On August 2, the legal representative of Bunnies (fandom of NewJeans) stated, “Our office, on behalf of Bunnies, has filed a complaint with the Seoul Yongsan Police Station against HYBE, Source Music, and Dispatch for violating the Personal Information Protection Act and the Information and Communications Network Act due to the information leak and defamation caused by articles.”
They continued, “Even though HYBE is the parent company of ADOR, they cannot unlawfully collect or leak personal information about the CEO of its subsidiary or its artists, nor can they leak confidential information acquired through their duties to third parties. The same applies to Source Music, another subsidiary of HYBE. Furthermore, articles written based on illegally collected and leaked personal information are being spread online, leading to severe defamation of NewJeans, with the harm continuing to grow.”
The statement emphasized, “The continuous false accusations and criticism against NewJeans, stemming from these illegal acts, are causing significant damage and harm to the young artists. The Bunnies fandom has united to rectify this through the strict application of the law, leading to the filing of this complaint.”
Earlier, Dispatch and other media outlets reported on parts of a KakaoTalk conversation between former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin, an ADOR executive referred to as A, and a shaman. These reports also claimed that Min Hee-jin had poached trainees from Source Music, based on materials from the time when NewJeans members were Source Music trainees.
Lawyer Lee Hyun-gon from Saeol Law Office commented, “If the leaked KakaoTalk conversation was provided by internal HYBE personnel, it constitutes a serious breach of personal information. Writing an article knowing the intent behind this leak could also be considered an illegal act.”
An anonymous legal expert added, “Reporting false information without the consent of the parties involved, using videos and data that only an insider could access, could be considered defamation and an infringement of personal rights. The company responsible for leaking this information may also be in violation of the Personal Information Protection Act.”
Finally, a representative from NewJeans’ fandom stated, “Following this complaint, we will continue to file third-party complaints against malicious posts related to NewJeans. We have already classified and collected thousands of such posts and have hired two additional professional lawyers to file complaints in order of their likelihood of prosecution.”
The representative also mentioned, “We will protect NewJeans at all costs and aim to make it clear to HYBE that the fandom is a force to be reckoned with. We are also preparing several other actions beyond this complaint, which we cannot disclose at this time.”
Source: Naver
