📋 Source:

• ENG Translated Kakao Talk Image – The Bunny Association
• Materials Submitted on the Hearing Date for the Injunction to ‘Preserve Status of Management Agency and Prohibit Conclusion of Advertising Contracts, etc.’
• ChosunBiz | ILLIT Bows 90 Degrees to NewJeans’ ‘Hanni’… “It Was Min Hee-jin Who Framed It as ‘Ignore Her’”
• Ilgan Sports | An ILLIT Member Ignored Hanni? And ADOR Released That? [Jeon Hyung-hwa’s Straight Pen]

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Immediately after the ‘Ignore Her’ incident (June 2, 2024), ADOR submitted and released KakaoTalk messages exchanged between Hanni and CEO Min Hee-jin as evidence. In response, the NewJeans side also released parts of the screenshots.

However, the versions released by both sides are incomplete, and some media outlets showed a tendency to selectively report this conversation along with sensational headlines.

1. Conversation Record

Below is the conversation record reconstructed based on the screenshots released by both ADOR and NewJeans. This conversation consists of personal messages exchanged as Hanni reported the ‘Ignore Her’ incident to CEO Min Hee-jin, her superior at the time.

These conversation contents were illegally extracted by HYBE and ADOR from CEO Min Hee-jin’s work laptop and released without the consent of either party; they were subsequently disclosed during the injunction hearing on March 7, 2025.

The transcript below was reconstructed using screenshots released by the ADOR side and the NewJeans side, and the messages were arranged in the correct order as much as possible.

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‼️ Notes

• The released screenshots have been edited, so complete accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Words that appear to be typos have been transcribed to reflect the original delivery without arbitrary editing.
• The numbers in front of the messages are added for convenience and do not imply chronological order or that the entire conversation has been disclosed.

1) Hanni – 10:32 PM
Just… I was out in the 4th-floor hallway picking up the choreoㅠ and you know the elevator room!

2) Hanni – 10:33 PM
3 ILLIT members and one manager came out there, so I greeted them as I usually do!!

3) Hanni – 10:33 PM
The 4 of them went into the styling room, and I just stayed in the hallway!!

4) Hanni – 10:33 PM
Because it was almost departure time

5) Hanni – 10:33 PM
But about… 5-10 minutes later??..

6) Hanni – 10:34 PM
The 4 of them came out of the styling room again, I heard the door open, and then the manager on that side

7) Hanni – 10:34 PM
I heard [him/her] say, “Just pretend you don’t know her and walk past.”

8) Hanni – 10:35 PM
I don’t remember if those were the exact words, but it was roughly something like that

9) Hanni – 10:36 PM
So as they walked past, that manager didn’t look at me at all, and one member kept looking towards that manager and said “Yes, yes!”… something like “I’ll just pretend I don’t know her,” I think they said something like that

10) Min Hee-jin – 10:36 PM
But you greeted them?

11) Min Hee-jin – 10:36 PM
The manager ordered them not to accept your greeting.

12) Min Hee-jin – 10:36 PM
?

13) Hanni – 10:36 PM
One person greeted me kinda vaguely while avoiding my eyes, and the last person greeted me but it felt like they were walking on eggshells (reading the room).

14) Hanni – 10:36 PM
Reply to “The manager ordered them not to accept your greeting.”
I’m not sure

15) Hanni – 10:36 PM
I did!! I did [greet them]!!

16) Min Hee-jin
(Chat content is cut off and cannot be verified)

17) Hanni – 10:37 PM
Reply to “But what is the point where you felt strange?”
That the manager said such things…

18) Min Hee-jin – 10:37 PM
“Ignore her”

19) Min Hee-jin – 10:37 PM
This?

20) Hanni – 10:37 PM
Just… there’s no need for us to do that among ourselves

21) Hanni – 10:38 PM
It just felt a bit off personally because the manager said something like that

22) Min Hee-jin – 10:39 PM
Said it so you could hear

23) Min Hee-jin – 10:39 PM
Did everyone ignore you?

