ADOR “Protect NewJeans’ Rights, Legal Action Against Nationality, Appearance Disparagement and Fake News”
On April 9, ADOR released an official statement via their official X (Twitter) account, stating, “Since NewJeans’ debut, we have been continuously monitoring and taking legal action against malicious online posts targeting the artists. Recently, with a sharp rise in both volume and severity of such posts, we have assigned additional dedicated personnel and significantly strengthened our response system.”
ADOR further explained, “We are consistently collecting evidence of serious violations including slander based on the artists’ nationality, appearance, the spread of false information (fake news), invasion of privacy, and malicious insults or derogatory terms. We are promptly requesting deletion of such content and taking simultaneous legal action.”
They emphasized, “For malicious posts that are repetitive or rise to the level of criminal offense, we are pursuing criminal complaints. We have already submitted a complaint to Yongsan Police Station and will continue to file additional complaints.”
The Seoul Central District Court’s Civil Division 50 (Chief Judge Kim Sang-hoon) previously ruled in favor of ADOR on March 21 in a provisional injunction case regarding the preservation of ADOR’s managerial status and prohibiting the members of NewJeans from signing independent advertising contracts. The group had claimed their contract with ADOR had been terminated in November last year and had signaled intentions to pursue independent activities. However, the court’s decision put a halt to those plans.
In response, all five NewJeans members formally objected to the court’s injunction immediately after the ruling. In international media, they asserted the legitimacy of their actions. In an interview with TIME on March 22, the group stated, “The ruling is disappointing. It feels like Korea wants to turn us into revolutionaries.” Later, in a BBC News Korea interview on March 26, they denied any connection to ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin being behind their actions.
On March 23, NewJeans announced a temporary suspension of activities during a performance at ComplexCon Hong Kong and have remained out of the public eye since. Meanwhile, the SNS account initially created under the name NJZ has been deactivated. The team now refers to themselves with the initials MHDHH—representing the first initials of members Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein. A PR channel claiming to represent all five members’ parents has also updated its name to MHDHH.
