJeans members’ parents acknowledged. It is clearly written that there was a promise made to the candidates, or trainees.”
Min Hee Jin’s side also argued that there was no evidence proving that her previous statements were false.
Source Music disagreed with that position. The company’s side said it had already submitted several pieces of internal evidence related to Min Hee Jin’s statements and claimed that the defense had not directly addressed some of those materials.
Source Music said it plans to submit additional written arguments to the court.
The court closed arguments for the case following the hearing and is expected to announce a sentencing date at a later time.
