Min Hee-jin, CEO of ooak Records, proposed ending the litigation with HYBE that is currently in dispute.
On the afternoon of the 25th, a press conference by Min Hee-jin, CEO of ooak Records (former CEO of ADOR), was held at a location in Jongno-gu, Seoul. CEO Min Hee-jin held this press conference to personally discuss the first-instance lawsuit result and future plans.
Earlier, on the 12th, the Civil Division 31 of the Seoul Central District Court (Director General Nam In-soo) conducted the trial for HYBE's lawsuit seeking confirmation of termination of the shareholder agreement against CEO Min Hee-jin and the trial for the judgment on the claim for the stock purchase price related to the exercise of the put option that former CEO Min Hee-jin filed against HYBE.
The court at the time said, "It is recognized that former CEO Min Hee-jin's side sought a plan for ADOR's independence," but added, "this appears to be a plan that assumes HYBE's consent," and ruled that HYBE should pay former CEO Min Hee-jin an amount equivalent to 25.5 billion won. HYBE appealed the first-instance judgment.
At the press conference that day, CEO Min Hee-jin proposed that HYBE end all lawsuits. She said, "The court clarified that the sensational frame of a management takeover or tampering was illusory, and it recognized that my concerns about creative ethics, which I raised, were management judgments that a company representative should rightly make. The result of this lawsuit was like consolation that washed away the wounds of the past two years for me. In that process, I feel a sense of liability for the fatigue I inadvertently caused the public," she said.
She continued, "Now I plan to repay that debt with a new vision for K-pop. The reason I am here today is to say I have decided to exchange the 25.6 billion won I would gain as the price of winning for other values. Among all the reasons that led me to make this decision, the most urgent reason is the members of NewJeans," she said.
Min Hee-jin said, "In exchange for my relinquishing 25.6 billion won, I propose stopping all ongoing civil and criminal lawsuits and ending all disputes. This proposal includes not only myself personally but also the NewJeans members (Danielle and family) and outside partner companies, former ADOR employees, and ending all lawsuits and complaints toward the fandoms that were hurt by being dragged into this fight."
He added, "Only when all these legal disputes end will no further indiscriminate noise occur affecting artists, their families and fandoms. I cannot bear to see the reality where five members who should be happily on stage have some standing on stage while others must stand in court."
[Photo] Reporter Lee Dae-seon
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