24) Hanni – 10:39 PM
Yes… they said that while coming out as I heard the door open

25) Min Hee-jin – 10:39 PM
Did all ILLIT members ignore you?

26) Hanni – 오후 11:04
see i totally understand why the girls would be uncomfortable and awkward when they see us because there’s been so much rivalry between our teams in the media and inside the company so i fully get that

* The messages below appear to have been spliced together, so the order is not clear.

27) Hanni
Rather than feeling bad about it, slightly… honestly speaking, it was funny

28) Hanni
Ah, I felt once again that we are working with really good people

29) Hanni
Because I really don’t care about those people at all

30) Hanni – 11:18 PM
If you are worrying about that, you don’t have to!!

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2. ADOR’s Submission of Edited Conversation Record to Court

The conversation record submitted by ADOR at the injunction hearing on March 7, 2025, was divided into 4 individual screenshots, but it appeared to have been arbitrarily edited without maintaining the order and flow of the conversation record.

2.1 Intentional Editing and Omission

There are clear traces of messages being selectively cut and omitted in the screenshots.

• Message 20 appears out of order (appears in both Screenshot 2 and 3).
• Messages 26~30 (Screenshot 4) clearly appear to be spliced together.
• The speech bubble of Message 16 (top of Screenshot 3) is cut off, making it impossible to check the content between Message 15 and 16.

2.2 Manipulation of Message Order / Concern for Context Distortion

• The messages are not organized in chronological order, interrupting the overall flow of the conversation and making it difficult to easily grasp the cause-and-effect relationship.
• When comparing Screenshot 2 and 3, the position of Message 20 is different, raising concerns that the overall context of the conversation could be misunderstood.

2.3 Inconsistent / Missing Timestamps

• Several messages are spliced together to look like one continuous thought, but there is a possibility that they were actually sent at different times.
• In Screenshot 4, there are no timestamps at all for the messages between 11:04 PM and 11:18 PM where Hanni reflects on the situation.
• In Screenshot 2, Hanni’s Message 20 appears right after Message 15, with only a 1-minute interval. While this looks natural on its own, looking at Screenshot 3 afterwards reveals that at least 4 messages were omitted between the two messages.
• Parts like the above make it even more difficult to grasp the actual chronological order and conversational flow of the KakaoTalk messages.

2.4 Presentation Ignoring Context

ADOR placed 4 screenshots without regard for order or context, making them appear as if they were a continuous conversation.

• They presented Messages 1~9 and 17~25 on one slide, and Messages 10~16, 20, and 26~30 on another slide. Even though this arrangement is not sequential, ADOR presented it as if it were a connected conversation.

3. ADOR’s Intention

On the date of the injunction hearing, the ADOR side argued that “Former CEO Min escalated the issue into an ‘Ignore Her’ incident regarding a matter that Hanni herself said was not a big deal.”

3.1 Attempt to Downgrade Credibility of ‘What Hanni Heard’

Hanni’s stance was clear from the beginning; she heard the ILLIT manager instructing the members to ignore her. The only part Hanni was not sure about was the ‘exact Korean expression’ of that instruction, not the content, nuance, or intention of the remark.

ADOR chose a strategy of separating specific phrases from the overall context to undermine the credibility of Hanni’s claims.

3.1.1 Hanni’s explanation is clear, proactive, and uninfluenced

According to Hanni’s memory, she clearly heard the ILLIT manager instructing [the members] to ignore her.

6) Hanni – 10:34 PM
The 4 of them came out of the styling room again, I heard the door open, and then the manager on that side

7) Hanni – 10:34 PM
I heard [him/her] say, “Just pretend you don’t know her and walk past.”

These messages clearly show that the story about the ‘Ignore Her’ incident originated from Hanni, not CEO Min Hee-jin. Hanni reported the incident to CEO Min Hee-jin first and explained the sequence of events in great detail.

3.1.2 Hanni was sure about the meaning of the manager’s remark

The fact that Hanni showed a clear and consistent attitude regarding what she experienced can also be confirmed in the conversation record.

First, Hanni clearly explained that she heard the manager instructing the ILLIT members to ignore her.

