ADOR said on Thursday that discussions over NewJeans member Minji’s future activities are progressing positively and celebrated the singer's birthday for the first time since the group became embroiled in a contract dispute in 2024.

“We are continuing internal discussions regarding [her] future activities,” ADOR said in response to reports that Minji could return to NewJeans.


“We do not have anything further to share regarding specific details at this time. We ask for your understanding that discussions are generally moving in a positive direction.”

Earlier in the day, several photos of Minji baking cookies — with the caption “Happy Minji Day” — were uploaded to NewJeans’s official social media account. The singer’s birthday is on May 7.

Though the photos were originally taken in 2025, the post marks the first time that Minji has been mentioned on an official NewJeans account since the group entered a legal dispute with ADOR in November 2024 over its exclusive contract.

A pop-up celebrating Minji’s birthday also appears on the main page of NewJeans’s official account on the fan platform Weverse.

Other online posts claimed on Wednesday that the singer had made a surprise visit to a birthday cafe event organized by fans, where she handed out handwritten letters and cookies.

NewJeans debuted as a quintet under HYBE’s subsidiary label ADOR in 2022 and took the K-pop scene by storm with its debut EP “New Jeans,” which features the hit songs “Attention,” “Hype Boy” and “Cookie.” The group topped the U.S. Billboard 200 chart with its second EP, “Get Up” (2023), upon its release.

Following a dispute between HYBE and ADOR’s then-CEO Min Hee-jin, who had been overseeing the production of NewJeans, the five members — Minji, Hanni, Haerin, Danielle and Hyein — publicly sided with Min and announced a hiatus from all activities in March 2025 after a court issued an injunction to ban NewJeans from continuing independent activities without HYBE.

A court ruled in favor of ADOR last October in the dispute over the group’s exclusive contract. Following the ruling, members Haerin, Hyein and Hanni returned to ADOR. Danielle was removed from the group, and Minji’s status remains unclear.


This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY SHIN HYE-YEON [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]