NewJeans' Minji lived in cockroach-infested dorm and commuted alone at 2am aged only 14, alleges mum

New fighters have entered the ongoing battle between K-pop giant Hybe Entertainment and their sub-label Ador: The parents of the NewJeans members themselves.

The girl group — comprising Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein and managed by Ador — is caught in the crossfire following allegations that Ador's CEO Min Hee-jin poached trainees from Source Music, another sub-label under Hybe, to form NewJeans.

However, the parents of the members told South Korean media Sports World yesterday (July 24) that they are determined to stick up for Hee-jin until the end and urged Hybe to stop fuelling rumours.

Minji's mother shared the difficult times her daughter, who moved to Seoul aged 13 as a trainee, faced under Source Music.

She alleged that she was also not allowed to visit the dormitory Minji, now 20, stayed in until a year later, and when she eventually went there, found it to be infested with mould and cockroaches.

"My heart still hurts when I think of Minji enduring silently in such a difficult environment," she said.

What's worse was the lack of a specific debut date or plan for Minji, but her mother claimed that the young girl continued to work hard, training past 2am every day including weekends and being made to walk back on her own at the late hour.

She added: "I can still vividly hear Minji's voice when she called me to ease her fears after leaving work alone in the dark and early morning."

Minji was also initially asked by Source Music to give up on her education when she was about to enter high school because it might be "too hard to balance regular school and training", her mother alleged, but she got into an arts high school anyway.

When Source Music joined the Hybe umbrella, Minji's mum expected her daughter to debut under their first girl group — which ended up being Le Sserafim — but alleged that she was replaced in favour of a famous idol who joined the group.

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Danielle's mother also alleged her daughter's initial contract stipulated that she would be part of Hybe's first girl group "if she joined the debut team", which did not come to fruition.

"In the process of the sudden change in the debut order, we were in danger of being ruthlessly abandoned without explanation," Minji's mum said.

However, she added that CEO Min refused to abandon the girls "she took under her wing", which resulted in NewJeans being created.

"We signed with Ador and have never thought of leaving, and we are fully satisfied with Ador," she said.

The issue, she added, was "Hybe's harassment" and the witch hunt the parents and NewJeans have endured.

Haerin and Hyein's mothers claimed that their daughters also faced neglect when they were under Source Music and alleged: "There is a lot of serious evidence that Hybe is treating NewJeans poorly. Do they want all of it to be made public?"

However, they added that they didn't want "special treatment" for their daughters, but for Hybe to merely leave them alone.

Ador sues Hybe

The parents' statements come after early training videos of the girls, private information about them and text messages allegedly from Hee-jin were leaked by paparazzi-style media Dispatch on July 23.

Ador stated that the materials in the article would be impossible to obtain "without the co-operation and false information from Hybe and Source Music", accusing them of the leak.

They also criticised the invasion of privacy and exposure of private information of the trainees, including those who had already moved to different agencies.

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"The trainee contract between Source Music and the members of NewJeans has already been terminated, and there is no provision in the contract that allows the use of trainees' likenesses and voices by them," they added.

"Therefore, we would like to inform that Source Music's release of trainee videos through the media is a very serious illegal act that infringes on the NewJeans members' portrait rights."

Danielle's mother told Sports World: "It's embarrassing that Hybe claimed they're investigating how the [Dispatch] article was published. It's something that can never be leaked unless it's from Hybe or Source Music themselves."

The mothers added that they were all united — including Hanni's mum who is in Australia — in asking Hybe to cease spreading false narratives and end its feud with Ador.

Hee-jin has since sued Hybe's executives, alleging they got the information from her laptop during a forced "parent company audit".

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"The accused edited and distorted the acquired private conversations to create and distribute press releases containing false information about Min Hee-jin's management and business conduct, thereby creating negative public opinion against her," a statement by Ador said.

Hybe has denied having access to her laptop during any audits and plans to countersue, but Dispatch posted another series of alleged messages from Hee-jin today with the disclaimer: "The KakaoTalk screenshots that appear in this article were provided by Hybe in their audit report submitted to an external agency."

Hybe CEO resigns

Hybe's CEO Park Ji-won announced his resignation yesterday prior to the lawsuit being made public.

He addressed his employees in a letter, focusing on Hybe's rapid growth over the past three years and addressing its future plans: "We believe new leadership is necessary to drive the changes required for Hybe 2.0."

He added that the current CSO of Hybe, Lee Jae-sang, will be its next CEO, and did not address the conflict with Ador.

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drimac@asiaone.com