The K-pop industry has officially sided with HYBE and ADOR over NewJeans.

Two major K-pop organizations — the Korea Management Federation (KMF) and the Korea Entertainment Producers' Association (KEPA) — made official statements this week calling out the girl group members for what they said amounted to destroying the fundamental principles of the industry, demanding that the girls return to their company.


"The unilateral contract termination by NewJeans, which became immensely popular within just three years, can have a devastating effect on the pop culture and entertainment industry in Korea," KEPA said Friday in a press release.

"Training and managing artists is a challenge that demands time and money, and comes with grave risks for management companies. It is not simply an act of business but the fruits of mutual trust and dedication. But NewJeans is bringing down the level of people's trust in the industry by ending a contract less than half way through.

"If we allow such a method of contract termination to take place, who could ever invest in the Korean K-pop market?"

KEPA asked that NewJeans "quickly revoke their childish and irresponsible argument" and return to ADOR, which was also echoed by the KMF.

"Artists must cooperate with the agency to the best of their abilities and agencies must support the artists to realize their full potential," the federation said. "To be able to just 'call off' a contract after a conflict will bring detrimental consequences to the Korean pop culture industry. How could anyone make an investment in a contract that could end with only one party's declaration?

"We sincerely hope that NewJeans backs down on its claim and starts communicating with the agency," KMF added. "We truly wish that the conflict will be resolved well and not lead to the worst-case scenario."

KEPA is the oldest alliance of K-pop agencies and production companies in Korea. Founded in 1992, it has around 400 member companies that manage entertainers in the country. The KMF, founded in 2016, is also a major organization with 350 companies and managers of entertainers.

Both are advocates of K-pop agencies and sided with management companies over artists in past disputes, such as the case of girl group Fifty Fifty's conflict with agency Attrakt last year.

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