NewJeans unilaterally terminated their unique contract with All Doorways One Room (ADOR), a subsidiary of HYBE, and introduced plans to embark on a brand new journey outdoors the corporate, throughout a press convention held in Seoul, on Thursday, November 28.
“Our contract can be terminated as of midnight, right now. It was ADOR and HYBE that violated the contract, so we’re ending it,” Minji mentioned.
“Furthermore, we have now by no means breached our unique contract and have all the time given our greatest efforts. There isn’t any motive for us to pay any penalties. It’s them who’ve violated the phrases, and the duty lies with them,” she added.
Hanni elaborated on their choice, citing ADOR’s lack of will and skill to satisfy its elementary obligation of defending NewJeans.
“Staying right here seems like a waste of time and a supply of continued psychological anguish. Most significantly, there’s nothing for us to achieve professionally, which is why all 5 of us don’t have any motive to stay,” Hanni mentioned.
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Hyein hinted at potential challenges concerning the continued use of their group identify, NewJeans, however expressed their willpower to battle for its trademark rights.
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“The essence of NewJeans will all the time be with us, and we won’t give away our identify simply. It represents every little thing from the start of our journey to the place we are actually,” Hyein mentioned.
The group additionally reassured followers and enterprise companions that they might honor their deliberate schedules and commercial commitments.
“We need to inform advertisers that they don’t have to fret. We’re dedicated to making sure that our contract termination with Ador doesn’t negatively impression others,” Danielle mentioned.
NewJeans additionally expressed a want to collaborate with former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin sooner or later.
“We haven’t spoken to Min about our contract termination, however we would definitely like to work together with her once more if doable,” Minji added.
The termination comes simply eight days after Min resigned from her place as an inner director at ADOR. Reinstating Min as CEO, a task she was faraway from in August, was certainly one of a number of calls for made by the group. NewJeans had warned that failure to fulfill these calls for by Thursday would represent a breach of their contract, resulting in its termination.
On Nov. 13, NewJeans despatched a certification of contents to the label, citing “main contract violations” and demanding corrective actions inside 14 days. Their calls for included reinstating Min Hee-jin as CEO, issuing a proper apology from the supervisor of ILLIT over alleged office harassment in opposition to member Hanni, and pursuing authorized motion to determine the creator of an inner doc that reportedly instructed it to “discard NewJeans and begin anew.”
ILLIT is a rookie lady group beneath Belift Lab, a HYBE subsidiary and sister firm of ADOR.
Nevertheless, the company failed to fulfill the group’s calls for. On Wednesday, at some point earlier than the deadline, ADOR solely urged Belift Lab to undertake a “honest and respectful method” to the office harassment allegations involving Hanni, falling wanting the actions NewJeans had requested.