‘Trust has been irrevocably broken’: NewJeans shoots down settlement with ADOR in second court hearing

Members of K-pop girl group NewJeans and their agency, ADOR, continued their legal battle over the validity of the singers’ exclusive contract at the Seoul Central District Court on June 5.

The members did not appear in court for the second hearing in the case. ADOR had filed a lawsuit seeking to confirm the validity of its exclusive contract with NewJeans. The court again asked both parties if a settlement was possible. A lawyer representing NewJeans replied, “Trust has been irrevocably broken — we’ve crossed a point of no return. I’ll need to discuss it with my clients, but a settlement is unlikely.”

ADOR maintained its position that it would wait for the court’s ruling before considering any agreement. “Whether it’s the main case or the injunction, we believe a court decision will make settlement easier afterward,” the agency said.

ADOR submitted evidence and written statements to the court claiming that it made efforts to ensure the members’ activities continued smoothly even after its leadership changed and that the agency continued providing management services after former CEO Min Hee-jin stepped down.

NewJeans’ side countered, “The submitted evidence is insufficient. Management obligations are not fulfilled by simply compiling a list of available producers — anyone can do that. That’s not why [the singers] signed an exclusive contract.”

The two sides also clashed over ADOR’s request to obtain records from a separate damages suit filed by Source Music — the agency behind girl group Le Sserafim — against Min.

ADOR asked for the case files. NewJeans’ legal team objected, saying, “Some of the evidence submitted in that case may have been illegally obtained.”

ADOR rejected the allegation, stating, “The computer belongs to the company, and the files were shared with full consent, so they cannot be considered illegally collected.”

The court scheduled the next hearing for July 24 to continue reviewing arguments from both sides.

NewJeans began independent activities last November, claiming its contract with ADOR was nullified due to the agency’s breach of contract. In response, ADOR sued to prevent the members from signing advertising deals and to preserve its status as the group’s management agency. The court issued an injunction in March blocking the group from carrying out independent activities. The members appealed, but the court rejected their objection. The singers have since filed a further appeal and are awaiting a decision from the appeals court.

Separately, on May 29, the court imposed a contempt sanction ordering that if the members engage in independent activities without ADOR’s prior approval, they must each pay the agency 1 billion won ($735,900) per violation per member.

BY JANG GU-SEUL [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]