The ongoing legal battle between South Korean entertainment giant HYBE and its subsidiary label ADOR has escalated further. After Min Hee Jin filed a lawsuit against five of HYBE executives, now HYBE has responded with a counter-lawsuit. Here are the latest developments in the biggest K-pop drama.
Min Hee Jin, the ADOR CEO, sued five executives of HYBE for defamation, accusing them of leaking her private conversations and personal information. Min Hee Jin argues that HYBE has accessed her personal conversations and information illegally. She further claimed that the company edited her messages to defame her. Her lawsuit also claims that HYBE extracted her personal conversations without authorisation in 2022 as well.
In response to Min Hee Jin’s lawsuit, HYBE, the parent company to BTS, has filed a counter-lawsuit against the ADOR CEO. HYBE has called Min Hee Jin’s allegations false and denied acquiring any assets forcibly from her.
HYBE clarified that the company didn’t conduct a forensic examination on Min Hee Jin’s laptop which she returned to them. According to HYBE, Min Hee Jin sent work-related documents and conversations with a shaman to external users through her HYBE mail. The data hence was stored in the company servers and according to HYBE, Min Hee Jin had given consent to processing of her personal information while joining the company.
In their official statement, HYBE has also alleged that Min Hee Jin has not complied with audit requests. “Despite repeatedly explaining the circumstances of how we obtained the information, CEO Min Hee Jin and others have filed a lawsuit based on false facts. We will respond to these false accusations with a countercharge for false allegations,” said HYBE.
Meanwhile, amid the entire controversy, HYBE CEO Park Ji Won resigned from his post. Lee Jae Sang has been appointed as the new CEO to lead what the company is calling ‘HYBE 2.0’.
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