ADOR, the agency of girl group NewJeans, argued in court that former member Danielle and former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin were involved in actions that led to contract termination, during a 33 billion won (about $21.5 million) damages lawsuit.
On June 11th, the Seoul Central District Court held the second hearing in ADOR’s lawsuit against Danielle, her family and former CEO Min Hee Jin.
During the hearing, both sides clashed over whether KakaoTalk messages related to Min Hee Jin’s discussions about a music band contract should be accepted as evidence. The court said it would take the arguments into consideration.
ADOR argued that they concluded that “Danielle had no intention of maintaining her exclusive contract with ADOR.”
The agency also claimed, “Min Hee Jin encouraged the termination of NewJeans’ contract with ADOR and persuaded them by saying she would ensure they would not suffer financial losses if they left HYBE. This shows she actively planned and encouraged contract termination.”
ADOR submitted alleged SNS messages from October 2024 as evidence. According to ADOR, Min Hee Jin told NewJeans’ parents, “I will directly design a way so you don’t suffer financial losses,” and “We will prepare compensation if you leave HYBE.”
ADOR said these messages prove that Min Hee Jin actively encouraged breaking the exclusive contract.
The agency also pointed to Danielle’s family as playing a key role in the process. ADOR claimed, “Danielle’s family played the most leading role among the parents involved in Min Hee Jin’s actions,” adding, “It is questionable whether this entire situation was solely based on the members’ own decisions.”
ADOR further argued that Danielle’s family acted as a coordinator between Min Hee Jin and the members.
Danielle’s side responded by saying they were aware there were valid reasons to terminate the contract.
“We were fully aware that there were grounds to terminate the contract with ADOR,” they said. “The collaboration discussions were only exploratory; there is nothing extraordinary about them.”
They added, “We cannot carry out entertainment activities. The penalty claimed against Danielle by the plaintiff is close to 100 billion won ($65 million). What agency would hire an artist facing such an enormous lawsuit?”
They also said that telling her to continue activities was an irresponsible claim and that the lawsuit had destroyed trust.
In response, ADOR asked, “Who started this situation first?”
The agency said NewJeans had claimed they endured more than a year of alleged harassment and criticized Danielle’s side for claiming harm only after losing the initial case.
ADOR also questioned, “You were the ones who first declared contract termination, but now you’re saying you cannot promote because ADOR ended the contract. How does that make sense?”
Danielle’s side countered that after losing the first trial on contract validity, they had initially considered returning to ADOR after choosing not to appeal the ruling.
However, they said ADOR still issued a unilateral termination notice based on past actions and conflicts. They added that requests for clarification were ignored, citing issues involving Min Hee Jin’s relationship with Danielle’s mother. They concluded that the entire group is currently unable to promote and questioned whether a normal resolution is still possible.
NewJeans originally claimed in November 2024 that all five members had terminated their exclusive contracts due to ADOR’s violations and began independent activities.
However, in October 2025, they lost the first trial confirming the validity of their contracts and chose not to appeal, with members gradually expressing intent to return to ADOR.
In December 2025, ADOR announced that Danielle could no longer continue as a member of NewJeans and filed a damages lawsuit of over 43.1 billion KRW ($33 million) against Danielle, one of her family members, and former CEO Min Hee Jin.
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