The person who had disagreements with the group NewJeans (Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, Hyein) and their agency Ador regarding the ‘exclusive contract validity lawsuit’ has been revealed to be Hyein’s father.
Recently, a legal battle over parental authority emerged concerning the termination of exclusive contracts between NewJeans and their agency Ador. This conflict first came to light during the initial trial on the ‘confirmation of the validity of the exclusive contract’ held on the 3rd of the month in the 41st Civil Division at the Seoul Central District Court.
The court asked NewJeans’ representative if the guardianship decision of Family Court regarding ‘Defendant 4’ meant that the legal action was ratified, addressing whether disagreements regarding the lawsuit among the parents of the underage members had been resolved.
Reports on this sparked speculation online that ‘Defendant 4’ might be member Haerin.
Upon checking the court’s website for the case (2024 Gahap 113399), ‘Defendant 4’ is listed as being ‘Kang OO’, and Haerin is the only member with the surname Kang.
However, it was confirmed that the person opposing NewJeans’ claim for contract termination was Hyein’s father, referred to as Mr. A.
Mr. A consistently opposed the termination of the contracts between NewJeans members, including Hyein, and their agency, which reportedly deepened the marital conflict.
Subsequently, Hyein’s mother, Mrs. B, agreed with the contract termination and filed for adjustment of parental authority in court, where the court sided with Mrs. B. Hyein’s mother became her legal representative, while Mr. A lost his legal rights concerning Hyein.
This situation raised suspicions of division among the parents of the NewJeans members. On the 4th, the parents of NewJeans released a statement denying any division among them, emphasizing that all five members firmly believe they cannot return to HYBE.
They further clarified that rumors regarding member Haerin were entirely false, asserting that both Haerin and her parents have strong, unified stances and that any other family speculation is incorrect.
They requested others refrain from speculating on family matters, as parental adjustment was conducted respecting the wishes of an underage child from another family, which they hinted involved Hyein’s parents due to the current minors in NewJeans being Hyein and Haerin.
The court decided on March 21 to ‘fully accept’ the motion filed by Ador, which was seeking to prohibit contract execution like the planner status preservation and advertising contract formation. After NJZ (NewJeans’ new name after the dispute) was unable to conduct independent activities, they announced an activity halt on the ‘ComplexCon’ stage in Hong Kong on the 23rd of last month. The SNS channels created under the name NJZ were renamed MHDHH, taking the initials of each member.