Source Music v. Min Hee-jin: 1st Hearing

Min Hee-jin “made baseless statements and insulting remarks during a press conference that could be viewed by the entire nation”

Regarding NewJeans casting: “We cast Pham Hanni through a global audition. In the process of holding the audition, the defendant was not the entity responsible for casting; HYBE conducted it”

“Looking at the debut process, the work the defendant was brought in to do was branding, but she kept postponing the set deadlines and there were things she did not do”

Filed a damages claim of 501 million won for losses including advertising contract damages

“Internally, they were already preparing to launch LE SSERAFIM and debuted them first. So how do you think the NewJeans members and their parents, who had expected to debut first, felt?”

“After LE SSERAFIM debuted under Source Music, knowing that it would be difficult for NewJeans to debut right away, CEO Min brought the NewJeans members to ADOR and debuted them there”

“Min Hee-jin raised issues about the unfair operational practices, and to preserve the value of the NewJeans group and for the sake of the K-pop ecosystem that was being copied, Min Hee-jin filed civil and criminal lawsuits”

“HYBE said they would ‘launch a girl group with Min Hee-jin’s sensibility,’ and that’s how NewJeans was created. I don’t understand how they can claim that the members were cast by Source Music”

“We absolutely do not believe this constitutes defamation”

Presented 1,000 pages of evidence including statements actually made by Min Hee-jin

Both sides agreed to proceed with the next hearing in a presentation format