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| ▲ ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin attends a press conference in Seoul on May 31, 2024, in this pool photo. (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Aug. 28 (Yonhap) -- Min Hee-jin, who was abruptly dismissed from her position as CEO of ADOR, the agency behind the popular group NewJeans, issued an official statement on the 28th, strongly opposing the decision and claiming it was illegal.
In her statement, Min argued, "This dismissal is a violation of the shareholder agreement and directly contradicts the court's injunction prohibiting the exercise of voting rights on this matter."
According to Min, the shareholder agreement made the previous day stipulates that "HYBE must take necessary measures to ensure that Min Hee-jin can maintain her position as CEO and director of ADOR for five years, including exercising voting rights or having a HYBE-appointed director exercise voting rights on ADOR's board."
HYBE had attempted to hold an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on May 31 to discuss Min's dismissal, but the court ruled that HYBE could not exercise voting rights in favor of this decision. Following this, HYBE notified Min of the termination of the shareholder agreement and filed a lawsuit in July to confirm the termination.
Min asserted, "HYBE's claim of terminating the shareholder agreement is baseless, and I have never acknowledged the termination. Therefore, this dismissal clearly violates the shareholder agreement and disregards the court's ruling."
On the previous day, ADOR's board dismissed Min and appointed Kim Joo-young, a director of ADOR and HYBE's Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), as the new CEO. ADOR stated that Min would continue to oversee NewJeans' production as a director.
However, Min contended that "the ADOR board simply unilaterally notified me that I would be responsible for production tasks."
Min also raised concerns about procedural issues, noting that according to ADOR's bylaws, board meetings should be notified to each director a week in advance. She pointed out that during an extraordinary shareholders' meeting called by ADOR's board, the bylaws were amended to allow just one day's notice for such meetings. Min suspects this was a preemptive move to deny her sufficient time to respond to the dismissal.
She further claimed that the board chair, Kim Joo-young, only notified her of the "CEO change" agenda on August 24, questioning the procedural legitimacy of the decision.
In response, ADOR stated, "The board's decision was conducted in full compliance with corporate law and bylaws, including the notification and voting process. The meeting date was chosen from the dates that Min Hee-jin requested to postpone." ADOR added that the board made the best possible decision for ADOR and NewJeans' future after thorough discussion, with Min attending the meeting via video conference.
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