7) Hanni – 10:34 PM
I heard [him/her] say, “Just pretend you don’t know her and walk past.”

The only part where Hanni expressed uncertainty was regarding the exact ‘words’.

8) Hanni – 10:35 PM
I don’t remember if those were the exact words, but it was roughly something like that

However, considering Hanni is not a native Korean speaker, this can be seen as natural, and she clearly understood the overall meaning that the manager’s remark was to ‘ignore’ her.

In the subsequent conversation, Hanni maintained her stance on the incident consistently and repeatedly mentioned that the manager’s remark was the biggest problem.

17) Hanni – 10:37 PM
Reply to “But what is the point where you felt strange?”
That the manager said such things…

21) Hanni – 10:38
PM It just felt a bit off personally because the manager said something like that

24) Hanni – 10:39 PM
Yes… they said that while coming out as I heard the door open

This shows that Hanni was not confused or uncertain about the incident itself, but only had difficulty recalling the ‘exact expression’ of the manager.

3.1.3. ADOR encouraging doubt with misleading interpretation

Hanni’s reply, “I’m not sure” (Message 14), was a response to the specific question of whether the manager’s instruction was directed at her ‘greeting’, not about the entire incident.

14) Hanni – 10:36 PM
Reply to “The manager ordered them not to accept your greeting.” I’m not sure

Hanni’s reply above was about ‘whether the instruction specifically targeted Hanni’s own greeting’, not about the occurrence of the incident itself.

However, ADOR distorted Hanni’s answer in a specific context as if she had no confidence in the entire incident by emphasizing only the statement “I’m not sure” and removing the important context.

Looking at the full context (Messages 6-7, 9, 13, 17, 24), it can be seen that Hanni reported what she experienced with certainty and consistency, and the only uncertainty was about the ‘word-level exact expression’ related to the ‘greeting’, not the incident itself.

3.2. ADOR’s Claim that CEO Min Hee-jin Created the ‘Ignore Her’ Frame

Looking at the entire context of the disclosed conversation, contrary to ADOR’s claim, CEO Min Hee-jin only tried to clearly grasp the situation after hearing Hanni’s explanation and did not manipulate or exaggerate the situation.

3.2.1. It was Hanni who first brought up the word meaning ‘Ignore’

The story that the ILLIT manager told the members to ignore Hanni came directly from Hanni, and she told the story first saying she heard that instruction without any induction from CEO Min Hee-jin.

Hanni – 10:34 PM
I heard [him/her] say, “Just pretend you don’t know her and walk past.”

CEO Min Hee-jin using the expression “Ignore her” later was part of a clear fact-checking process.

18) Min Hee-jin – 10:37 PM
“Ignore her”

19) Min Hee-jin – 10:37 PM
This?

CEO Min Hee-jin was reconfirming what Hanni said, not inventing a new word. Looking at the chronological order of the conversation, it is clear that the expression “Ignore her” originated from Hanni’s experience, not CEO Min Hee-jin.

3.2.2. ADOR’s visual editing and wordplay that cause misunderstanding

Throughout the conversation, CEO Min Hee-jin showed herself summarizing what Hanni said later to reconfirm it or asking questions to clearly grasp the situation, which was a way to verify if Min Hee-jin herself understood the meaning Hanni intended to convey.

However, ADOR used red boxes and arrows to visually connect the summary remark made later by CEO Min Hee-jin (“Ignore her”, this?) with Hanni’s existing remark (I heard [him/her] say, “Just pretend you don’t know her and walk past.”).

Such editing makes it appear as if CEO Min Hee-jin came up with the idea of ‘Ignore’ for the first time, even though she was actually reconfirming what Hanni had already said using a word with the same meaning.

ADOR tried to drive the narrative as if CEO Min Hee-jin created the frame by exaggerating the difference between “Just pretend you don’t know her and walk past” and “Ignore her.” However, since both expressions have the same meaning, CEO Min Hee-jin’s “Ignore her” can be seen as a natural expression to reconfirm Hanni’s message.

