When it comes to the NewJeans vs ADOR dispute, there’s always a new development that throws you for a loop. It can be hard to keep track of every update.
Here’s a little recap of the ongoing dispute between HYBE, ADOR, Min Hee-Jin and NewJeans, especially since Western media is leaving out a lot of crucial details.
How It All Started
This whole mess is the result of former ADOR CEO and NewJeans’ creative director Min Hee-Jin’s actions after HYBE announced they were auditing her in April 2024. The conglomerate accused MHJ of trying to separate ADOR from HYBE and take Newjeans with her.
Min shot back by saying HYBE was targeting her after she accused one of its sub-labels, BELIFT LAB, of copying NewJeans’ concept for ILLIT, who debuted that March.
From there, the conflict spiraled. BELIFT denied the plagiarism claims and filed multiple lawsuits against her.
Refusing to back down, Min accused HYBE of sabotaging her when she helped SOURCE MUSIC prepare a girl group in 2022. She alleges the conglomerate went back on their promise to let her debut her group first, which led to her starting her own label ADOR. LE SSERAFIM debuted under SOURCE MUSIC on May 2, 2022 while NewJeans debuted under ADOR on July 22, 2022.
MHJ also accused HYBE of “stealing brand deals” that were supposed to go for NewJeans and gave them to LE SSERAFIM instead. SOURCE MUSIC repeatedly denied all of these allegations and later joined BELIFT in taking legal action against her.
The Breaking Point
By late summer 2024, HYBE had removed Min as ADOR’s CEO during a shareholders’ meeting.
In September, NewJeans uploaded a video under a burner YouTube account, demanding HYBE reinstate Min as CEO. They accused HYBE and chairman Bang Si-hyuk of sabotaging them by removing her.
HYBE said they offered Min a creative director role to restore normalcy, but she rejected it. She wanted the CEO title back, not a consolation prize.
NewJeans declared their contracts terminated, citing breakdown of trust and mistreatment. They cited a clause in their contract that supposedly gave NewJeans the power to unilaterally terminate their contracts on their end if they felt ADOR violated the terms. ADOR pushed back by filling an injunction to block the group from promoting independently in January 2025.
From NewJeans to NJZ and Back Again
In February 2025, the group filed to trademark their temporary name “NJZ.” The slightly new name was meant to signal the group’s intent to rebrand.
By March, the Seoul Central District Court sided with ADOR and granted an injunction that prevented the members from pursuing independent activity. Still, the quintet appeared under the name NJZ at ComplexCon Hong Kong. They performed a new track titled “Pit Stop” before announcing a hiatus.
On October 30, 2025, the court ruled in ADOR’s favor. NewJeans’ contracts were deemed valid until July 2029. The judgment rejected the group’s claims of mistreatment, stating there wasn’t enough evidence to support their accusations. HYBE’s stock surged afterward, adding over $600 million to its market value.
Careers on Ice
The dispute froze NewJeans during what should have been their peak. Their last single, “Supernatural,” was released in June 2024. What was once one of K-pop’s fastest-rising groups went with no new music for over a year.
Once worth billions of won in collective endorsements, the group watched as brands like Nike, Levi’s, McDonald’s Korea, LG, and Musinsa replace them. Major global deals with Apple, Coca-Cola, and Korea Tourism also slipped away. Forbes Korea estimated NewJeans earned ₩30 billion in ads in 2023 alone, a run that evaporated as the lawsuits dragged on.
Even HYBE wasn’t immune. When news broke of the group’s contract termination, shares plunged almost seven percent, erasing more than $400 million in market value. When the court sided with ADOR in October 2025 and found NewJeans’ contracts valid until July 31, 2029, HYBE’s market cap jumped back up by over $600 million.
Where Things Stand Now
As of December 2025, only Haerin, Hyein and Hanni are confirmed to back with ADOR after accepting the court’s ruling. Danielle’s contract was terminated after she was accused of accepting solo contracts behind ADOR’s back. Meanwhile, Minji is still discussing her return with the company.
Min Hee-Jin has already moved on. She founded a new agency, OoaK Records, with plans to debut a boy group.
Depending on whose side you’re on, anyone following this saga saw something different.
You either saw five entitled, obnoxious spoiled brats taking part in a hit campaign against their fellow label mates. A group who never deserved the success and privileges they were taking for granted.
Others saw five budding pseudo-activists who were being slandered for speaking out against an exploitative entertainment industry. That they were fighting for idols to be recognized as employees so they can receive the legal protections that status provides
The rest just saw five young women torpedoing their careers because every adult in their life (Min Hee-Jin, some of their parents, definitely their legal team) had failed them.
In the end, the NewJeans and ADOR dispute is about how one person’s ego can ruin a good thing.
