The Return
Author’s note: This is part of a series of posts which details the conflict between HYBE and ADOR, which, due to the change in management, has now been considered as a conflict between HYBE/ADOR & Min Hee Jin/NewJeans. I edited the format of the links for easier accessibility.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Interlude on Stocks | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14
Since the decision of 30 October was handed down to the five members of NewJeans, the trajectory of their career was more or less final. Unless there would be an intention to return to ADOR and fulfill their contract obligations, they could neither start a new career nor move to a new label until the year 2029. This could have meant three years of inactivity, without any uncertainty on how to proceed once their contracts expire.
This, however, did not stop them from having certain public appearances that are outside of their contract obligations. A photo of Hanni with a fan surfaced and has become an object of discussion in fan forums like Reddit, saying that this certain fan met her on Queensland (although this one was on August 2025). And while no other details were released regarding their next steps as a group and as individuals, it was an assurance for the fans that at least one of the members have been doing well despite the consequences of the court’s decision.
Danielle Marsh, among the rest, had more public appearances, being spotted on certain public events together with some celebrities and known figures. On 31 August 2025, she attended the TCS Sydney Marathon, participating and eventually finishing in the 10K category. But before that, she was spotted at the beginning of July having a morning run with Sean (Noh Seung-Hwan) of the rap duo Jinusean and actor Park Bo-Gum. A few months before, she was also at her sister Olivia Marsh’s Listening Party, entitled “Meanwhile in Seoul,” for her debut album 42. In fact, Olivia called her sister on the stage as they sang NewJean’s “Ditto” and her unreleased single “Interstellar.”
Outside of that, however, the public received no new updates of NewJeans members, save perhaps their existing brand advertisements. Thus, it was a surprise that on 12 November 2025, ADOR publicly announced that two of the members of NewJeans, Hyerin and Haein, decided to return to the company and fulfill their contract obligations. The official announcement of ADOR[1] during that date was as follows:
This is a statement from ADOR.
NewJeans’ members Haerin and Hyein have expressed their intent to continue their activities with ADOR.
After careful consideration and thorough discussions with their families, the two members have decided to respect the court’s ruling and uphold their exclusive contracts.
ADOR will do our utmost so that Haerin and Hyein can continue their entertainment activities smoothly.
We ask for the fans’ warm support and urge everyone to refrain from making unfounded speculations about the members.
Thank you.
While fans were surprised with this news, it cast a shadow both of doubt and anticipation. On one hand, the possible return of NewJeans seemed to be a gamechanger at this point in time, given that with the finality of the court decision, it appeared that no one would see the light of NewJeans until the expiration of their contract. On the other hand, the announcement that only two members were about to return meant that fans would have to brace for another announcement regarding some changes within the girl group.
Fears were quite allayed when on the same day, the three remaining members have released a separate statement which confirmed that they will be returning as well, thus completing the lineup of NewJeans. Through a separate announcement, cited in full below, Minji, Hanni, and Danielle have expressed their intentions, claiming that they weren’t able to do so since one of them was on a trip to Antarctica.
Hello. This is Minji, Hanni, and Danielle.
Recently, we decided on our return to ADOR after careful discussion. This was relayed late as one member is currently in Antarctica, but as ADOR is not responding at the moment, we are inevitably announcing this through a separate statement.
We will continue greeting you with sincere music and performances. Thank you.
As expected it drew the attention of fans, especially with the three members having to announce their return separately and ahead of ADOR. Why would these three remaining members have to send a separate message, when the whole group was returning? It gave the impression that ADOR sought the consent of the members of NewJeans one by one, and only two have expressed, without further qualifications, their desire to return. At the very least, the company could have waited in order to confirm that as one group, NewJeans intended to resume their activities with ADOR after that long legal battle for the dismissal of their contracts.
Others saw that these complications lie not on ADOR, but on the members of NewJeans themselves. There are those who say that there could be divided opinions and decisions among them, with the other three members thinking twice about returning. And on the lighter side of things, people were also speculating who was in Antarctica, with possible answers being either or Hanni or Danielle (it turned out that the latter was preparing for a marathon to be held on the continent, and thus was not able to respond right away). Though in the end, Korea Joong Ang Daily confirmed that it was Hanni, who, according to another source, was absent during a closed door meeting between ADOR and other NewJeans members with their families.
