A private KakaoTalk exchange between former ADOR chief executive Min Hee-jin and BTS member V surfaced in a court ruling in Min’s dispute with HYBE over a stock sale agreement, according to legal sources on Friday.

The Seoul Central District Court included screenshots of messages between Min and V as an attachment in its first-instance decision in Min’s lawsuit seeking payment under a put option. The messages appeared in a section addressing controversy over alleged similarities between the girl groups ILLIT and NewJeans.


In a footnote, the ruling cited a message from V in which he indicated he had looked into the issue and felt it seemed similar. Min worked with V on his first solo album, “Layover,” released in 2023.

V responded on social media Friday, saying, “I have absolutely no intention of taking sides. It was part of a private, everyday conversation I had with an acquaintance, and I would caution against overinterpretation.”

“I was also very taken aback that the conversation was submitted as evidence without my consent,” he added.

“It was simply a remark meant to empathize during a private conversation with an acquaintance,” said V's agency BigHit Music. “It has been confirmed that it was not an expression of agreement with any specific remarks made by the other party, and the artist also wanted to express dissatisfaction that the contents of a private conversation were submitted to the court without consent.”

The Seoul Central District Court ruled on Feb. 12 that HYBE must pay Min 25.5 billion won ($1.76 million).



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 KIM JI-HYE [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]