‘As an agency, we do our best to protect our artists, as we always have.’

New Jeans‘ agency Adore has drawn attention after officially requesting ‘sincere action’to their affiliated label Belift Lab regarding New Jeans member Hani’s ‘ignore’ remarks.

Adore ‘fully trusts’ member Hani‘s claim that she heard the ‘ignore’ remarks from a member of Belift Lab and suffered internal trauma as a result, and requested that Belift Lab ‘show a sincere attitude’ based on this. Adore and Belift Lab are labels under HYBE and are each conducting business ‘under the same roof’ at HYBE’s Yongsan headquarters.

On the 27th, Adore posted a statement on its official SNS account, expressing regret for the controversy represented by ‘Ignoring Hani’ and demanding specific measures against Belift Lab, another label under its parent company HYBE.

What caught the most attention from Adore‘s perspective was the fact that they took the lead in actively protecting ‘member Hani’ regardless of the merits and demerits of the issue.

Adore stated, “It is too harsh and strict a standard for the victim to say that (member Hani) must remember the situation ‘without leaving anything out’ in order to raise an issue,”and said, “Adore and its members completely trust what our artist says and are truly sorry for the damage Hani has suffered.” Adore said, “We hope that Belief Lab will not take the damage lightly and show ’mutual respect.‘ We urge Adore to show a ’sincere‘ attitude so that unnecessary controversy regarding its artists will not continue.”

Adore’s actions are interpreted as part of the measures to be taken in the future in conjunction with the ‘certified letter’ sent to Adore by the New Jeans members on the 13th.

New Jeans included in the certified letter six major corrective actions and declared that if they were not implemented, they would ‘leave the company’ and would even file a lawsuit.

Along with Min Hee Jin‘s demand for reinstatement as CEO, which she has now found difficult to accept since ‘her resignation’, the certified letter also included a request for an official apology from a member of another label (Belift Lab) who had said to Hani, ‘ignore her’.

Meanwhile, Adore is reported to be planning to deliver a response to this certified letter to the New Jeans members on the 28th. Many media outlets are reporting that the 27th is the deadline for response, but Adore received the certified letter on the 14th, so Adore only needs to make its position known by ‘the 28th’. New Jeans has stated in the certified letter that Adore will take specific action on the six demands by ‘the end of two weeks’.


Reporter Heo Min-nyeong mignon@donga.com