On May 18th, Director Shin posted on his Instagram, “Should I say it’s funny? The blow that the No.1 entertainment company in our country pulled out after much deliberation is nothing more than someone criticizing someone. I wish the end of that article had been at least funny.”
He continued, “It’s neither funny nor makes sense. I don’t even know what they were trying to say with such attacks. Who were they trying to estrange with such endless tattling? If you give a group that debuted just a year ago a-year-and-a-half vacation, during that time, someone will be remembered, and someone might be forgotten.”
Director Shin questioned, “Who do they want to be remembered during that time? Over the noisy past period, I quietly watched, hoping that CEO Min Hee-jin wouldn’t get hurt because it was a fight that was difficult for an ignorant person like me to understand. But today’s article is truly perplexing and ridiculous.“
He added, “As someone who knows how CEO Min Hee-jin thinks about the kids better than anyone, I write this with a heavy and frustrated heart. I only feel sorry for the kids.”
On May 17th, the Seoul Central District Court held a hearing on Min Hee-jin’s injunction to prohibit voting rights against the parent company HYBE. Representatives from law firm Sejong (representing ADOR) and law firm Kim & Chang (representing HYBE) attended. Min Hee-jin did not attend.
During the hearing, HYBE claimed, “What Min Hee-jin is interested in is not NewJeans itself, but the money NewJeans has earned. Despite claiming to see NewJeans as if she were their mother, she has made derogatory remarks like ‘It’s hard to take care of NewJeans’, ‘It’s difficult to treat NewJeans as artists’ and ‘They succeeded thanks to me’.“
Conversely, ADOR argued, “NewJeans wants to stay with Min Hee-jin. HYBE mentioned a long vacation for NewJeans after April 16th. NewJeans members and their legal representatives are naturally scared. Dismissing Min Hee-jin would cause irreparable damage not only to herself but also to NewJeans and ADOR.“
