Group NewJeans member Danielle terminated her exclusive contract with ADOR, ultimately preventing NewJeans from returning as a complete group.
Earlier NewJeans held an emergency press conference on Nov. 28 last year and announced the termination of their exclusive contracts, foreshadowing an independent path. Afterwards they attempted to promote under the new team name "NJZ," but a court ruling that "activity without ADOR approval is not allowed" halted those plans. Violation of this could have resulted in an indirect enforcement penalty of 1 billion won per instance.
Later the court ruled for the plaintiff in ADOR's suit seeking confirmation of the validity of exclusive contracts against the five NewJeans members, determining that the contracts between NewJeans and ADOR were still valid, ending the dispute as a decisive victory for ADOR.
Immediately after the ruling NewJeans expressed their intention to appeal and maintained the position that "they cannot return to ADOR," but ten days later ADOR said that members Haerin and Hye-in would return to ADOR, saying, "The two members, after careful consideration with their families and sufficient discussions with ADOR, decided to respect the court's judgment and comply with the exclusive contracts."
Three hours after news of the two returns, Min-ji, Danielle and Hanni also expressed their intention to return to ADOR through their legal representatives. However, this was not something agreed with ADOR. Regarding this, ADOR said, "We are coordinating individual interview schedules with the members and will do our best to ensure smooth discussions," the company said.
Although whether the full lineup of NewJeans could be seen again became a matter of intense interest, Danielle left the team, making the final return of all five NewJeans members difficult.
On the 29th ADOR said, "Hanni visited Korea with her family and had in-depth, lengthy conversations with ADOR. In that process she reviewed past events and took time to view the matters objectively. After sincere talks, Hanni decided to respect the court's ruling and stay with ADOR."
Min-ji is also in discussions after talking with ADOR. However, the agency emphasized, "In Danielle's case, we judged that it would be difficult for her to be both a NewJeans member and an ADOR artist, and today we notified her of the termination of her exclusive contract. In addition, we plan to hold legally responsible one family member of Danielle who bears significant responsibility for causing this dispute and the delay in NewJeans' return, and former CEO Min Hee-jin."
Finally ADOR said, "During the course of discussions we learned that the members had been exposed for a long time to distorted and biased information that led to many misunderstandings about the company and ultimately to the dispute. The company and the artists agreed that, to regain the love of fans and the public, it may take some time but it is necessary to completely resolve misunderstandings based on accurate facts. We also agreed to have an opportunity later to address various controversies that arose during the dispute and are discussing the timing and method."
With a full reunion off the table, attention is focused on what form NewJeans' future activities will take and how far the fallout from the legal battle will extend.
[Photo] OSEN DB
[OSEN]