As strange as it was, it happened — members of NewJeans ended their exclusive contracts with their agency ADOR. The jury is still out over whether the action is legitimate, but the more pressing issue is what ADOR and HYBE are going to do about it.

Members of girl group NewJeans said they will leave their agency ADOR and fight to keep their name during an emergency press conference on Thursday night.


The emergency press conference began at 8:30 p.m. in southern Seoul on Thursday, the final day of the 14-day ultimatum the girl group gave its agency ADOR earlier this month. Over 100 reporters were present despite the short two-hour notice given to the press.

NewJeans bows out

The members read out their group statement, claiming that their exclusive contracts with the agency will end as of midnight because ADOR and HYBE failed to meet their needs and, therefore, forfeited their right as the agency to the artists. HYBE owns 78 percent of ADOR.

The members further claimed that because ADOR and HYBE refused to make the changes within the 14-day timeline, “the exclusive contracts become terminated” and the members do not need to file for an injunction with the court.

“HYBE and ADOR are the ones who breached the contract, which is why we’re terminating the deal,” Minji said. “We have asked them time and again to meet our needs and we sent the official papers. We are following the legitimate process and terminating the contracts.”

“We never broke any rules,” Haerin said. “We did nothing but try our best. It makes no sense that we have to pay them the contract breach fee. They are the ones at fault. HYBE and ADOR are the ones responsible.”

When further asked by reporters whether the members’ argument was legally sound, the PR agency cut the questions short and said that further announcements would be made after consultations with the group's attorneys.

Demands unmet

The 14-day ultimatum was sent to ADOR on Nov. 13, which the company received on Nov. 14. NewJeans sent an official list of demands to its agency that had to be made within 14 days of receiving the paper document. This means that ADOR had until Thursday afternoon to send its written response and an electronic file before midnight to NewJeans.

ADOR sent its response to the girl group’s demands in paper format on Thursday afternoon and via email at 7 p.m. on Thursday. NewJeans’ PR agency sent out the email summoning reporters at 6 p.m., before the members could read the content of ADOR's email.

The members “didn’t need to read the email because ADOR and HYBE would have already made the changes if they really wanted to.”

“If they wanted to make the changes that we asked, they would have done so — not just talk about it, like they’re doing now,” Hyein said. “We knew that they weren’t going to make the changes, so we decided to hold this press conference because we knew that our loving and supporting fans would only feel more confused as time went on.”

ADOR pleas not guilty

ADOR, on the other hand, argued that the exclusive contracts with members of NewJeans still stand because ADOR never violated the contract, the agency said in a response to the girl group's emergency press conference.

"ADOR never breached the contract, and just because [the members of NewJeans] argue that trust has been broken, it does not mean that the contracts can be terminated," the agency said in a press release, sent one hour after the girl group's press conference had ended.

"The exclusive contracts between the NewJeans members and ADOR still stand. We ask that [the members] continue their activities with ADOR just as they have done until now."

ADOR planned to hold a NewJeans meet and greet with Korean fans in March, release a full-length album in June or July and start a world tour in August, according to the response letter ADOR sent to NewJeans.

All 22 pages of the letter, plus four pages containing additional information, were disclosed to reporters via email on Friday morning, as promised during Thursday’s press conference by member Haerin.

"We are deeply saddened by how we were not given the chance to meet with the artists to discuss plans for next year and by how things turned out," read the letter signed by Kim Ju-young, the current CEO of ADOR.

"ADOR has always sought reasonable solutions to problems whenever they arose," the agency said. "Just because these efforts were not the specific kind the artists wanted or did not meet their expectations does not mean we violated the exclusive contracts."

Legal grounds?

However, the law says otherwise, according to legal experts. It’s not a matter of whether or not NewJeans really legally terminated their contracts. They did. It’s about what HYBE will do about it, according to attorney Lee Hyun-gon of Law Firm Saeol.

“The contract has already been terminated by the members because they took all the legal steps of doing so,” he said.

“What ADOR can do is now file a lawsuit asking for legal judgment on whether NewJeans’ reasons for doing so were well-grounded or not. If the court takes NewJeans’ side, then the contract was and will remain terminated. If the court decides that NewJeans was wrong to terminate the contract the way it did, then it will either be ordered to go back to ADOR or pay up to compensate the company.”

“Whichever way it turns out, NewJeans is not the one that has to file a suit — it’s ADOR,” said attorney Cho Kwang-hee at One Law Partners, echoing Lee’s argument.

“Contracts can indeed be terminated the way that NewJeans terminated it. But it will come down to whether their grounds for doing so is accepted by the court. That’s where the iffy ground comes in because this isn’t a clear-cut problem like payment or numbers. This is about ‘trust,’ which can vary depending on who interprets it. But again, this will be a complicated issue because it’s not just about ADOR and NewJeans, but also about Min Hee-jin, HYBE and everyone else.”

Hands tied tight

The ball is now in HYBE’s court. The company is looking into measures it can take, but nothing has been decided yet, according to an industry insider who wished to remain anonymous.

In fact, HYBE’s hands may remain tied for a while, according to Roh Jong-eon of Yoon & Roh.

“HYBE and ADOR have already repeated that they will ‘support NewJeans’ to the best of their abilities, so filing for a lawsuit against the artists may be the worst thing they could do ethically, even if it’s legally sound,” he said.

“But it will soon lead to situations where advertisers or creators have to decide whether they must sign with ADOR, the agency that owns the NewJeans brand, or the individual members of NewJeans, to collaborate. This will inevitably cause HYBE to make a move.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]