HYBE Responds to Min Hee Jin’s Defamation Claims and Plans to File Counter-Lawsuit Against ADOR CEO

An official statement from HYBE has refuted Min Hee Jin’s allegations in her lawsuit against the company’s executives for alleged defamation and illegal acquisition of her personal messages.

HYBE Refutes Min Hee Jin's Defamation Claims + To File Counter-Lawsuit Against ADOR CEO — (Photo : Naver)

On July 23, Dispatch claimed that Min Hee Jin had sought advice from a shaman. According to sources, the ADOR CEO had asked for the expansion of her responsibilities in regards to Source Music trainees, who later went on to debut as the members of NewJeans.

Additionally, Dispatch stated that the request was approved by both Bang Si Hyuk and Source Music CEO So Sung Jin. They also alleged that Min Hee Jin was previously involved in the branding management for Source Music’s “N-team”project.

Despite the outlet’s disclosure, it was revealed that Min Hee Jin had supposedly postponed N team’s debut in order to introduce NewJeans.

Despite the allegations, Min Hee Jin, CEO of ADOR, strongly refuted the reports and stated that they were misleading. She also mentioned that legal measures would be taken against these false claims. Furthermore, she emphasized that the accusations were based on illegally obtained personal messages on her KakaoTalk.

After that, Min Hee Jin filed a lawsuit against five HYBE executives: Park Ji Won (CEO), Lee Kyung Joon (Chief Financial Officer), Lim Soo Hyun (Audit Committee Chairman), Park Tae Hee (Chief Communication Officer), and Jung Jin Soo (Chief Legal Officer).

On July 24, HYBE firmly stated its position in response to the claims made by Min Hee Jin. The statement from HYBE refuted all of the allegations made by the ADOR CEO.

“We would like to inform you about the allegations made by ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin and others who are suing HYBE’s management. CEO Min Hee Jin has not submitted any information assets such as laptops to HYBE, and she hasn’t responded to any audits.

Two deputy CEOs who have voluntarily submitted information assets with their consent and these were not obtained under pressure. During the preliminary injunction hearing in court, we revealed that we have not forensically examined a laptop that Min Hee Jin returned in the past.

CEO Min Hee Jin has also sent several documents associated with work, which also include transcripts of conversations with shamans via her HYBE email account, which remains on the company’s servers.

The external recipient of this email was identified as a high-ranking official of supplier B. Min Hee Jin also agreed to the processing of her personal information when she joined HYBE, and this was shared during the preliminary injunction hearing.

We would also like to inform you that we will respond to Min Hee Jin and others who have sued us with accusations based on false information despite our attempts to clarify the acquisition of information several times.”