HYBE Management Meets with NewJeans’ Parents

“CEO Park Ji-won said he would give the kids a long vacation.”

Amid the intense conflict between HYBE and its label ADOR, the mother of one of the NewJeans members had a phone interview with Ilgan Sports. Mother A, who was cautious about potentially harming the children, said on the 12th, “I felt so distressed thinking that we might have caused all this by sending that email.”

Mother A said, “On the day of CEO Min Hee-jin’s press conference (April 25), three NewJeans mothers including myself visited HYBE.” She added, “We were worried that CEO Min might be in big trouble, and we thought maybe we could serve as a bridge between HYBE and ADOR.”

Mother A said, “CEO Park Ji-won arrived about 20 minutes late, and other executives came first,” and described the situation: “We only got to talk about our mediation efforts for a few minutes before they brought out laptops and started saying ‘CEO Min did this and that wrong.’”

Previously, on March 31, the parents of NewJeans members including Mother A had sent an email to ADOR pointing out plagiarism issues and other concerns regarding ILLIT, a rookie group that debuted under HYBE’s label BELIFT LAB, and demanding corrections. CEO Min Hee-jin sent an email to HYBE and BELIFT LAB on April 3 containing this email along with her own opinions. Then on April 16, ADOR sent another email stating they had not received a response to their concerns, and on that day HYBE sent a reply to the first email. Subsequently, HYBE sent a reply to ADOR’s second email on the morning of April 22 and launched an audit of ADOR that afternoon.

When asked about suspicions that ‘the NewJeans mothers were persuaded by CEO Min Hee-jin to send such an email,’ Mother A said, “HYBE said the same thing,” adding, “They showed us things like KakaoTalk messages from ADOR Vice President A and talked as if they knew everything. I was so taken aback.”

She continued, “We didn’t know if we could use certain words or not, so we asked CEO Min Hee-jin to look over the email we wanted to send,” and added, “At the meeting [with HYBE executives], we clearly stated that we (the NewJeans parents) started this.”

“At first, when ILLIT’s concept photos and such were being released, my friends sent them to me asking if they were new NewJeans photos, saying ‘but [one member] isn’t there.’ I thought, ‘What is this?’ It was so similar. So we (NewJeans) mothers exchanged opinions and asked CEO Min about it. We definitely started this ourselves.”

Mother A said, “The part in our email about ‘HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk not returning the children’s greetings’—not just my child but other kids too, they all said they had similar experiences since debut. One child said he didn’t return their greeting even when they were in the elevator together.”

She continued, “When I brought up that issue again that day, the HYBE people said, ‘Mothers, you really misunderstand. Chairman Bang Si-hyuk might have face blindness.’”

Mother A said, “I couldn’t say more at that meeting and left, but after leaving I thought, ‘Wait, even if he has face blindness, can’t he hear? And even if he can’t recognize who someone is, if someone greets you, don’t you normally return the greeting?’”

Mother A also said, “At that meeting, the HYBE people talked about CEO Min’s *** management. They strongly urged us not to tell the NewJeans kids about this because it was sensitive and delicate information.” She continued, “But less than an hour after we left HYBE, articles about the *** management started pouring out. I thought, ‘They talked as if they cared so much about the kids, but they released articles less than an hour later—what’s with these people?’”

Mother A said, “CEO Park Ji-won came later and told us, ‘CEO Min hasn’t shared any materials for the NewJeans Tokyo Dome concert in June, but we have many professionals so we should be able to handle it well.’” She added, “He also said they were planning to give NewJeans a long vacation after Tokyo Dome.”

Mother A said, “I didn’t ask how long the vacation would be, but at that meeting CEO Park said, ‘It takes about a year and a half to bring in a Grammy(-winning) producer, but we’re trying to get one as fast as possible.’” She continued, “So on the way out, we mothers talked among ourselves, ‘If a Grammy producer takes 18 months and they said they’re trying to get one as fast as possible, does that mean the long vacation is about that long?’ We said we should ask about this next time we meet.”

Mother A emphasized, “We clearly told HYBE that ‘we want NewJeans with CEO Min Hee-jin,’” and said, “This is a common view that all five members’ mothers agreed upon.”

“Honestly, we have many worries. I’m worried that without CEO Min, HYBE might neglect the kids for a long time. Before this all happened, CEO Min told me there were plans for a NewJeans world tour next year. But now they’re going to have a long vacation….”

Meanwhile, regarding these claims by Mother A of a NewJeans member, a senior HYBE official said, “Giving a long vacation doesn’t mean making them go on hiatus,” adding, “Usually when idols have a comeback, they do a lot of activities and then take a rest period, right? Then when the next comeback schedule is set, they work hard again. That’s what we meant.”

The official continued, “It absolutely doesn’t mean we’re going to stop NewJeans’ activities,” and explained, “We were saying that HYBE will take special care of NewJeans and support them to become the best artists.”

This official rebutted, “If we were going to put them in storage (an industry term for when an agency halts an idol’s activities for a long period), why would we have talked about producers and production staff? That’s what those who were present at the time said.” The official added, “This is an evil play to provoke fans’ anger by making absurd claims with force so that she (CEO Min Hee-jin) can become independent.”

This senior official said, “There is a lot of evidence related to (CEO Min Hee-jin’s breach of trust charges),” adding, “When this evidence is revealed in court, many people will come to understand HYBE’s sincerity.”