3.2.3. CEO Min Hee-jin’s questions were efforts for accurate fact-checking, not leading questions

Throughout the conversation, CEO Min Hee-jin’s questions were efforts to accurately understand what Hanni went through and to help her.

CEO Min Hee-jin asked the following question to accurately grasp what the point was where Hanni felt strange.

17) Hanni – 10:37 PM
Reply to “But what is the point where you felt strange?” That the manager said such things…

When Hanni said ‘the manager’s remark was the strangest point’, she asked again to reconfirm her understanding.

18) Min Hee-jin – 10:37 PM
“Ignore her”

19) Min Hee-jin – 10:37 PM
This?

Reading CEO Min Hee-jin’s reconfirmation, Hanni expressed her feelings once again.

20) Hanni – 10:37 PM
Just… there’s no need for us to do that among ourselves

21) Hanni – 10:38 PM
It just felt a bit off personally because the manager said something like that

Subsequent questions also appear to be for confirming the situation Hanni experienced more clearly, and the conversation after that was not disclosed.

23) Min Hee-jin – 10:39 PM
Did everyone ignore you?

25) Min Hee-jin – 10:39 PM
Did all ILLIT members ignore you?

As can be seen from the above, CEO Min Hee-jin’s questions were not leading questions. Rather, they showed a responsible and empathetic attitude trying to understand the part Hanni struggled with the most, and at every stage, Hanni expressed her experience clearly.

3.3. ADOR’s Intentional Distortion of Hanni’s Messages

While expressing discomfort about what happened, Hanni tried to alleviate the situation and ease CEO Min Hee-jin’s worries.

However, ADOR intentionally distorted these expressions of Hanni and reconstructed them as if Hanni said ‘it was not a big deal’ regarding what she experienced.

3.3.1. Hanni clearly expressed discomfort from the beginning

Hanni made it clear from the start that she was offended by the incident and honestly confided her feelings of discomfort and confusion.

17) Hanni – 10:37 PM
Reply to “But what is the point where you felt strange?”
That the manager said such things…

20) Hanni – 10:37 PM
Just… there’s no need for us to do that among ourselves

21) Hanni – 10:38 PM
It just felt a bit off personally because the manager said something like that

Through the messages above, it can be confirmed that Hanni felt uncomfortable at the time of the incident, which directly contradicts ADOR’s interpretation.

3.3.2. Hanni tried to calm her own emotions and CEO Min Hee-jin

At the same time, Hanni sent the following messages to control her emotions and relieve CEO Min Hee-jin’s worries.

27) Hanni
Rather than feeling bad about it, slightly… honestly speaking, it was funny

29) Hanni
Because I really don’t care about those people at all

30) Hanni – 11:18 PM
If you are worrying about that, you don’t have to!!

However, ignoring all the contexts above, ADOR claimed through Hanni’s Messages 27, 29, and 30 that Hanni was not hurt and spoke as if ‘it is not a matter to make a big deal out of’.

3.3.3. Meaning of “Funny” (웃겼어요)

The part where Hanni said the situation was “honestly speaking, funny” clearly means it was absurd/ridiculous when considering the context. It was not an expression of enjoyment, but pointing out how dumbfounding the manager’s behavior was.

27) Hanni
Rather than feeling bad about it, slightly… honestly speaking, it was funny

28) Hanni
Ah, I felt once again that we are working with really good people

Ut-gi-da
「Verb」

1. To make someone happy, satisfied, or laugh. Causative form of ‘laugh’.
2. For an event or appearance to be pathetic and dumbfounding.

– Standard Korean Language Dictionary, Entry ‘Ut-gi-da’

ADOR intentionally distorted the meaning of the remark to argue that Hanni did not take the incident seriously. However, considering the context, ADOR’s conclusion cannot be reached by any interpretation.

3.4 Hanni’s Core Issue Raised Was Always the ‘Manager’s’ Behavior

Throughout the conversation, Hanni consistently pointed out the manager’s behavior as the core issue. Even when disclosing this incident later, Hanni did not specify the group name ‘ILLIT’ and made it clear that the ILLIT members greeted her at first.

