The Aussies making a splash in K-pop<\/a><\/p>\nHow is it Australia has managed to produce so many homegrown K-pop stars?<\/p>\n
Hybe Corporation is the home of K-pop sensation BTS and the parent company of Ador.<\/p>\n
NewJeans announced it was leaving Ador in 2024, alleging workplace harassment, which the agency has denied.<\/p>\n
A court ruled that they had to stay with the agency until 2029.<\/p>\n
Ador has since terminated its contract with Danielle and is now taking legal action, accusing her of bearing significant responsibility for the fallout between the agency and the group.<\/p>\n
Fans have taken to social media in support of Danielle, posting: NewJeans is five or nothing.<\/p>\n
How did we get here?<\/p>\n
In April 2024, Hybe accused Min of attempting to seize control of Ador, and plotting to gain full ownership of NewJeans to take the group independent.<\/p>\n
Min denied all allegations, calling a press conference to elaborate.<\/p>\n
Hybe then filed a police report against Min.<\/p>\n
A legal battle ensued in which all five members of NewJeans took Min’s side, supporting her petition against Hybe removing her as CEO.<\/p>\n
Forbes reports that in July 2024, Danielle wrote a handwritten letter to Min pointing to a “deep emotional bond” between them, “foreshadowing Danielle’s loyalty” to Min.<\/p>\n
Min was removed from her position as CEO in August 2024.<\/p>\n
According to Forbes, a November 2024 ruling that K-pop idols are not classified as workers under Korean labor law raises industry-wide implications, affecting how workplace harassment complaints are handled.<\/p>\n
Attempted rebrand<\/p>\n
In January 2025, NewJeans attempted a rebrand with the name NJZ, but a ruling by Seoul Central District Court prevented this and blocked the group from conducting independent activities.<\/p>\n
The Seoul Central District Court ruled in October 2025 that all five members of NewJeans remained bound to their Ador contracts, which are due to expire in 2029.<\/p>\n
The group announced its intention to appeal, however in November 2025, NewJeans began to fracture.<\/p>\n
Ador announced that Haerin and Hyein intended to return to the agency.<\/p>\n
In late December, Hanni also returned to the group, with Minji in ongoing talks.<\/p>\n
In Danielle’s case, her contract was terminated.<\/p>\n
Ador then went on to announce legal action, revealing a day later that damages would exceed $44.8 million.<\/p>\n
The future of NewJeans as a group remains unclear.<\/p>\n
The ABC has contacted Hybe, but they are yet to provide a statement.<\/p>\n
The ABC has also attempted to contact Danielle.<\/p>\n
Who is Danielle?<\/p>\n
Born in 2005 in Newcastle, NSW, to an Australian father and a Korean mother, Danielle spent parts of her childhood in Australia and South Korea.<\/p>\n
Her fluent English and broad appeal are believed to be why she was previously one of the group’s most visible members.<\/p>\n
She has fronted brand campaigns and international interviews.<\/p>\n
Danielle is also credited with helping define the group’s sound and aesthetic and has co-written some of the group’s tracks.<\/p>\n
She was often described as one of the group’s “emotional anchors”.<\/p>\n
Also known by her Korean name Mo Ji-hye, Danielle voiced Ariel in the Korean dub of The Little Mermaid in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Australian member of the K-pop group NewJeans is being sued for around $44.8 million (43.1 billion won)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,162272,162275,75,10070,341,162274,162273],"class_list":{"0":"post-380881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-danielle","11":"tag-danielle-sued","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-kpop","14":"tag-music","15":"tag-new-jeans","16":"tag-new-jeans-danielle"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}