ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin denies taking side of male executive in sexual harassment case

Legal representatives of ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin denied that she took the side of a male executive accused of allegedly sexually harassing a female employee, reiterating that it is illegal to leak personal online chats to outsiders.

ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin during a press conference on May 31 [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Legal representatives of ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin denied that she took the side of a male executive accused of allegedly sexually harassing a female employee, reiterating that it is illegal to leak personal online chats to outsiders.

Min’s legal representatives from law firm Shin & Kim said Monday that HYBE closed the internal investigation on the sexual harrassment case after “finding no charges” on March 16.

The response comes as entertainment news outlet Dispatch reported last week that Min sided with a male executive from girl group NewJeans’ agency ADOR in a sexual harassment case raised earlier this year. The female staff member that raised the complaint quit the company soon after the incident.

The law firm said that while it is true that such a case was raised and the employee did quit, it was only due to “other various issues” that arose regarding the terms of her contract. According to the firm, the employee was negotiating contract terms after a six-month, on-the-job training period required for all of HYBE’s lateral hires.

“The incident had nothing to do with the employee’s reason for quitting,” the law firm said in a press release.

“HYBE’s human resources [HR] team had actively investigated and led the case to a close. We cannot fathom why HYBE would not only turn their own judgment around but also take issue with a case that ADOR did not even have the authority over. It is unfair for HYBE to suddenly take the case to another level just to attack CEO Min Hee-jin.”

Min also listened to both sides of the story and took the initiative to demand changes in the company's HR policies regarding transparency and clean management, Shin & Kim said.

“The case was closed when the two staff members reconciled after seeing the difference in their opinions. We ask that everyone remembers it can only be secondary violence against the parties involved to bring up a case from the past,” the law firm said.

The legal office emphasized that it is illegal to disclose personal conversations to a third party, especially when the content of the chats is unrelated to the case.

On July 24, Min's legal representation from Shin & Kim LLC reported five HYBE executives, including current CEO Park Ji-won, to the Yongsan Police Station for defamation and disruption of business, as well as for leaking her private messages to the press.

According to the law firm, the HYBE higher-ups restored private messages Min had wiped from her old laptop, which she handed over to the parent label for an internal audit. They then leaked the data to the press "to form a negative consensus surrounding Min Hee-jin."

HYBE explained that the messages were saved onto the company’s server and that Min had never handed in her laptop to HYBE. HYBE’s subsidiaries Source Music and Belift Lab have reported Min to police for defamation, and HYBE also said it would report her for false accusation.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]