K-pop agency Source Music, a subsidiary of HYBE Labels, has filed a lawsuit against fellow subsidiary ADOR’s CEO Min Hee-jin.
On July 15, Sports Seoul reported that Source Music had filed a lawsuit against Min at the Seoul Western District Court. According to the report, the agency is seeking KRW500million (roughly US$360,000) in damages for defamation and interfering with business. The agency later confirmed that it had filed a lawsuit against Min, per The Korea Times.
The lawsuit comes after a months-long feud between Min and ADOR’s parent company HYBE, over which she made several claims against the company, some involving Source Music during two press conferences in April.
According to Min in an April 2024 statement, her conflict with HYBE stemmed from it “undermining” the success of ADOR girl group NewJeans.
Per Billboard, she claimed that the group she was forming – which would later become NewJeans – under Source Music while serving as HYBE’s Chief Brand Officer was “pushed aside” in favour of girl group LE SSERAFIM after it secured contracts with members Sakura and Chaewon, who were former members of popular project group IZ*ONE. According to Min, this was what led her to establish ADOR.
She also made public remarks about Source Music’s talent casting, saying that NewJeans’ Minji (previously a Source Music trainee) was the only trainee from the label that she wanted to recruit, and that she had casted the remaining NewJeans members herself.
In a statement to Billboard, Source Music stated: “The label’s accusations primarily include three complaints: (A) Min claimed that she personally selected the members of NewJeans as trainees (B) Min claimed that the company unilaterally broke its promise to debut NewJeans as HYBE’s first girl group and (C) Min claimed Source Music neglected the members of NewJeans.”
The label added: “The members of NewJeans have been trained under Source Music. And it was Source Music, not Min as an individual, who chose them as trainees.”
Source Music is the second HYBE subsidiary to file a lawsuit against Min, after Belift Lab sued the CEO for defamation back in May for claiming that its girl group ILLIT had plagiarised from NewJeans. At the time of publishing, Min has not publicly addressed either label’s lawsuit against her.
Earlier this month, Min was spotted leaving a police station in Seoul after eight hours of questioning regarding her feud with HYBE. The agency has made allegations of breach of trust against her, and claimed that she was attempting “take control” of ADOR. Speaking to reporters at the scene, the CEO said she has denied HYBE’s allegations of breach of trust against her. “It couldn’t have been breach of trust. It just seems like comedy to me,” she said.
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