Former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin files criminal complaint against HYBE’s PR executives

She claims that the agency’s public relations team “failed to fulfil their obligations” to ADOR and NewJeans

Ex-ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin has officially filed a criminal complaint against K-pop company HYBE’s public relations executives.

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On November 26, Min Hee-jin’s representatives shared that the former ADOR CEO had filed a criminal complaint with Seoul’s Yongsan Police Station accusing two HYBE executives of breach of duties regarding ADOR girl group NewJeans.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the executives named in the complaint are HYBE’s Chief Communications Officer Park Tae-hee and a PR director only identified as Cho. They are part of the agency’s public relations team, which reportedly handles communications and promotional activities for the artists under the agency’s sublabels, including girl group NewJeans.

Min’s representatives claimed in a statement that Park and Cho “not only failed to fulfil their obligations but caused significant damage to NewJeans and ADOR by downplaying the group’s achievements”. They added that they hope “appropriate criminal penalties are imposed”.

This is the latest in a months-long feud between Min and HYBE, which was first made public in April this year after the agency launched an investigation over a suspicion that Min was attempting to take control of ADOR. The then-CEO soon followed up with statements and press conferences accusing HYBE of “undermining” NewJeans’ success, among other allegations.

Last week, Min officially resigned from her position as an internal director at ADOR and left the agency. In a statement, she said that she was terminating her shareholder agreement with HYBE and voiced her intention to hold the agency “legally accountable for breaches of this agreement”.

Earlier this month, NewJeans also reportedly sent a signed certificate of contents to ADOR, in which they demanded the label “rectify all grave breaches of the exclusive contracts within 14 days of receipt”. They also shared plans to “revoke our exclusive contracts” if their demands are not met.