ADOR has rejected a request by girl group NewJeans to reappoint Min Hee-jin as the CEO of the K-pop agency, while announcing plans to retain the music executive as a board member.
Today (September 25), HYBE subsidiary ADOR announced in a statement, via Korea JoongAng Daily and The Korea Herald, that it “cannot accept the request” to reappoint Min Hee-jin as the CEO of the K-pop agency. Instead, the company has “decided to convene a shareholder meeting to vote for Min Hee-jin to stay on the board”.
ADOR’s announcement today comes after NewJeans held a surprise livestream on YouTube calling for HYBE to reinstate Min. According to the members, the livestream was held without HYBE’s knowledge and the footage has since been deleted.
In its statement, the K-pop agency also claimed that it has “already made an offer to Min Hee-jin to stay on as the producer of NewJeans for the next five years, which is the whole duration of the girl group’s contract”, adding that it is “look[ing] forward to talking through the detailed conditions of the deal in the future”.
Last week, Min filed a court injunction to be reappointed as an internal director of ADOR. “The dismissal of former CEO Min Hee-jin is a violation of the shareholders’ agreement and contradicts the court’s decision to prohibit the exercise of voting rights,” her representatives said in a statement at the time.
Prior to the quintet’s livestream, NewJeans shared support for Min during their award acceptance speech at The Fact Music Awards earlier this month. Before that, three members of the girl group voiced their frustration over the ongoing feud between ADOR and HYBE in online posts.