Home > Entertainment > K-pop

Min Hee-jin urges ADOR to accept return of all 5 NewJeans members

Published: 16 Nov. 2025, 16:10 Updated: 16 Nov. 2025, 16:48

YOON SO-YEON
[email protected]

Min Hee-jin, former CEO of girl group NewJeans' agency ADOR, appears at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Sept. 11. [NEWS1]

Min Hee-jin, the former CEO of girl group NewJeans' agency ADOR, urged the company to accept all five members back as the agency drags its feet in deciding whether to welcome Minji, Danielle and Hanni.

"This has always been about me; the children should not be dragged into this," Min said in a statement read by attorney Roh Young-hee of Gangnam LLC during a YouTube livestream on Saturday. "Children should be protected, not used."

The statement came two days after she told reporters that she "respected" the quintet's decision to go back to ADOR because she "can start again anywhere."

"NewJeans is fulfilled when they are a full group of five," the statement continued. "The group was made with five people in mind — their looks, sound, color, style and even movement were structured for five people. That's why people loved them, and that's how they became one."

"Now that they've come back, they should be cherished," she continued. "Unnecessary conflict and interpretations are not helpful."

NewJeans' members abruptly cut ties with ADOR in November last year, claiming that the agency failed to protect them properly. The agency filed a lawsuit and the Seoul Central District Court’s Civil Division sided with the agency, ordering the group to return to the agency on Oct. 30.

After almost a year of litigation, ADOR on Wednesday announced that its two youngest members — Haerin and Hyein — would return to the agency and fulfill their exclusive contracts, a decision they say they made “after long discussions among themselves and with ADOR.”

Shortly afterward, the remaining three members — Minji, Danielle and Hanni — issued a separate statement through their legal representative, released to the press, confirming their return as well and explaining that the delay was due to one member being in Antarctica.

ADOR, however, said on Thursday that it is currently arranging separate meetings with the three members, without confirming their return.

BY YOON SO-YEON [[email protected]]