HYBE Faces Backlash Over Internal Report with Defamatory Comments on SM; Belift Lab CEO Responds

On October 24, Kim Tae-ho, who serves as the CEO of Belift Lab and Chief Communications Officer (CCO) at HYBE, testified during a thorough audit conducted by the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul. This audit highlighted various concerns, including allegations regarding HYBE’s aggressive album sales tactics and claims of ILLIT plagiarizing NewJeans.

During the proceedings, Democratic Party Representative Min Hyung-bae released a document obtained from HYBE’s “Weekly Music Industry Report.”To this, CEO Kim responded, stating, “As a participant in the K-pop sector, we diligently track public sentiment regarding HYBE artists and the K-pop scene in general,” further noting that “this document falls under those monitoring efforts.”

The document in question, categorized as an industry trend analysis, included striking commentary on appearances, stating remarks like “the debuting members, introduced at an age known for lack of attractiveness, lack the features expected of idols,” “noteworthy trends concerning appearance and sexual appeal,” “astonishingly, none of them are considered beautiful,” “given the shock of XX’s debut appearance, I wonder if SM’s aesthetic standards have shifted,” and “other members are surprisingly not appealing.”

In response, CEO Kim stated, “I don’t specifically recall the details of that document,” explaining, “we generate numerous such monitoring reports.” When challenged about the negative descriptions relating to lesser-known groups, Kim Tae-ho maintained, “These do not reflect HYBE’s official stance or view. We recognize that these are aggregations of comments from online platforms used for monitoring.”

Representative Min Hyung-bae reiterated that these excerpts were derived from an official document. Culture Minister Yoo In-chon also remarked, “The language appears excessively harsh and inappropriate.”