NewJeans / Courtesy of Ador HYBE sublabels declare legal battle against each other By Lee Gyu-lee A new allegation has emerged against Ador CEO Min Hee-jin, deepening the rift between Ador and HYBE, along with its sublabel Source Music. The claim accuses Min of poaching trainees from Source Music to debut them in the girl group NewJeans under her own label, Ador. Ador was quick to refute the allegation, threatening to take legal action against the news outlet that reported the allegation and HYBE, accusing it of feeding the sources.
However, Source Music soon released a counter-argument against Ador and said it would also take legal action against Ador for spreading false information. The controversy was ignited by a report from Korean entertainment news outlet Dispatch, which claimed that NewJeans members — Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein — were initially part of a seven-member trainee group at Source Music, revealing a video of the group practicing the dance moves for “Attention,” NewJeans’ debut song, at Source Music’s studio in March 2021, more than a year before the idol group's debut. The report detailed the alleged misuse of internal documents and consultations with a shaman by Min in her strategy to move the group to Ador.
According to the report, Source Music started training a girl group, under the project name Team N, aiming to debut it in the third quarter of 2021, and Min joined as the group’s visual and branding director in 2019. However, .