Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Hello and welcome back to HYBE/ADOR-turned-HYBE/ADOR/Min Hee Jin/NJZ/NewJeans updates where there’s finally substantial news to report as ADOR’s injunction meant to limit the activities of NJZ as the main case goes on was granted by the courts.
On March 21, the Seoul Central District Court’s Civil Division 50 ruled in favor of ADOR’s injunction request to prohibit NewJeans members from engaging in independent activities, including signing advertising contracts.
This will be valid until the final ruling over their contracts takes place and will apply to basically all activities. The scope of the injunction had expanded from advertising contracts to activities due to NJZ trying to release new songs and put on performances.
The agency later expanded the request to prohibit them from engaging in any entertainment-related activities, including songwriting, composing, and singing.
There was a lot of dramatic noise made about what lawyers argued during the injunction hearing (presumably for clicks), but realistically a lot of it was just stuff the sides had already aired in public being officially stated. That’s important, but also nothing really new*.
*While not necessarily key to the injunction decision, there seems to be a misunderstanding regarding the exchanges on the hallway greeting incident. It’s true that Hanni, NJZ, and ADOR never previously claimed that ILLIT themselves did anything wrong, but in court their legal team did claim that the ILLIT members didn’t greet her and that some mocked her. That was rejected by the court.
Anyway, nothing new being unveiled might’ve been the problem for NJZ because they couldn’t show some kind of urgent justification that they needed to leave the company, and now this result provides a major speedbump for them. Not only does it mean it’ll be harder to keep themselves in the public eye, but not having further evidence might not bode well for the eventual contract ruling.
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In a response from NJZ, they say they plan to appeal the ruling…
We plan to challenge today’s decision through the objection procedure, during which we will raise additional legal issues and submit further supporting evidence. Above all, until the point the exclusive contracts were terminated, we had diligently fulfilled our obligations without any wrongdoing. In contrast, ADOR and HYBE, behind the scenes, continued to treat us unfairly and unequally, ultimately destroying the relationship of trust. It is only a matter of time before the truth becomes clear.
…and they emphasize the contract case has a different rule set of sorts.
A separate main lawsuit regarding the validity of the exclusive contract termination is currently underway, with a court hearing scheduled for April 3. Unlike injunction proceedings, the main lawsuit allows us to freely utilize civil procedure tools to collect necessary evidence. We anticipate this will greatly reinforce our claims.
Apparently they are still going to perform at ComplexCon … I would guess as NewJeans and under ADOR.
Meanwhile, after much deliberation, we have decided to participate in the upcoming ComplexCon scheduled for March 23. This decision was made out of respect for our fans and all stakeholders involved, in order to prevent unnecessary disruption or harm to those who have been looking forward to the performance.
That’s interesting since it only helps NJZ stay relevant, but I suppose ADOR blocking activities completely would only help NJZ’s case for mistreatment, so it makes sense for both parties in that way.
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There are also some older updates to the stuff around the case.
- Despite all the drama about Hanni‘s visa, the parents said she got one and the issue is resolved, basically.
- NJZ’s manager had previously accused ADOR of workplace bullying, but the CEO has been declared not guilty by the Ministry Of Employment And Labor as they were unable to confirm any bullying occurred.
- Min Hee Jin won a defamation case against eight netizens for pocket change.
Aside from all the bizarre MAGA-esque eagerness around the visa shit, the middle item is most relevant, as it continues a string of their side being unable to make a successful legal argument.
