The Backbreaking Interview
Author’s note: This is part of a series of posts which details the conflict between HYBE and ADOR.
Part 3. Min Hee-Jin’s rather chaotic [bombshell] response
A brief summary for those who have not caught on this whole feud. On the 22nd of April, South Korean entertainment label HYBE announced a public audit of one of its labels, ADOR, and asked for its CEO, the controversial Min Hee Jin to step down from her position. In response, ADOR released a statement to establish its position regarding the matter, not to mention that it wants to set its focus on the pending comeback of its sole K-Pop group, NewJeans.
We are now at a point when Min Hee Jin is about to set up a personal response that would have a rippling effect to the events that would follow.
On the 24th of April, Ilgan Sports released an article in which Min supposedly answered some of the concerns surrounding HYBE’s audit and its call for Min’s resignation as CEO of ADOR.
Via a phone interview, Min responded to the things hurled against her by HYBE and the upcoming internal audit of the company. Some of them were actually quoted directly by the news outlet (for which I relied on machine translation), with the important points as follows:
- Min denied all allegations of a company takeover, and grounds her response on the fact that her status at ADOR makes it impossible for her to do so if ever she wanted to. In this interview, Min said (and I quote)
I have never met with any investors to seize HYBE’s management rights (in ADOR). I have never tried to steal executive rights like HYBE claims. How can I do that with my 18% equity (in ADOR)? Because HYBE has 80% equity, it is impossible for me to seize the management rights. It is also impossible for ADOR to leave HYBE without their consent. It is hard to understand why HYBE is claiming the impossible. [1]
This in fact stands to be self-evident. No person in his or her right mind would ever think of seizing management rights and a company altogether if all one has are minority shares. In other words, if the objective is a company takeover, then it is not enough that one is in it, or one has shares in it; there must be some other factor for the takeover to be in effect.
Moreover, it seems that there is no indication what Min’s internal complaint is all about, but it seems to point to the accusations of ILLIT plagiarizing the concept and music of NewJeans, which belong to ADOR.
If money was the goal, we would not have filed such a whistleblowing or objection in the first place. It seems that [HYBE] has framed it as acquiring management rights. Didn’t the Fifty Fifty incident become a precedent? I don’t do stupid things like that.”[2]
An important reference here would be the famous Fifty Fifty incident, referring to a recently formed K-Pop group which became a hit, but encountered problems regarding management and the way it handled profit and business matters. The four-piece girl group became famous with their hit single CUPID, but failed to follow because of allegations of abuse and fraud filed by the members’ families against their label, ATTRAKT. Though the agency was cleared of charges, three of the four members have terminated their contracts. As of press time, a new Fifty Fifty is in development.
Min’s response, however, did not end with that interview. On the afternoon of that same day, the ADOR CEO called for a press conference to directly address HYBE’s accusations against ADOR and the pending investigation, as well as the company’s request that she step down as CEO. This turned out to be a controversial, confusing, and troublesome interview, as many things that provoke scandal and controversy broke out in that conference which lasted for almost three hours.
For the benefit of readers, I quote and comment on some important parts of the interview, with corresponding timestamps (not in the video, but in realtime). Note that I would only highlight parts of the interview that are pertinent to the issue and are actually grounded on facts. Any speculations outside the issue would have to be cut off or put in footnotes.
However, for those who want to see it in full, one may look at the Korea Joongang Daily transcription (which was updated real-time in the course of the interview) or the fully translated YouTube video, which I link below.
3:15pm KST
“I did not expect that such attention would be focused on me. I never expected that they would monitor my KakaoTalk chats and want to kill me. I am eager to speak, so it would be strange for me not to. I resorted to holding this event at such a short notice. They’re hitting me with the ‘management seize’ frame, but I just cannot agree. I know that’s what you read, but when I speak about the plagiarism issue, it’s like people dismiss me and think I’m talking about something completely different.”
Min’s “actual” opening (done after all those complaints regarding press cameras, gave us her actual perception. She went on about the plagiarism issue, and thinks that HYBE was out to get her because of that. There is also an insinuation that HYBE was into something improper because her chats are being monitored.
3:17pm KST
I made an internal report, which I hoped would be addressed formally by the company. So many things have stemmed from there, so there are stories that I wanted to tell.
She raises the internal report at this point, but without disclosing what it is.
