Hive, Min Heejin Adore CEO Reported to Police... Suspected of Breach of Duty

HYBE has reported its subsidiary ADORE's CEO Min Hee-jin to the police on charges of breach of trust in the course of business.

Hive is initiating an audit of the management of Adore, a subsidiary to which the group NewJeans belongs, leading to conflicts. The photo shows the Hive headquarters in Yongsan. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

The Yongsan Police Station in Seoul announced on the morning of the 26th that a complaint against HYBE's CEO Min and others had been received.

A police official stated, "There is no plan yet regarding the attendance of the complainant and the accused or the direction of the investigation," adding, "We will decide the direction of the investigation after reviewing the complaint."

HYBE claimed that as a result of an internal audit conducted on ADORE starting from the 22nd, it secured concrete facts and evidence that a plan to seize management rights was established under CEO Min's leadership.

Min Hee-jin, CEO of ADOR, is making a statement on the 25th at the Korea Conference Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul, regarding the conflict with the parent company HYBE.
[Photo by Kang Jin-hyung]

HYBE believes that CEO Min instructed ADORE's management to "find a way to pressure HYBE to sell the shares of ADORE held by HYBE." According to the instructions, HYBE claims that specific discussions took place on methods such as prematurely terminating exclusive contracts with affiliated artists (NewJeans) and invalidating contracts between ADORE's CEO and HYBE.

In response, CEO Min held an emergency press conference on the 25th and issued a full rebuttal. CEO Min said, "There was no plan, intention, or execution of a management rights takeover," and added, "I did not betray HYBE; rather, HYBE betrayed me. This is a frame to suppress me after exploiting me as much as possible."