Interview with Min Hee-jin: Gfriend’s Disbandment Has Nothing to Do with Her

On April 25th in the afternoon, CEO Min Hee-jin urgently held a press conference to officially announce her stance on the ongoing feud between ADOR and HYBE.

The CEO brought up rumors that she had been “stealing trainees”from Source Music, the agency of Gfriend, which ultimately resulted in the company accumulating significant debts and ultimately leading to the disbandment of Gfriend.

Min Hee-jin specifically highlighted that the initial process of choosing trainees for HYBE’s first girl group was flawed. She mentioned the existence of a group called Gfriend at Source Music, but clarified that the decision to disband them was not her responsibility. She emphasized that her main focus is solely on her own work and she is not concerned with others.

The CEO of ADOR elaborated, stating that a female label needed to be established. In a time-sensitive scenario where a girl group needed to be formed quickly, Chairman Bang proposed, “We have some pre-trained trainees available.”Initially, I expressed my disapproval. However, due to their persistent suggestions, I decided to be accommodating. I believed it was important to do my best to adapt and fit in.

In addition, Min Hee-jin revealed that she had also experienced conflicts with HYBE regarding the debut of their first girl group. She stated that the original plan was for NewJeans to debut first, but they were unexpectedly preceded by LE SSERAFIM.

“I was informed that HYBE wanted the first girl group from Source Music to also be the first girl group under their label. The group was planned to include Sakura and Kim Chaewon. Initially, NewJeans was supposed to be HYBE’s debut girl group, but plans changed and the project was transformed into Min Hee-jin’s girl group.”

In addition to her complaints about the numerous injustices she faced under HYBE, Min Hee-jin expressed her disbelief that Park Ji-won (HYBE’s CEO) had asked her to delay promoting Newjeans until after LE SSERAFIM’s debut. She stated, “He was concerned that people might mistake LE SSERAFIM as my girl group. But we had already accepted the members of NewJeans. I couldn’t give up on them.”

Earlier, HYBE initiated an investigation upon suspicion that CEO Min Hee-jin and ADOR executive A were trying to take control of ADOR and break away from the company. It has been stated that the HYBE audit team visited ADOR’s management office and retrieved the company’s computer assets.

According to the interim audit results released by HYBE on the morning of April 25, it was confirmed that a plan to gain control of management was put in place, led by the CEO of ADOR and supported by physical evidence. An executive from ADOR also acknowledged submitting information assets, including records of communication with investors, as evidence and creating documents to attack HYBE for this purpose.

The source for this information is Nate (//news.nate.com/view/20240425n28673?mid=n1008).