At a sudden press conference last night, K-pop girl group NewJeans announced it will leave their agency, ADOR.
However, the agency stated that the group’s contract remains valid.
Our Shin Ha-young takes a look at where the dispute could go from here.
K-pop girl group NewJeans still has five years remaining on its contract with their agency ADOR –a subsidiary of Hybe.
Breaking the contract could reportedly result in penalties of up to 600 billion Korean won or around 430 million U.S. dollars.
While this has sparked speculation that the group will not be able to leave easily, the members insist they can, claiming ADOR and HYBE violated contract terms.
“We’ve never violated our contract and have been giving our best in everything we do. We believe there is absolutely no reason for us to pay any penalties.”
The remarks came during the emergency press conference on Thursday night, where the five-member group said neither Hybe nor ADOR have shown any willingness to improve the situation they are in.
While saying they will no longer be ADOR artists with the exclusive contract terminated, the members said they will freely pursue activities they truly desire while promising to do all pre-scheduled and contracted activities as planned, including advertisements.
Regarding any legal measures, NewJeans clarified it won’t be filing for an injunction to suspend the validity of the exclusive contract.
The group’s contract termination follows the company’s dispute with its former CEO, Min Hee-jin.
After months of tension over Hybe’s allegations that Min had attempted to take control of the label and NewJeans, the agency removed her as ADOR’s CEO in August.
On November 13th, NewJeans sent an official list of demands to its agency including the reinstatement of Min as CEO, and a formal apology from the manager of another rookie group under a Hybe subsidiary, Illit, over alleged workplace harassment against member Hanni.
But none of the corrective actions demanded were properly made, the members said.
After the announcement, ADOR issued a statement expressing regret over the group’s decision. even before it gave a response to the demand letter and without sufficient consideration.
While stressing it has not violated any terms, ADOR claimed that the contract with NewJeans remains valid.
With both sides in disagreement, industry insiders say a lawsuit seems unavoidable, and since legal steps are needed to end the contract, a long court battle is likely ahead.
Meanwhile, lawyer Lee Hyun-gon suggested that NewJeans could terminate the contract without legal action.
In this case, it would be ADOR’s responsibility to file a lawsuit against NewJeans while the group waits for the outcome.
He also pointed out that HYBE had previously unilaterally notified Min of the termination of their shareholder agreement.
Shin Ha-young, Arirang News.
source : https://www.arirang.com/news/view?id=278523
