{"id":520855,"date":"2026-07-11T11:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T11:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/520855\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T11:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T11:31:09","slug":"new-label-and-boy-band-keep-former-newjeans-producer-min-hee-jin-going-amid-legal-battles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/520855\/","title":{"rendered":"New label and boy band keep former NewJeans producer Min Hee-jin going amid legal battles"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEOUL \u2013 Nearly two years after a bitter fallout when her former employer forced her to part ways with the<\/a> <\/a>K-pop girl group she created<\/a>, South Korean music producer Min Hee-jin is preparing for a fresh start with a new label and plans to debut a boy band.<\/p>\n

The former chief executive of K-pop agency Ador, which manages girl group NewJeans, launched her new entertainment label One Of A Kind (OOAK) in February, and has since conducted auditions for its first group.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Seoul-based foreign media at a networking event on July 9, Min said she is excited about the new venture but declined to reveal when the group would debut.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still in the midst of forming the members and getting to know them better. But because nothing is fixed yet, I wouldn\u2019t want to announce anything too hastily,\u201d she said in Korean through an interpreter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Min added that the prospect of creating a new group helped sustain her through the legal battles that have dominated headlines over the past two years.<\/p>\n

She also said the global attention generated by the success of the Oscar-winning animated film KPop Demon Hunters (2025) had prompted her to rethink K-pop\u2019s business model.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are standing at an inflection point where the K-pop industry can take its next step forward,\u201d she said, adding that she had long wanted to create a group that would \u201cappeal to people who love music and people who love culture\u201d, without being driven by the pressure to achieve fame quickly or churn out albums at a rapid pace.<\/p>\n

Once hailed as the creative architect behind NewJeans\u2019 meteoric rise since their 2022 debut, the 47-year-old became embroiled in one of K-pop\u2019s biggest corporate battles after Ador\u2019s parent company Hybe accused her in 2024 of trying to wrest control of its sub-label.<\/p>\n

Min has denied the allegations, arguing that Hybe had marginalised NewJeans and allowed another of its girl groups, Illit, to copy NewJeans\u2019 concept. She was removed as Ador\u2019s CEO in August 2024.<\/p>\n

The dispute escalated a month later when the five NewJeans members \u2013 Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein \u2013 publicly demanded Min’s reinstatement during a livestream, warning they would leave Ador if she was not restored as its CEO.<\/p>\n

The quintet later announced in November 2024 that they were terminating their exclusive contracts with Ador and attempted to pursue independent activities under the name NJZ.<\/p>\n

Those activities were halted after a court granted Ador an injunction barring the members from promoting independently while the contract dispute was being litigated.<\/p>\n

As at November 2025, Hyein, Haerin and Hanni have returned to Ador, while Minji’s contractual status remains under discussion.<\/p>\n

Ador terminated Danielle\u2019s exclusive contract in December 2025 and is pursuing a damages lawsuit against Danielle, her mother and Min over the alleged breach of Danielle\u2019s exclusive contract with the label.<\/p>\n

In a court hearing for the lawsuit on July 2, Ador unveiled evidence that it claimed showed that Min had orchestrated NewJeans\u2019 attempt to leave the label.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ador also accused Danielle of hiding a \u201cdual contract\u201d signed with a Chinese-backed event company to perform independently while her exclusive agreement with Ador was still legally binding.<\/p>\n

When asked about this latest development, Min did not give a straight answer and instead launched into a tirade, claiming that all the media reports so far are \u201cone-sided\u201d and urged the media to \u201clisten to both parties in the dispute\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, the reports that have come out are too deeply unbalanced. It\u2019s like 99.9 versus 0.1, how can I give any answer?\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In response to The Straits Times\u2019 query on whether the legal troubles have affected work at OOAK, Min said: \u201cPeople on the outside might not know all the facts, but just like the Korean proverb \u2013 those who are innocent can sleep soundly at night with their legs stretched out, but those who have committed many sins cannot sleep soundly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speculation has been mounting that NewJeans is preparing for a comeback, with Haerin, Hyein and Hanni reportedly spotted filming in Copenhagen, Denmark, in April, with more recent videos purportedly showing them in New York circulating online.<\/p>\n

Asked by ST how she felt about NewJeans moving on without her, Min said: \u201cIf there is one thing I wish for, it is for (Ador) to keep its promise to take good care of the NewJeans members if they returned to the label. I hope they keep that promise.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEOUL \u2013 Nearly two years after a bitter fallout when her former employer forced her to part ways…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-520855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}