However, contrary to Hanni’s intention, ADOR attempted to shift the focus to the ILLIT members, appearing to blur the essence of the problem.

Through this, ADOR was able to achieve the following effects:

1. Misleading the essence of the problem from the inappropriate remarks and attitude of a ‘manager’ from another label to a ‘greeting’ problem between fellow artists.
2. Forming a frame as if Hanni is the ‘perpetrator’ and ILLIT members are the ‘victims’.
3. Provoking the ILLIT fandom to form hostility towards Hanni and NewJeans.

3.4.1. Hanni repeatedly stated that the core problem was the ‘Manager’s Behavior’

Hanni clearly pointed out the manager’s inappropriate behavior and rather showed an empathetic attitude towards the ILLIT members.

20) Hanni – 10:37 PM
Just… there’s no need for us to do that among ourselves

21) Hanni – 10:38 PM
It just felt a bit off personally because the manager said something like that

26) Hanni – 11:04 PM
see i totally understand why the girls would be uncomfortable and awkward when they see us because there’s been so much rivalry between our teams in the media and inside the company so i fully get that

3.4.2 ADOR disclosed the ILLIT member’s behavior to mislead the essence of the incident

In the materials they submitted, ADOR released the remarks without masking, which the NewJeans side had edited to protect the ILLIT members.

9) Hanni – 10:36 PM
So as they walked past, that manager didn’t look at me at all, and one member kept looking towards that manager and said “Yes, yes!”… something like “I’ll just pretend I don’t know her,” I think they said something like tha

The NewJeans side masked and released the above content to avoid causing harm to the ILLIT members, but the ADOR side released the relevant part without masking, reconstructing it into a composition of ‘NewJeans vs. ILLIT’ or ‘Hanni vs. ILLIT’.

Such actions by ADOR ignored Hanni’s efforts to protect the ILLIT members and at the same time exposed both Hanni and ILLIT directly to public criticism.

3.5. ADOR’s Indifference to Continuous Secondary Victimization Faced by Hanni

ADOR quoted the KakaoTalk conversation claiming that what Hanni went through was not a big deal, and dismissed the incident (‘Ignore Her’ incident) as too trivial to justify contract termination.

However, Hanni and the NewJeans members did not push for contract termination simply because of this incident alone, but because of the continuous damage and unreasonable treatment following the incident.

After the KakaoTalk conversation:

• Hanni reported the incident to HR
  Reported what she experienced within the company through formal procedures.
• Company’s delayed response and destruction of evidence
  Raised the issue immediately after the incident but faced a delayed response.
  Received a reply that the CCTV footage containing the problematic scene was deleted.
  Attempted to shift the responsibility to Hanni by saying things like ‘You should have told us sooner’ or ‘It’s too late so the video was deleted’.
• Dismissal of CEO Min Hee-jin
  CEO Min Hee-jin, who supported Hanni and was active in solving the problem, was dismissed.
• Hanni and NewJeans feeling a hostile atmosphere against them
  The ‘Ignore Her’ incident
  malicious posts about NewJeans on HYBE’s Blind app
  HYBE PR disparaging NewJeans’ achievements
  and many other diverse problems existed.
  
  “And it’s not just that, now the company? There was a certain atmosphere I felt within the company. But since it’s an atmosphere, it’s very vague to say something about it. And it’s hard to tell anyone because honestly, it’s a feeling that only those who have been subjected to it can feel…… For example, the incident I mentioned earlier with that manager, and recently I saw company employees badmouthing NewJeans on an app called Blind. And I also heard a recording where a director in the company’s PR team was trying to lower our Japanese debut results and doing reverse viral marketing. But seeing those things, the atmosphere I felt wasn’t just a feeling, and I honestly became convinced that our company hates us.” – 241015 National Assembly Audit

As ADOR claims, the ‘Ignore Her’ remark alone might not have been legal grounds for contract termination, but the continuous abuse and hostile atmosphere that followed, the agency’s indifference to problem-solving and artist protection, and the mental damage caused by all of this can be seen as clear grounds for termination.