A new claim has been raised that former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin instructed employees to create “monitoring documents” asserting that various idol groups were copying NewJeans during her tenure as CEO.
On November 14th KST, during the fourth hearing of the civil damages lawsuit filed by BELIFT LAB—HYBE’s label and the agency of ILLIT—against Min, the agency presented this argument at the Seoul Western District Court.
The lawsuit stems from Min’s press conference and public statements on April 25 last year, in which she alleged that BELIFT LAB plagiarized NewJeans’s concept and overall identity while planning ILLIT’s debut.
BELIFT LAB countered that the claims were defamatory and filed a 2 billion KRW damages suit against Min in June of the same year. Min responded in November with a countersuit seeking 5 billion KRW. The two sides have clashed across three previous hearings.
This fourth hearing garnered heightened attention as it came shortly after the court ruled in favor of ADOR in the separate lawsuit affirming the validity of NewJeans’s exclusive contracts. In that case, the court rejected NewJeans’s plagiarism allegations against ILLIT, stating, “It is difficult to conclude that the ‘concept’ of a girl group falls under trademark rights, publicity rights, or intellectual property as defined in their exclusive contract.”
BELIFT LAB referenced that ruling during the hearing, arguing that Min launched a public opinion war against HYBE and its sub-labels in order to secure ADOR’s independence, using ILLIT—who had only just debuted at the time—as a scapegoat.
“The plagiarism accusations against the plaintiff (BELIFT LAB) were merely preemptive groundwork set by the defendant (Min Hee Jin) to create negative public sentiment toward HYBE,” the agency said, presenting excerpts from the NewJeans ruling.
BELIFT LAB also submitted KakaoTalk conversations dated March 25 last year—before ILLIT had even debuted—showing Min and her associates discussing strategies to attack ILLIT, including framing them for chart manipulation and pushing plagiarism allegations.
The agency further stated, “On February 27 last year, when ILLIT’s debut schedule was announced, an ADOR vice president attempted to intimidate HYBE by planning accusations of chart manipulation for music that had not even been released. And on March 18, the day ILLIT’s debut teaser dropped, they showed an analyst a maliciously edited short-form video defaming ILLIT and encouraged them to write a ‘sell report’ advising investors to dump HYBE stock.”
Additionally, BELIFT LAB claimed that ADOR employees drafted monitoring documents at Min’s direction, alleging that various idol groups—regardless of gender or agency—were copying NewJeans. They emphasized that Min eventually “chose ILLIT, a newly-debuted group with a weaker fandom, as the easiest target.”
The agency added, “It appears she instilled a baseless fear among NewJeans’s parents that another girl group could become a ‘substitute’ for NewJeans, positioning herself behind the scenes while pushing the parents to the forefront.”
BELIFT LAB argued that the “copy monitoring documents” created under Min relied solely on community posts, comments, and maliciously edited shorts. They even presented example videos in court showing how isolating a few seconds of choreography and splicing them together can easily create the illusion of copying.
They also submitted KakaoTalk messages in which Min allegedly instructed NewJeans’s appearance on a major YouTube channel to be edited in a way that would imply other idols were “NewJeans copycats.”
“What Min released through her statements and press conference was not grounded in any objective comparison or analysis,” they said. “It was pure defamation and a public opinion attack to damage reputations.” They further cited legal precedents stating that making plagiarism accusations without objective validation constitutes defamation with intent, noting that such claims are not protected as free speech.
The agency also remarked that Min is “extremely wary” of her KakaoTalk messages being disclosed in court, arguing that this is because “they contain repeated references to media manipulation and public-opinion strategies,” revealing intent to defame.
BELIFT LAB stated that Min’s plagiarism accusations caused severe material and immaterial damages, including:
- a sharp drop in ILLIT’s album orders, leading to halted production
- cancellations of scheduled shoots and halted advertising campaigns
- members being subjected to malicious comments
They submitted documentation supporting these claims.
During the hearing, Min’s side objected strongly to the use of KakaoTalk messages in BELIFT LAB’s presentation, arguing that their inclusion in a public PT infringed on her privacy. The court proceeded with the presentations with the KakaoTalk portions obscured.
Separately, the court criticized Min’s team for submitting written material on the same day of the hearing, which left BELIFT LAB unable to prepare a rebuttal.
SEE ALSO: ILLIT breaks K-pop debut record on Spotify ahead of upcoming comeback
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