Additional position from Min Hee-jin’s side “Illegal money? No, it’s fairly received compensation”

In an additional statement released on the afternoon of May 10th, ADOR expressed, “In response to HYBE’s statement attempting to cover up yesterday’s unfortunate incident of a late-night audit of female employees, we aim to clarify the accurate facts to prevent further controversy.“

ADOR claimed, “This issue stemmed from HYBE’s lack of understanding regarding the work and treatment of stylists. Key talents in creative fields such as design, choreography and styling often generate higher revenue when working as freelancers externally, rather than being employed by the company based on their capabilities. Therefore, a flexible compensation system is necessary to maintain such abilities in the real label business.”

ADOR explained, “Based on the philosophy that adequate compensation is necessary for talents who produce results, we have been providing high incentives commensurate with performance not only to this stylist but also to highly skilled talents. The expenses in question raised by HYBE are costs incurred by advertisers when using external freelance stylists, and the advertisers paid these to the stylists who performed the tasks.”

ADOR elaborated, “The receipt of these expenses was discussed among the CEO, vice-CEO and stylist, and it was deemed more efficient and of better quality for internal stylists to handle the work, so a fair payment was received from the advertisers. Sufficient evidence was submitted to HR.”

Moreover, they expressed, “We deeply regret that HYBE attempts to disguise the lawfully received compensation as illegal proceeds to cover up yesterday’s unfortunate incident.“

Earlier, ADOR had asserted in a statement released this morning that HYBE conducted an audit on the style directing team leader “A” in an illegal manner. ADOR argued that HYBE was making an issue out of A directly receiving money from advertisers, stating that since A did not cause financial loss to the company by receiving the same amount from advertisers instead of receiving incentives, embezzlement cannot be established.

In response, HYBE released a rebuttal statement, stating their intention to take civil and criminal actions against the receipt of funds approved by Min Hee-jin. HYBE rebutted ADOR’s claim that it is a common practice in the advertising industry and cannot constitute embezzlement, stating, “There is no practice where company employees directly gain hundreds of millions of won in profits from advertisers. What the CEO tolerated for years is not a custom but a clear violation of the law.” Additionally, they clarified, “The audit was conducted lawfully in a non-coercive atmosphere with the consent of the auditee.”