Min Hee-jin Cleared of Breach of Duty, Impacting NewJeans-HYBE Contract Dispute
Jul 16, 2025
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On the 15th, it was revealed that former CEO Min Hee-jin received a police decision to reject the allegation of breach of duty.
Former CEO Min said "The illegality of Hive's accusation of breach of duty in April last year was not recognized. In both cases, a non-transference decision was made without charge.'
As a result, opinions were raised that former CEO Min's escape from the charge of breach of trust could affect the exclusive contract dispute between NewJeans and HYBE.
In November last year, NewJeans declared that the exclusive contract was terminated due to the breakdown of the trust relationship due to former CEO Min's unfair dismissal. The main basis for Hive and Ador's dismissal of former representative Min is the charge of breach of duty, which could give a boost to NewJeans' claims of 'unfair dismissal' with the acquittal.
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In response to the members' declaration of termination of the exclusive contract, Ador filed an application for injunction against the ban, such as a lawsuit to confirm the validity of the exclusive contract and signing an advertising contract. The court cited all of Odor's applications for provisional injunction and rejected all of the members' objections. According to the ruling released in the process, the court said that even if Odor fired former CEO Min, he was actively looking for ways to maintain his position as a producer, and that it was former CEO Min who refused to do so, so it cannot be considered that he did not fulfill his exclusive contractual obligations. In addition, even if former CEO Min was deeply involved in NewJeans' music, the dismissal of the CEO was related to the management structure of the company, so it was considered a matter that had nothing to do with the exclusive contract between NewJeans and the company.
In particular, regarding former CEO Min's dismissal, Hive recognized and selected the members, set up a company, and even supported them. "It is reasonable to see Hive as the core of NewJeans's performance."Former CEO Min is dissatisfied with the content of the inter-shareholder contract from around 2023 and demanded correction, while taking NewJeans out of control of Hive or seeking ways to independently control Adore, and is in a position to destroy the foundation of the integrated structure leading to HYBE-Ador NewJeans.", he pointed out.
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As the breach of duty does not apply to the breach of duty, criminal charges are not established in situations where a method was simply sought and it was not put into action. Hive filed an objection with the prosecution, believing that former representative Min was cleared of charges for this reason.
Hive said "After the police investigation, a new situation occurred, including the declaration of termination of the contract by the members of the NewJeans, and a number of new evidence was submitted in related trials. Based on this, the Board of Government Employees has judged the former representative Min's actions very seriously. At the same time, Hive countered that former CEO Min was cleared of charges in the case of suing Hive officials en masse.
a situation in which everyone is in sharp opposition. What will happen to former CEO Min, NewJeans, Adore and Hive. Former CEO Min filed a lawsuit against Hive to claim the stock trading price related to the exercise of put options. If former CEO Min exercises his put option, the amount he can receive is estimated to be around 26 billion won. Former representative Min's position is that he exercised his legitimate rights while the inter-shareholder contract was valid, and Hive's claims to disclose Kakaotalk are unacceptable. The court set the next date for Sept. 11.
NewJeans and Ador's exclusive contract litigation is currently underway.
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