In the exclusive contract dispute between entertainment agency ADOR and girl group NewJeans, the court ruled in favor of ADOR.

Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 41 (Judge Jeong Hoe-il presiding) announced on the 30th that in the lawsuit filed by ADOR against five NewJeans members to confirm the validity of the exclusive contract, “the exclusive contract signed on April 21, 2022, is confirmed to be valid.” The court also ordered NewJeans to bear the litigation costs.

After HYBE dismissed Min Hee-jin, who was the representative of its subsidiary label, the agency, ADOR, in August last year, the members notified ADOR of the termination of the exclusive contract in November of that year. The reason cited was that ADOR had violated its obligations under the exclusive contract, leading to a breakdown of trust. When the members subsequently engaged in independent activities, including changing the team name from NewJeans to NJZ, ADOR filed the lawsuit to confirm the validity of the exclusive contract.

ADOR also filed a provisional disposition request during the litigation to prevent the members from engaging in entertainment activities. The court accepted this in March of last year and ruled in favor of ADOR. NewJeans appealed against this decision but it was ultimately dismissed.