Injunction Granted by Korean Court Against NewJeans: Korean Entertainment Law Updates

In a major decision in Korean Entertainment Law, the unilateral decision of NewJeans to form the group NJZ and perform outside of its agreement with the management company Ador (a subsidiary of HYBE) was deemed a breach of contract by members of NewJeans. The members of NewJeans, who debuted through Ador, announced in November 2024 that their contracts with Ador are terminated due to violation of their exclusive contract. Thereafter, they changed their group name to NJZ. In January 2025, Ador filed a request to the Seoul Central District Court to “prohibit NJZ’s independent activities, such as signing advertising contracts.”

The Seoul Central District Court granted the injunction against the five members of NewJeans to “preserve the status of the agency and prohibit the signing of advertising contracts, etc.” (2025kahap20037). Thus, Ador prevailed in an injuction against the NewJeans members.

NewJeans Reason for Unilateral Termination of Agency/Management Agreements

The NewJeans members stated 11 reasons to allow the members to pursue a career independent of the management; the reasons were rejected by the court. The wording of the reasons stated by NewJeans below is taken nearly verbatim from the complaint and is a little awkward when translated into English. .

1. Production gap caused by the dismissal of Ador’s CEO Min Hee-jin.
2. HYBE CEO Park Ji-won’s statement that “Kim Min-ji and others will be given a long vacation.”
3. Dispute between Dolphin Kidnapping director Shin Woo-seok and Ador.
4. Statement “Just throw away the new and start anew” in HYBE’s music industry report dated May 10, 2023.
5. Belift Lab’s Illit’s attempt to damage and replace the uniqueness of NewJeans.
6. Hani’s manager at Belift Lab told her to “ignore you.”
7. Leaked photos and videos of Kim Min-ji and others from their trainee days
8. HYBE PR manager’s disparaging remarks about New Jeans’ performance.
9. NewJeans’ performance was undervalued due to HYBE’s practice of pushing out albums quickly.
10. Negative public opinion about NewJeans due to HYBE and Ador’s retaliatory audit of Min Hee-jin
11. HYBE’s CSO Lee Jae-sang noting, “I am thinking of damaging the brand value of NewJeans and even destroying Min Hee-jin and NewJeans together.”

Seoul Central District Court Holding in Injunction Case Against NewJeans

The court cited Korean Supreme Court precedents (2017da258237, 2011da19102, 19119, etc.) and stated that if the trust relationship between the contracting parties is broken, the entertainer can terminate the exclusive contract. However, regarding circumstances that make it difficult to maintain the contractual relationship, the person claiming the termination of the contractual relationship has the burden of proof. Regarding the 11 reasons raised by the NJZ members, the court stated, “It is difficult to see that Ador’s breach of important obligations has been sufficiently proven with only the materials submitted so far.” It continued, “It is difficult to see that Ador violated important obligations under the exclusive contract based on [the NJZ members’] claims alone, and it is also difficult to conclude that the trust relationship was broken,” and ruled that it was necessary to prohibit independent activities until the main decision on the case was made.

The court, also, pointed out that Ador fulfilled most of its contractual obligations, Ador would suffer financial losses and the brand value of ‘NewJeans’ and Ador’s reputation would also be seriously damaged, and that it was necessary to prohibit the NJZ members from activities as singers or commercial activities as entertainers prior to the main ruling.

NJZ members stated that they shall file an appeal immediately after the court’s decision. We shall update the reader when more is known.

Sean Hayes is the first non-Korean attorney to have worked for the Korean court system (Constitutional Court of Korea) and one of the first non-Koreans to be a regular member of a Korean law faculty. Sean is ranked, for Korea, as one of only a few non-Korean lawyers as a Top Attorney by AsiaLaw. Sean is regularly quoted by leading international media sources, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, France 24 and Bloomberg.

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For additional articles on Korean Entertainment Law see: IPG Legal’s Entertainment Law Archives.