3:22pm KST
They said that I said something ‘along the lines of’ BTS copying me, which has worked to build up a certain frame against me,” referring to recent claims that the ADOR executive emulated the work of previous K-pop bands for NewJeans. […] I know that this may be the last chance for me to speak out like this. I joined Big Hit Entertainment as the chief brand officer, not Source Music.
This is in response to the backlash that her comment on plagiarism between NewJeans and ILLIT received. Min was quoted somewhere saying that [Former Big Hit Entertainment CEO] Bang Shi-Hyuk copied from her the concept of BTS. But what is more relevant here is that Min looks back at how she landed on HYBE and subsequently in ADOR. There was mention of Source Music because there has been a plan for her to manage a girl group that will be under Source Music (one of the labels under HYBE which currently manages five-piece girl group LE SSERAFIM).
3:42pm KST
There were a lot of applicants, but not many that we could cast. The other three trainees were cast after we started another round under the motto ‘BTS’s girl group.’ Danielle, Haerin then Hyein joined us. I had control because I was in charge of the creative work. There were trainees other than the NewJeans members, but I pushed through because I thought they would be a good fit.”
Min details, even from preceding lines, how she ended up with NewJeans. According to her, Bang wanted her to work within Source Music, but because she was not comfortable with the way the label ran during that time (having disbanded 6-piece K-Pop girl group GFRIEND and with plans to launch girl group LE SSERAFIM),[4] Min was later asked to start from scratch with a new label. It was then that she formed NewJeans, with, at first four trainees (the three mentioned above from Source Music, with Hanni Pham added when HYBE formed ADOR for Min), and a Source Music trainee, Minji. Eventually, NewJeans became the sole K-Pop girl group that ADOR handles.
3:44pm KST
[Bang] Si-hyuk said that he didn’t know what to say, but I had a clear vision of what I wanted to do. [Bang] Si-hyuk didn’t really like it. There were differences, but the moment that it fell apart was…HYBE really needs to look back on its actions. How could you treat me like this?’ What angers me so much is in June, or July, in 2021, soon after Park Ji-won joined a young company from a game company, he wanted to become close to me, so we became friends. We’re similar ages, too. Ji-won and [Source Music Founder So] Sung-jin said that HYBE’s first girl group would have to be a new girl group from Source Music with Sakura and [Kim] Chae-won. I swore at them, saying, ‘Are you out of your minds?’ The trainees all came to me because it was going to be a Min Hee-jin girl group, not a Source Music girl group. I never knew that they were recruiting Sakura and Kim Chae-won, but then they said they were debuting that group first. I said I was going to quit and open a press conference. Park Ji-won asked me what he could do to make up for the situation.
Hence, the explanation above. As Min narrates, her concept and idea was the reason why NewJeans was born, something that probably Source Music and its concepts did not buy or have not bought. In any case, Min saw this as the point in which she and Bang had a conflict regarding the promotion of NewJeans as a separate girl group from Source Music, with Min wanting to have decisions over their promotion and, at least, the approval of HYBE in doing so.
4:03pm KST
Min turns to recent allegations that she was coached by a shaman. “I asked [the shaman] because I was just so curious. How were we to plan our steps if the company’s ace team was going to the military or not? I’m going to report HYBE for privacy infringement. They’re censoring my messages. She is my friend. Can I not have a shaman friend?”
There were allegations that ADOR’s corporate moves were motivated by Min’s consultations with a shaman. And it appears that in this response, she confirms it but downplays its role. And while this is a seemingly irrelevant issue, it has become a big factor due to the claim that most of Min’s decisions related to HYBE is not only through the advice of this shaman, but also involves the seven-member boy band BTS.
4:07 pm KST
Min, sobbing, scrolls through more text messages on the screen. “The mother of a member called me and said that I should tell my story because I’m being witch-hunted. They knew that HYBE was trying to make me the witch and Source Music the victim. I would not have made an internal report if it were about money. I can make 100 billion won [$72.8 million] without doing any of this. I’m doing this because I have to speak out. This is me. This is why I’m going through all this. Why would a mother say this? Why can I not be protected? Why do I have to be used by Park Ji-won, by Bang Si-hyuk? I did everything that I could. Everyone who’s worked with me knows how I work. Do I look like such a person to you?”
Nothing can be said here further except that the issues truly have become conflated. On one hand, there is the issue on stock shares, which Min tries to downplay at this point. On the other hand, there is the concern over NewJeans which comes ambiguously (once she raised the matter about her being the “mother” of NewJeans): is it about management rights or the ILLIT plagiarism? All this is very unclear.
