‘New Jeans Mom’ Min Hee Jin has ‘resigned’.

On the 20th, Min Hee Jin posted a picture of a rabbit holding a card that said ‘resigned’ on her Instagram.

On this day, Min Hee Jin released a statement saying, ‘I am resigning as an executive director of Adore and taking legal action against its parent company, Hive.’.

He stated, “I am resigning as an executive director of Adore today. I will also terminate the shareholder agreement with Hive and hold Hive legally responsible for breach of the shareholder agreement. I will take necessary legal action one by one against the numerous illegal acts of Hive and its associates.””He continued, “In fact, Hive must have known from the beginning that the contents of the whistleblower‘s report were all true and that they were legitimate issues being raised. However, for those who only care about their own interests and glory, the essence of ‘problem solving’ would have been a task they wanted to ignore more than anything else,” he said, explaining the reason for leaving HYBE as, “I didn’t want to piggyback on this twisted organization and settle down just for the sake of money.”

He also said, “Until recently, HYBE has been using its subordinate labels to file unreasonable lawsuits, find fault, and engage in unfair media play, while at the same time, they have continued to act hypocritically and contradictorily by pushing in a contract for delegation of production duties full of toxic clauses as if they were doing me an enormous favor,” adding, “The atrocities committed by HYBE over the past 24 years will be recorded as an unprecedented event in the history of K-pop.”

In particular, “HYBE’s moral laxity has already reached its peak, so its dirty media play will continue, but now even the public is reading the pattern.” I am not worried that it has gotten to that point. Nevertheless, if there are any forces or media that are trying to slander me, I will never sit idly by and will punish them with the law,” she said, vowing a strong stance and a fresh start, saying, “I hope you will show a lot of interest in my new K-pop journey that I will unfold in the future.”

Finally, Min Hee Jin concluded her statement with the sentence, “One person’s malicious actions should not be allowed to damage the ‘essentials of the business. It was really bad.”


[The following is Min Hee Jin’s full statement]

Hello. This is Min Hee Jin.

I am resigning from my position as an inside director of Adore today. I will also terminate the shareholder agreement I signed with HYBE and hold HYBE legally responsible for breach of the shareholder agreement. In addition, we will take necessary legal action one by one against the numerous illegal acts committed by Hive and its associates.

Even in the midst of the hellish dispute with Hive that has continued for over 7 months since Hive’s illegal audit in April, I have done everything I could to keep the shareholder agreement and return Adore to its pre-April state. However, Hive has not admitted its wrongdoings and has shown no signs of changing, so I have decided that further efforts would be a waste of time.

I hoped Hive would admit its wrongdoings on its own and have worked tirelessly to protect New Jeans within the twisted Hive. That is why I sent internal whistleblowing emails twice in April.

However, instead of reflecting, Hive has committed an unprecedentedly foolish act of fabricating ridiculous false facts and displaying the shameful illegal audit to the public. They framed me, a minority shareholder and CEO, as a ‘usurpation of management rights’, and launched a witch hunt, making ignorant and absurd attacks that are hard to believe for a large corporation.

After many twists and turns, after a full 7 months, it has finally been revealed that my whistleblowing was a legitimate accusation based on clear facts, while Hive‘s ugly lies and hypocrisy are being revealed one after another. In fact, Hive must have known from the beginning that the contents of the whistleblowing were all true and that it was a legitimate issue. However, for these people who only care about their own interests and glory, the essence of ‘problem solving’ must have been a task they wanted to ignore more than anything else.

I did not expect them to repent, but I wonder if it was a naive misjudgment to have believed that they would have the bare minimum of conscience as human beings. But just as you can’t live just by breathing, I didn‘t want to piggyback on this twisted organization and settle down just for the money.

Until recently, HYBE has been using its subordinate labels to file unreasonable lawsuits, find fault, and play the media unfairly, while at the same time trying to bury me, hypocritically and contradictorily pushing forward a producing contract full of toxic clauses as if it were an incredible favor.

While suggesting that we have an R&R agreement, which is the essence of a delegation of duties agreement, they insisted on a non-disclosure agreement that included incomprehensible demands such as consent to forensic examination before the agreement, and they kept insisting that we only have a face-to-face meeting and that they couldn’t provide R&R documents.

It‘s no longer surprising that those who spread false information to the media that I had stepped down as CEO and taken over producing duties, even though they unilaterally fired me, are now demanding ‘keeping secrets’ ... The 24 years of atrocities committed will be recorded as an unprecedented event in the history of K-pop.

For the past 7 months, I have fought with all my might, mentally, financially, and physically, to revive Adore, which was ruined by Hybe’s serious violation of the shareholder agreement. It means that I did not back down and made a great effort, even though it was a hellish fight that started with groundless violence by a group disguised as a large corporation.

Hybe’s moral decay has already reached its peak, and I am worried that the dirty media play will continue, but even the public will now be able to read the pattern. Nevertheless, I will not sit idly by and punish any forces or media that intentionally slander others with the law.

This unprecedented incident is not over yet, but I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Bernie’s and many others who have tirelessly supported and cheered me on for nearly half a year. Ironically, it is also a special fortune that I got to know the best people through fighting the worst company. Some may not understand why I held on like this, but there must be a reason and meaning for people like me to exist in the world. I hope you will show a lot of interest in my new K-pop journey that will unfold in the future. I will end this post with a relieved heart and say something to someone.

“One person’s malicious actions should not damage the ‘essence of business’. It was really bad.”

Jeon Hyo-jin, Donga.com Reporter jhj@donga.com