NewJeans Members Call for Min Heejin to Be Reinstated as ADOR ...

K-pop girl group NewJeans have released a new video statement denouncing the departure of Min Heejin as CEO of ADOR, a subsidiary of HYBE, and airing more general grievances with the company.

On September 11, 2024, NewJeans members Haerin, Hanni, Hyein, Danielle, and Minji (left to right in the video) sat together to talk about HYBE’s ongoing legal battle with Min Heejin in a now-deleted live video on YouTube. The quintet released the video under a newly-created account named nwjns, which has since been closed, per a notice by YouTube.

Courtesy of YouTube

The video, which has since been reuploaded and clipped by fans across various channels, was titled “뉴진스가 하고 싶은 말,” which translates to “What NewJeans want to say.” Hyein and Minji start off in Korean, acknowledging the sudden nature of the live broadcast and apologizing for catching fans by surprise. However, they stated this was something they wanted to convey and took the opportunity to do so in this live after garnering courage.

The group shared that while they already had a meeting with HYBE and can’t share everything because of contractual obligations, recent developments have led to their feeling ostracized within the company. The quintet then went on to denounce Min Heejin’s departure as CEO, which was announced in late August.

​​"Even before debuting as NewJeans and through all of the time that we spent together with CEO Min Heejin, all of us felt that the music we wanted to make and the kind of world we wanted to build together, our vision, was similar in so many ways,” Danielle said in English. “With CEO Min Heejin, we were able to prepare each and every task with sincere hearts, and I believe it shows in our work."

“Putting our sincere effort into something is only possible because [the] people that we’re working with have trust in each other and have that same vision,” Danielle continued. "CEO Min Heejin is not only the person that produces our music but someone who makes NewJeans who we are. She discusses even the smallest details with us and explains them in ways that we can understand clearly. NewJeans has a distinct color and tone, and this was created with CEO Min Heejin. She is integral to NewJeans’ identity and we all feel that she is irreplaceable.”

Courtesy of nwjns/YouTube

A little bit later, Hanni shared in English: “Something that plays a very important role in our team’s color and image is our media content and creative production. Despite saying that they would leave all the creative production to our now former CEO Min Heejin through official statements that I think a lot of you might’ve already read or seen and also during our personal meetings, they infringed our content, content that we not only worked really hard on but also our staff, who spent endless hours to produce and release them solely for our fans.”

“The way that ADOR used to run was business management and creative production was not separated,” Hanni continued. “It was perfectly fine. It was our way of working and it was our CEO’s way of producing NewJeans’ content, which a lot of you were able to enjoy and appreciate. But now that she’s no longer CEO, these factors that should have continued to work together in harmony are seen as two different areas of work.”

NewJeans at the spring-summer 2025 Seoul Fashion Week opening event at DDP on September 3, 2024.

Hyein claimed they found out about Min Heejin’s dismissal as CEO via an article the same day the news broke, which took them aback and was hard for them; they shared that HYBE’s decision made them feel like the company doesn’t respect them. Hanni then said in English, “Just like we have our own and individual personal feelings, we have the choice to choose how we will react to each situation, and we are not going to follow HYBE's every order blindly. We're more than well aware that this is getting in the way of our work.”

“Despite her being in the midst of all this current legal conflict, she’s expected to plan and creatively produce our future endeavors in just only two months, which I personally think makes no sense at all,” she added. (As reported by Korea JoongAng Daily in late August, Min was allegedly offered a new two-month contract to work with the group as a producer, which she stated was not long enough. “It is surprising that the company thinks two months would be enough,” Min reportedly said.)

Then ADOR CEO Min Heejin attends a press conference on April 25, 2024 in Seoul, South Korea.

Hanni signed off the video saying: “All we want is this legal conflict to be resolved and have our working environment return back to normal the way it was before.”

"We hope that HYBE makes the wise choice to reinstate Min Heejin as the CEO of ADOR by Sept. 25," Minji added, according to a translation by Korea JoongAng Daily. "The ADOR that we want is an ADOR where the music production and company management are done by Min Heejin as the CEO. We make this request as the way to cohabitate peacefully with HYBE."

NewJeans' YouTube live broadcast comes just days after the group publicly voiced their support for Min Heejin during an acceptance speech at The Fact Music Awards on September 8, as reported by NME.

Teen Vogue has reached out to HYBE/ADOR for comment.