NewJeans' Agency CEO: "I believe Hanni, but the claims differ" vs Hanni: "Don't let it slide, resolve it" [Summary]
[Newsen Reporter Hwang Hye-jin] NewJeans member Hanni and Adore CEO Kim Ju-young showed somewhat conflicting reactions to the workplace harassment allegations.
On October 15, the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee and Economic and Social Labor Committee held a comprehensive audit. On this day, NewJeans member Hanni appeared as a witness, and Adore CEO Kim Ju-young attended as a witness.
Hanni explained her decision to attend by saying, "The reason I came today is because of the story I shared during a live broadcast with NewJeans members. The hair and makeup area is on a different floor of the building. At the time, I was preparing for a college festival and was waiting in the corridor after finishing my hair and makeup."
She continued, "While waiting, around three team members from a different label, along with a female manager, passed by. I greeted my members, and about 5–10 minutes later, they came out again. When the manager saw me, she told the members behind her, 'Ignore her as if you didn't see her.' I didn’t understand why I had to experience this, and I couldn’t understand why such a person would say that in that environment. This issue wasn’t just a one-time thing."
Hanni added, "If I hadn’t come today, I know it would quietly be forgotten. This could happen to anyone. I hope no one, whether they are seniors, juniors, or current trainees, has to go through this kind of thing in the future."
She also mentioned other issues, stating, "It wasn’t just that incident. From the beginning of my debut, I often encountered high-ranking figures (referring to HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk), but each time, they never acknowledged my greeting. Living in Korea, I’ve learned that it's important to show respect to older people, but I felt that not acknowledging my greetings was disrespectful, regardless of the profession. There was also an atmosphere in the company that I found difficult to talk about."
Hanni also shared, "Honestly, I thought it was just my personal feeling, but recently, I saw some employees on the Blind app criticizing NewJeans. I also heard recordings of some PR team members attempting to downplay our Japanese debut performance and doing reverse viral promotion. Seeing that, I became certain that the company dislikes us."
Regarding the evidence, Hanni mentioned that Kim Ju-young had told her there was nothing that could be done due to lack of proof, stating, "He said there was nothing he could do because there was no evidence. When I first mentioned it, I asked to check the CCTV, and as he said, only the 8 seconds of footage where I was greeting were left, and everything 5-10 minutes later was missing. When I asked why the latter part was missing, the explanation kept changing during the meeting, and he admitted to deleting the footage by mistake."
Hanni continued, "I felt uneasy seeing the CEO changing his words. Since I am Vietnamese-Australian and don't fully understand Korean, I recorded the conversation to ensure I didn’t miss anything important. There’s evidence of him lying, and I hope to clear up the misunderstanding if it’s just that."
In response to these claims, Kim Ju-young clarified, "The manager Hanni mentioned is from a different company (Belift Lab), not Adore. Nevertheless, I requested confirmation from the artists and managers from that label about the incident. Unfortunately, I asked about recovering the CCTV footage, but the retention period had expired."
He continued, "Unfortunately, the claims between the two sides are conflicting. I believe Hanni’s statement, and I’m trying hard to find evidence to prove it, but so far, I haven’t been able to secure it."
Kim Ju-young added, "I know that entertainers are not considered workers in the strictest legal sense. However, it’s not about whether they are workers or not; our company works closely with artists, and mutual respect and collaboration are crucial. We’ve been working to establish guidelines and provide regular training."
When asked if he thought there were shortcomings in the actions taken, Kim Ju-young replied, "I believe I’ve taken all the actions I could, but considering that Hanni has felt this way and the situation has escalated to this point, I reflect on whether I could have done better."
Hanni, in response, said, "I’m sorry, but I don’t think you’ve done your best. There were certainly more things you could have done. You said you would protect us, but to do that, we need to fight. But if you don’t have the will or intention to take action, you can’t say you did your best."
Hanni firmly added, "I know that if I say something like 'please do your best,' this issue will be overlooked, so before talking about the future, I want this issue to be resolved quickly."
In response, Kim Ju-young said, "As Hanni said, we will listen more closely to the voices of our artists and strengthen communication. Since the claims between the parties are conflicting, I believe it’s important to clarify the facts. We will cooperate faithfully with the ongoing Labor Department investigation and do our best to clarify the facts.