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What is clear, however, is that as the days have gone by, Min’s relationship with HYBE has turned completely sour. Who is at fault in the eyes of the court and the public, however, remains to be a question.
4:10 pm KST
“From early this year, we’re working on the details because there are unfair terms in the contract,” Min’s attorney Timothy SK Lee cuts in. “We cannot say what they are because of the confidentiality clause.”
Things have gotten sketchier because Min is bringing up to the public matters that were covered by confidentiality clauses in relation to her contract with HYBE. Min was about to raise the point about her stock shares and how, at the same time, the contract was framed in such a way that she would never be able to leave HYBE. Again, this is quite confusing because later on she would once again say how she is going to work with HYBE stabbing NewJeans and ADOR at the back because of this plagiarism issue, within the context of this questionable contract terms.
4:13 pm KST
Min, unperturbed, presses on. “I do have a business mind. But I majored in art, so I don’t know the contract terms. It’s confusing. So a venture capitalist friend, who I know, I asked what happened with the 5 percent, and that’s how I got in contact with [law firm] Kim & Shin. Then HYBE turned that into me ‘consulting an outside consultant.’ But what on earth did I discuss with an investor? I could never leave HYBE, should things go there. They could starve me to death. See how they copied ILLIT? But this is my personal thought. I trusted them and signed the contract. That’s how I got into this mess.”
More incoherence coming from Min at this point, and at a time in which her lawyer (SK Lee) advised her to not stay things that are inappropriate for the press conference. There are things there that only the courts should hear, but it seems that Min has none of it and would want the public to hear.
4:40 pm KST
“Did Bang Si-hyuk ask to see you?” MTN asks. “No,” Min replies. “Did you ask to meet him?” MTN asks. “Park Ji-won is in the middle, and I’m sorry to say this, but it’s like how married couples don’t want to see each other before their divorce. Our relationship worsened because of Le Sserafim. I’m sorry, but we never met afterward.”
That married couple metaphor which seems to subsist in the conversation reveals that Min and Bang seem to have a conflict that HYBE CEO Park Ji Won tried to mitigate, with him acting as mediator to the two parties. And it seems that this has been a long thing going, as early as the time when LE SSERAFIM debuted in the year 2022, following a turbulent issue with one of their members, Kim Garam.
4:50pm KST
“NewJeans and I have something more than what you would know. They always tell me that they thank me and love me. Hanni told me that she’d come over to me. Haerin is usually like a cat and doesn’t speak a lot, but she called me and told me that she couldn’t come up with the words to text me. She said that she just wanted to hear my voice. Haerin cried for 20 whole minutes” Min bursts into tears. “She told me that she thanks me so much because I helped her through hard times. She said that she wants to tell everyone what happened. The members’ mothers are so worried that I’m going to kill myself. But why would I? I’m going to say everything that I have in my heart. Do you know what Park Ji-won said to the mothers? He said that he’s not going to talk to them, just to ADOR. And they say that they care about NewJeans? I don’t care whether they sue me for libel.”
This was Min’s answer when Yonhap News asked her regarding her relationship with the members. This was rather odd and incongruent, because prior to this, when she was talking about the plagiarism issue with ILLIT, she says that “it’s the adults who were [at fault].”[3] Now that she had to answer regarding her relationship with the members, it was now that she brought up Kim Minji (one of the members of NewJeans) and the parents’ reaction.
4:53pm KST
Min is asked if she plans to break her contract with HYBE. “No, not at all,” she says. “How could you ask me that? The reason I came forward today is because NewJeans content comes out tomorrow. I knew that if I didn’t say anything today then people would talk badly about them tomorrow.”
The question to Min was rather ambiguous, and it seems that it was particularly regarding the contract of NewJeans (which is under HYBE, and it would be very difficult to release the band from its legal obligations with the company) and not at Min herself (whose termination as CEO seems to be looming). However, I think Min here means that she will still honor the obligations that NewJeans has toward HYBE, and claims that the reason she had this press conference is to keep the promotion and band activities out of the issue at hand.
4:55 pm KST
“What’s with ‘Project 1945?’” Min is asked. “It wasn’t a conversation. It was just a memo by the vice CEO,” lawyer Timothy SK Lee says. “They came to me and cried yesterday,” Min cuts in. “They thought that I was going to kill myself after the attorneys’ meeting the previous day.”