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In any case, it became official: NewJeans was about to return to the company, and for the first time since this big issue over their contracts became public, their decisions were detached from former ADOR Internal Director Min Hee-Jin. She himself recognized that in an interview over YouTube, in which she talked about her lawsuit against ADOR, as well as her alleged resignation from the board to become an internal director in charge of NewJeans, which was followed eventually by her own resignation and dissociation from ADOR.
However, it seemed that she put an asterisk over such move, saying that ADOR was giving the impression that they attempted to split the group due to the separate announcements made by their return. She also claimed that she was not in communication with the members of NewJeans anymore, which implied that the decision to return to ADOR was entirely theirs to make. Nevertheless, she stood by her position that ADOR should be the one apologizing to the members of NewJeans for what she considered as a mishap.
Just as the air seemed to clear and that the whole girl group was about to return, ADOR released a follow up statement that appeared to strike controversy once more. Through their official channels, they posted the following in Korean:
Following the finalization of the court ruling confirming the validity of the exclusive contracts, ADOR has held numerous discussions with Minji, Hanni, Danielle, and the families of the three members.
Hanni visited Korea together with her family and engaged in in-depth, extended discussions with ADOR. Through this process, they revisited past events and took time to view the situation objectively. After sincere and candid conversations, Hanni decided to respect the court’s ruling and continue working with ADOR.
Minji is also in ongoing discussions with ADOR, and both sides are continuously engaging in dialogue to broaden mutual understanding.
In the case of Danielle, ADOR determined that it would be difficult to continue working together as a NewJeans member and an ADOR artist, and therefore notified her today of the termination of her exclusive contract. In addition, ADOR plans to pursue legal responsibility against one member of Danielle’s family and former CEO Min Hee-jin, who bear significant responsibility for causing the current dispute and for the departure of NewJeans and the delay in their return.
Through these discussions, ADOR came to understand that the members had been exposed to distorted and biased information over a long period of time, which led to many misunderstandings about the company and ultimately to this dispute. ADOR and the artists share the view that, in order to regain the love of fans and the public, it is necessary, even if it takes some time, to fully resolve these misunderstandings based on accurate facts. They have also agreed to provide explanations regarding the various controversies that arose during the dispute at a later time, and are currently discussing the timing and manner of doing so.
ADOR will do its utmost to bring this matter to an amicable conclusion and to ensure that NewJeans can return to their fans as soon as possible.[2]
To make the long story short, it appears that ADOR had a dialogue with the families of these NewJeans members, and according to them, have discovered that the lines of communications were distorted. Interestingly, the mediation with the parents of Haerin and Hyein were not documented, and emphasized that of Minji and Hanni.
One could surmise that in the course of the investigations and court hearings, the families of Hyein and Haerin were, at the very least, already in contact with ADOR regarding their side of the issue. It could also be the case that the families of the other two members already had an inkling with what is going on (definitely with more information at hand compared to the families of the other three members), and were ready to reconcile with ADOR at an opportune time. However, these only remained as speculations that can be derived from this announcement.
What is more interesting, however, was that it wasn’t the case with Danielle. The company communicated to the public a final decision that seemed to be irrevocable, not to mention that ADOR mentioned not only her removal from the group due to a breach in the contract, but also a pending lawsuit. That left several questions, as there were no other details mentioned. Fans and followers alike were speculating on the reason, from unauthorized contract deals and loyalty to Min Hee Jin, to public appearances that were unwarranted (which excludes her marathon activities and the recent public fundraising event that she attended).
There were circumstantial details, however, that were publicly revealed, among them being that the lawsuit would penalize her for 43.1 billion KRW (around 30 million USD), and that a family member was involved. Danielle even had a new Instagram account, and went live to express her gratitude for the support of some Tokkis, the fanbase of NewJeans, until the very end. However, due to legal reasons, not one word about the cause for the lawsuit was disclosed. This was a complete opposite from the group’s battle against ADOR, in which every detail was made public just to sway opinion toward their side. And at the end of all this, prior to pending court hearings, the date of which was still unnanounced.
This part of the conflict between NewJeans and ADOR may have reached its end at this point, with Min Hee Jin dropping casual comments about ADOR and NewJeans but not having any real hold in the direction of their career (she just launched public advertisements for her new label One of a Kind [ooak] Records), and with the negotiation for the return of the four. But until the public does not have any detailed piece of information, or even new material from the “new” NewJeans, then everybody remains to be held in suspension.
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[1] Official statement of ADOR is found on their X account. The translation below is made by Soompi
[2] Translation of this text is found on this X account, while the official announcement is in the official X account of ADOR.
