NewJeans Contract: K-pop Industry Group Rebuts NYT Report
The New York Times published its NewJeans contract investigation on Nov. 5. Four days later, an association whose members include Hybe, SM, JYP and YG put out a statement against it.
The Korea Popmusic Industry Association said Monday it was deeply concerned that the report turned one group's dispute into an indictment of the whole industry. It argued the Times did not weigh Korea's legal framework for entertainment contracts or how the trainee system works, and said that system should not be judged only through a Western lens. It also objected that terms of a contract still in litigation had been disclosed overseas despite confidentiality obligations between the parties.
The Times reviewed the 2022 agreements between NewJeans and its label Ador, which the five members signed when they were 14 to 17, and consulted five legal experts. It reported that the contract left out clauses from Korea's government-standard contract protecting minors' health, education, sleep and rest. It also covered cosmetic procedure costs, conduct restrictions, penalty calculations and the use of the members' names, likenesses and voices after the contract ends. A Seoul entertainment lawyer described it to the paper as "unusually aggressive." The Fader reported that the experts saw the financial terms as not unusual for K-pop, while entertainment lawyer Dina LaPolt, whose clients have included Britney Spears and Cardi B, said the deal would look "horrific" to American artists.
Hybe answered on Friday. It said every Hybe label signs the government-standard supplementary agreement for minors, and that drafts of the NewJeans contract went to the members and their parents on Jan. 7, 2022, followed by nearly three months of negotiation before signing in April. It said early-termination penalties exclude the pre-debut period and work out the same as the government formula, that the members' voices and likenesses cannot be used, AI-generated content included, without individual consent, and that security cameras were installed only in common areas. Hybe also said Min Hee-jin, then Ador's CEO, led the 2022 negotiations.
Min's representatives rejected that. They said Hybe's legal team drafted and revised the contract, and that it could not have been finalized without Hybe's approval because Ador had no legal department of its own at the time.
The contract has been in dispute since 2024, when NewJeans announced it was terminating its agreement with Ador. A Seoul court upheld the contracts in October 2025, and Haerin, Hyein and Hanni returned to the agency. Ador terminated Danielle's contract in December 2025, and she remains in a separate legal dispute with the company. Minji has said she intends to return.
Minji's talks with Ador are still open. So is Danielle's case.
