Chosunbiz emphasized that this was the first time a disagreement had appeared between NewJeans parents.
The conflict between NewJeans and HYBE Group began in April last year when HYBE was suddenly audited by ADOR - a subsidiary that manages girl group NewJeans. Former CEO Min Hee Jin and her colleagues were accused of plotting to take over the company.
In November 2024, Min Hee Jin announced her resignation from ADOR and left HYBE. At the end of November of the same year, NewJeans held a press conference to announce the termination of their contract with ADOR, citing that the reason given was that the company did not fulfill its contract obligations, causing the artist to lose confidence.
In January 2025, NewJeans parents opened an Instagram account named NJZ-PR, directly representing the NewJeans members (reporting the name change to NJZ).
In the first hearing of the lawsuit to confirm the validity of the exclusive contract between ADOR and NewJeans on April 3, the judge asked NewJeans: "Have the family court issued a decision on custody? Have all of the litigation activities to date been confirmed valid?
According to Chosunbiz, NewJeans currently has two teenage members, Hyein and Haerin. This is understood to be a disagreement between the parents of one of these members about exercising custody for the purpose of terminating the exclusive contract and they went to the family court to try to resolve the issue.
Previously, at the trial on March 7 about ADOR's lawsuit requesting a temporary ban on NewJeans, a similar mention appeared. At that time, the trial panel said: "It is necessary to clarify the issue of legal representation. Currently, there are shortcomings in the plaintiff's representative rights.
According to the law, in the case of minors, parents exercise custody. If there are shortcomings in the right to represent, it means that there is a disagreement between the parents about the termination of the contract, and the court requires that this issue be resolved.
At the time, a lawyer representing NewJeans said: "Yesterday there was a trial in the family court, and at least there will be a conclusion by next week. When we have a decision, we will submit an additional report and I think there will be no problem.
However, the court emphasized: "According to the civil procedure law, the file must be supplemented, but the necessary supplement has not yet been made." This shows that the parents have not agreed, so they cannot exercise custody to conduct a lawsuit requesting the termination of the contract.
However, at the trial on 3.4, a statement: "There was a decision on the exercise of guardians, and the proof of valid confirmation to the present", can be inferred, the guardian of the member family is limited, and the lawsuit is being conducted at the opinion of the family member's family.
Meanwhile, NewJeans' parents continued to declare on social media that the contract had been terminated because ADOR did not fulfill its exclusive contract obligations and they had no authority to manage or interfere with NewJeans' operations.
However, on March 21, the court rejected all complaints from NewJeans and accepted ADOR's request for a temporary ban.
Once it was confirmed that there was a rift between the parents of the members, observers said that the dispute could enter a new phase in the future.
