Court Rejects NewJeans Members' Appeal to Overturn Agency Ban on Independent Activities
Jun 17, 2025
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On the 17th, the Seoul High Court's Civil Affairs Department 25 (Judge Hwang Byung-ha) rejected the appeal of the NewJeans members against the court's decision to cite 'preservation of agency status and prohibition of signing advertising contracts'
The court said "It is difficult to say that there is a reason to believe that the trust relationship between the parties has been damaged in the exclusive contract in this case, and it is not possible for one party to unilaterally destroy the exclusive contract only for subjective circumstances." "If NewJeans arbitrarily engages in independent entertainment activities, NewJeans can effectively monopolize the performance of entertainment activities, while Ador suffers a serious disadvantage of losing all investment performances." he said.
The members of the New Jeans are in a dispute over exclusive contracts with their agency, Adore. The dismissal of former CEO Min Hee-jin in August last year was the beginning of the process, and the members demanded former CEO Min's return to the company, but when it was not accepted, they notified the company of the termination of the exclusive contract in November of that year. The intention was that the trust relationship broke down because Ador violated his exclusive contract obligations.
Since then, the members have changed their team name from NewJeans to NJZ and have engaged in entertainment activities, such as signing an advertising contract independently. In response, Adore filed a request for a provisional injunction against the court in January this year, such as preserving the status of an agency and signing an advertising contract, asking the court not to allow such independent activities.
In March, the Civil Affairs Department 50 (Chief Judge Kim Sang-hoon) of the Seoul Central District Court cited all applications for provisional injunction and said that `New Jin's members should not engage in entertainment activities on their own or through a third party other than Ador without prior approval and consent from Ador.' Accordingly, the members of NewJeans filed an objection, but it was not accepted, and they appealed to the high law, but it was rejected.
The court may have felt a sense of loss or deprivation because it felt that the members could not participate in entertainment activities with certain producers or that they were treated differently compared to other idol groups"However, it is the natural duty of the members who are the parties to the contract to comply with the exclusive contract."
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