2024-06-10
BELIFT LAB Official Statement (Full Text)
This is an announcement from BELIFT LAB.
To all the fans who cherish ILLIT and K-POP fans around the world, after watching CEO Min Hee-jin’s second press conference on May 31, BELIFT LAB determined that we could no longer delay expressing our position. Accordingly, we would like to share BELIFT LAB’s position on CEO Min Hee-jin through this written statement and video.
The injunction decision by Civil Division 50 of the Seoul Central District Court on May 30 was a ruling on the injunction application requesting that HYBE be prohibited from exercising its voting rights at ADOR’s extraordinary shareholders’ meeting—it was not a ruling on the plagiarism matter. It must not be distorted as if CEO Min Hee-jin’s side won a ruling on the plagiarism issue.
Separate from the injunction, the criminal case for obstruction of business and defamation that we filed against CEO Min Hee-jin is an area that has yet to proceed. Additionally, BELIFT LAB is filing an additional civil lawsuit today to hold CEO Min Hee-jin accountable for the damages suffered by our artists, BELIFT LAB staff members, and participating creators who achieved remarkable debut results that will go down in K-POP history yet have been silently bearing this burden.
CEO Min Hee-jin made an innocent rookie group a scapegoat for her own personal interests.
One of the means CEO Min Hee-jin chose to pressure HYBE was to disparage a rookie group from a fellow HYBE label as an ‘imitation’ or ‘knockoff.’ This was accompanied by unreasonable claims including plagiarism controversy and interference with activities. When a reporter asked about this, CEO Min Hee-jin said, ‘From now on, (the media and netizens) just need to stop mentioning it’—thereby dismissing the time and process that victims who should never have had to endure such criticism went through because of her remarks.
The disparagement and attacks against BELIFT LAB’s artists were based on photos and short videos that were edited by capturing and compiling similar scenes while removing the context before and after the entire content. There was no proper verification of whether what CEO Min Hee-jin referred to as the so-called ‘original’ was indeed something CEO Min Hee-jin created for the first time, or whether the issue was raised after confirming if it was actually a production created by BELIFT LAB. Raising plagiarism issues in an official setting without presenting reasonable grounds for copyright infringement elements is not an appropriate way to raise issues for someone in a responsible position as a creator and the head of a label.
The reason BELIFT LAB had not disclosed a detailed position until now, even though CEO Min Hee-jin’s claims were being misconstrued as if they were facts, was because we had some hope that CEO Min Hee-jin would correct this issue herself. However, CEO Min Hee-jin continues to repeat only her one-sided position, misleading people as if the meaning of the injunction being granted meant that all of CEO Min Hee-jin’s claims were recognized by the court.
BELIFT LAB has produced and is releasing a video containing our position.
We express our regret that claiming plagiarism as a means to secure personal interests is having a negative impact on popular culture as a whole.
The video produced by BELIFT LAB contains analysis of the problems with CEO Min Hee-jin’s plagiarism claims and the impact these claims will have on popular culture as a whole, including K-POP, going forward. In particular, it will serve as a clear explanation of CEO Min Hee-jin’s forced arguments and falsehoods, such as using the arbitrary standard of ‘production formula’ to package things that already had numerous similar precedents—like marketing activities and holiday hanbok photo shoots—as if they were newly created.
The K-POP of today exists because of the efforts of countless artists and producers. The paths that senior artists painstakingly traveled should become shortcuts for their juniors. That way, the virtuous cycle where the entire K-POP industry grows larger can function. One must not block the path as if no one but oneself can travel it, especially when it’s not even a path one created, and when one has also used paths pioneered by seniors.
BELIFT LAB is well aware of the allegations being raised against the girl group produced by CEO Min Hee-jin—claims that they have many similarities to domestic and international artists or that they used specific overseas works as references. However, we do not believe this is evidence that CEO Min Hee-jin actually plagiarized or actively referenced them. We believe that the allegations raised against the girl group produced by CEO Min Hee-jin also only appear more similar than they actually are due to content that was intentionally edited to highlight similarities.
If we cannot correct the behavior of cherry-picking and distorting only positions favorable to oneself in areas that should be judged in professional domains, this will enormously discourage the creative activities of creators, and CEO Min Hee-jin herself will also not be free from this.
CEO Min Hee-jin made gestures of reconciliation on the surface at her second press conference, but there was not a single word of apology or remorse to the innocent victims, including the artists who have been suffering from severe malicious comments akin to violence that they should never have had to experience because of her actions—and she blamed this on others such as the media. This is very regrettable.
Protecting our artists from this incident and restoring the honor of the staff members and crew who devoted themselves to this project is an important duty of BELIFT LAB. We will continue to do our best to the very end for this purpose.
Thank you.
