Min Hee-jin's actions forced Source Music to debut Le Sserafim before NewJeans, report says

Social Affairs

Published: 23 Jul. 2024, 18:24 Updated: 23 Jul. 2024, 18:35

Min Hee-jin's actions forced Source Music to debut Le Sserafim before NewJeans, report says

ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

A new report says Min Hee-jin's attempts to sabotage Source Music forced the agency to debut girl group Le Sserafim first instead of the current members of NewJeans.

The report from entertainment outlet Dispatch on Tuesday stated that Min attempted to undermine Source Music while working as the agency's chief creator, taking members from trainee group Team N to make her own band.

The report added that Min had been consulting and paying a shaman during the whole process.

According to Dispatch, Min first joined the Team N project in 2019 as a brand creator. The team was set for debut during the third quarter of 2021 with Min at the helm of branding. Source Music CEO So Sung-jin was to take care of management and performance duties and HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk would oversee the music.

Bang stepped down as the head of Team N's music in March 2021 "because Min Hee-jin wanted to be in charge of the music and performance as well," according to Dispatch.

Source Music had planned to debut Team N in 2021 and Team S — featuring the trainees of girl group Le Sserafim — within the first quarter of 2022 but was forced to change the order because Min had been delaying the whole process, according to the report.

ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin at a press conference on April 25 [NEWS1]

Min was allegedly holding back the parts of the project that were essential for the girl group's debut, starting from March 17, 2021, until April 19 when Source Music's So texted Min asking when she would submit her work.

The Dispatch report cited KakaoTalk messages between Min and her shaman in June 2021, revealing that Min hampered the process because she wanted to take members from Team N and bring them to her own label, instead of debuting them under Source Music.

The information presented in the report comes in direct conflict with Min's statements made during the two press conferences she held earlier this year, which occurred after she was accused of breach of trust by HYBE, the majority owner of her agency, in April.

Min claimed during her first press conference on April 25 that she was forced to establish her own label and take some of the trainees from Source Music because HYBE had delayed the debut of NewJeans members "in order to debut [then-trainees] Sakura and [Kim] Chae-won first." She also claimed that HYBE repeatedly neglected her and the members of NewJeans before and after the group made its debut in July 2022.

Min denied all the allegations and said that she will take firm legal measures against "all the lies" in a press release on Tuesday evening.

Source Music filed a 500 million won ($360,573) lawsuit against Min for defamation and disruption of business on July 15. Min has also been reported for defamation by Belift Lab, the agency of girl group ILLIT. Min called out the group for being a "NewJeans copycat."

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]