Some research as to why the “project” was dubbed as “1945” reveals that it was the year that South Korea was liberated from oppressive Japan during that time, and it seems that there was leaked information about ADOR and Min (as CEO) breaking away from HYBE. Further context regarding this was given in the next quote.
4:59 pm KST
“Where did the memo come from?” Min is asked. “The renegotiation of the contract didn’t go well, regarding both the company and NewJeans,” Min’s attorney Timothy SK Lee says. “It’s just a memo with an individual’s thoughts jotted down.”
From this, we can conclude that there was a negotiation and that it fell apart, and that it has become the cause or motivation for Min to commence with the breakaway. However, if we connect these events, then it makes no sense as to why Min would raise the issue over ILLIT; at this point, it seems to be a catalyst to the situation going public.
5:10 pm KST
Min begins to wrap up. “I thank the reporters. I’m not trying to say that I’m the right one. I just wanted to say things candidly. It’s really not about the money. I’m not taking this lightly — what would it have taken to push someone to do this? Imagine yourself being bound to one company forever, wouldn’t that suffocate you? You think of ways you can break free. Some days you feel good, and some days you don’t. But it was just a talk among us on KakaoTalk and the memos that we wrote in between. Our relationship is bad, but I saw what happened with Fifty Fifty. I’m not dumb. If Park Ji-won and Bang Si-hyuk had even once said, why ‘Are you doing this?’ Then I could’ve talked. But I had to resort to an internal report because they never listened to us.”
This long conclusion (of sorts) sounds surprising, given that there is some form of incoherence. On one hand, there are things which she says are out of her knowledge, but on the other hand, she does not want to be treated as if she doesn’t know how situations like this would go, especially that she was aware of the “Fifty Fifty” situation, and that her supposed status at HYBE would make it difficult for her to leave the company freely. Also, more than just this explicit show of the fact that her relationship with Bang and Park have gone on the rocks, what is more important is that Min never denied the allegations of the takeover, but merely dismissed them as internal discussions.
5:12 pm KST
“We received a letter from HYBE [asking] to hold a shareholders meeting,” lawyer Lee Sook-mi says. “We were surprised that a management-seizing attempt made the news, because it’s impossible when a company has 80 percent of the shares. I made a divorce analogy, but they’re making a frame out of the very personal things that were said in a divorce fight.”
Min’s lawyer, strangely enough after seeing how Min herself said things that weren’t supposed to be disclosed in public, affirmed that the issue is about business matters (given the issue with ILLIT and Belift Lab). However, the direction that Min’s legal advice will take is very clear from this quote, and that is responding to the public announcement of an audit that HYBE was made, which, for them, is supposed to have been done internally.
5:16pm KST
“We told you that we were renegotiating the contract, but the ILLIT thing made thing worse,” attorney Timothy SK Lee concludes. “We asked her not to make the internal report because it would worsen their relationships. She went forward because she said that she wanted to make things right.”
The interview concluded with this statement by Min’s lawyer, which also reveals what seems to be Min’s intentions.
In summary, we see that what the press conference does is a mere affirmation of Min’s defense against HYBE, coupled with certain allegations which we can go into detail later. The important points are as follows:
- Min revealed text messages which indicate a sour relationship between HYBE’s Bang Shi Hyuk and herself. Current CEO Park Ji-Won tried to mediate but it seems that things have gotten worse, particularly with regard to the management of NewJeans
- It is not clear whether Min would press charges concerning ILLIT; instead, it is slanted toward management and financial issues. What seems to be at hand is her contract with HYBE and how her stock options are shaped by it (more on this later), but it has been conflated with several issues already.
- Min is not bent on leaving HYBE but trying to obtain a certain level of autonomy for ADOR to operate.
- And above all, there is a vague refutation of the hostile takeover.
I am going to save HYBE’s full response in a separate post, while continuing to follow the storyline so far.
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[1] This translation comes from the article released by Koreaboo, which seems to have excluded other things in the interview.
[2] Since some of the quotes were taken directly from the Ilgan Sports article originally published in Korean, I had to machine translate the majority of the article into English and reappropriated some terms for clarity and context.
[3] The exact translation by JoongAng Daily was that “the adults have sinned.” I’m not sure whether Min really gives a figurative slant to that description or it is just a literal translation (or both).
[4] After GFRIEND’s successful release and promotion of the 回 trilogy, the members found out that they were disbanded by SOURCE Music by announcing that their contracts will not be renewed. However, Eunha, SinB, and Eumji debuted under a new management, BPM Entertainment, as VIVIZ, on 9 February 2022.
