Min Hee-jin Reveals Full Story Of The Allegation Of Covering Up Sexual Harassment In ADOR

Late at night on July 30th, Min Hee-jin released a detailed explanation of the recent incident in which she was accused of covering up sexual harassment within her company, ADOR, with evidence. She started with, “I would like to use my personal space to share the accurate details and truth about the sexual harassment cover-up allegation. I hope everyone will stop making random remarks and speculations about the issue after reading this”.

Sharing screenshots of Kakaotalk conversations between her and the people involved, the female CEO said, “I know that the conflict between me and HYBE has developed in such a strange way. I apologize for that”, adding “I believe that this matter, which had already been wrapped up with HYBE’s investigation and conclusion, was brought up at the wrong time with a distorted view. Therefore, I felt the need to correct it because I, the parties involved as well as advertisers are suffering secondary damage”.

◆ Polite refusal OR Wanted To Go But Hesitant

According to CEO Min Hee-jin, director A was appointed to ADOR in February so he began to get to know the members of the company as well as their external partners. During a meeting with advertiser C, which was attended by B, a person in charge of advertising and partnerships, they discussed the idea of having a dinner together after the Lunar New Year. A suggested that B should join his dinner with C because B had been in charge of communicating with the advertiser and that would help B understand the situation and discuss a long-term partnership better.

At that time, B politely refused to join the dinner by saying “I feel like my presence might not suit the dinner meeting”, but A did not realize that and thought B wanted to attend the dinner but she was hesitant. In the end, director A proceeded with proposing a dinner meeting with advertiser C and selecting a restaurant as normal.

◆ A’s absence due to an emergency meeting, B made a report after the meeting

On February 15th, A received a call that there was an urgent meeting related to the Tokyo Dome fanmeeting while heading to the place of their appointment. However, since the appointment could not be canceled, A decided to leave in the middle of the meal.

A explained the situation to B, asked B to wrap up the meal then visited the store and apologized to advertiser C for having to leave early. A left at around 7 p.m. to return to the office, while B stayed to conclude the meeting. At 9 p.m. A texted B, saying “When talking to C, focus on the mid-to-long-term vision”. At 10:30 p.m., B reported the result of the dinner meeting to A, saying “I already shared the details about our mid-to-long-term product collaboration”.

◆ A’s work guidance, B’s report after conflict

A month later, B suddenly decided to leave the company due to an issue between A and B regarding the personnel evaluation before the six-month apprenticeship program came to an end. A had been guiding B and he even criticized B with the intention of helping her improve so that she could successfully complete the apprenticeship program and receive a good evaluation.

On the other hand, B felt that A was interfering with her tasks too much. She believed that A didn’t like her and wanted to make her receive bad performance reviews. Their misunderstandings eventually led to a conflict and B considered quitting the job. On March 7th, B filed a complaint against A for harassment at the workplace and sexual harassment. HYBE then launched an investigation and closed the case on March 16th with a conclusion that thể was no evidence to prove the accusation. 

B was not satisfied with the investigation result so she informed CEO Min Hee-jin of her intention to leave the company on March 20th. CEO Min listened to B’s situation then suggested that B and A should talk to each other to resolve misunderstandings and even offered to accompany B if they were scared to be alone with A. Min Hee-jin recommended B stay with ADOR by assigning her to another position, and B expressed her gratitude for that.

◆ Did Min Hee-jin only protect the director? She actually scolded A a lot

In the messages Min Hee-jin disclosed, it is clearly shown that she strongly criticized director A’s mistake. The female CEO also investigated the details of the incident. After pointing out A’s attitude and the way he handled the situation, Min Hee-jin urged A to prevent recurrence. Min Hee-jin said, “I was very angry after hearing B’s situation and scolded A on the phone for two hours”.

CEO Min Hee-jin shared the situation with B as well, saying “I scolded A. I hope you can go back to work this December and you and A can get along again”. B pressed the sad emoticon and replied, “It’s such an honor to have the CEO embrace me like this”.

In conclusion, CEO Min Hee-jin tried to listen to both A and B’s opinions to understand the situation as much as possible. She shared, “I knew both of them well, including their personalities, abilities at work and the context of the situation, so I wanted to resolve their misunderstandings. Human relationships aren’t simple and easy to deal with. Misunderstandings can occur at any time”. 

From the messages she disclosed, the female CEO always tried to be neutral and respond to both sides without a biased attitude. There is no sign of her covering up the case and she even attempted to have a face-to-face meeting to understand her people better. 

Lastly, CEO Min Hee-jin said, “I believe that B, who has already left the company, is feeling very uncomfortable about the current situation as the suspicions spread, just like I am. I hope this meaningless controversy and debate will end here and people will refrain from making further speculations about the people involved. I wish happiness for all of us, including A, B and myself”.