Min Hee-jin Faces 2.5 Billion Won Lawsuit Again

The legal dispute between former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin and Source Music and Belift Lab will resume in May. The 12th Civil Division of the Seoul Western District Court is scheduled to reopen the hearing for the total damages lawsuits filed by Source Music and Belift Lab against former CEO Min Hee-jin, amounting to 2.5 billion won, on May 15th. These lawsuits were previously postponed with a provisional date, and the trials were suspended, typically resuming after observing the outcomes of related lawsuits between both parties.

Currently, former CEO Min Hee-jin is facing the appellate trial for the 25.6 billion won put option lawsuit with HYBE, to which Source Music and Belift Lab belong. She has also begun proceedings for a damages lawsuit amounting to 43 billion won related to the exclusive contract of NewJeans with ADOR, a company she previously led before stepping down. The conflict between former CEO Min Hee-jin, Source Music, and Belift Lab has been mentioned multiple times in these two lawsuits.

Former CEO Min Hee-jin proposed to HYBE to halt all lawsuits in exchange for waiving the 25.6 billion won put option, but HYBE effectively rejected this. HYBE has pursued applications for the seizure and collection of former CEO Min Hee-jin's claims, an appeal against the first-instance ruling on the stock sale payment, an application for a stay of execution, and an application for the cancellation of execution related to the claim for stock sale payment through the Seoul High Court.

Source Music filed a damages lawsuit against former CEO Min Hee-jin in July 2024, seeking 500 million won. The core issue of the lawsuit is Min Hee-jin's statements made at a press conference in April 2024, where she claimed, "I personally cast the NewJeans members, and HYBE unilaterally broke the initial promise of a girl group debut." Source Music argues that these statements constitute factual assertion and have damaged the reputation of Source Music and its artists.

Source Music stated, "The problem is not the individual expression but the overall context of the press conference remarks," and argued, "It is illegal to cause unrelated third parties, namely the affiliated artists, to be perceived negatively due to a private conflict between shareholders." They particularly emphasized the damage to the social standing of their artists, including Le Sserafim.