SEOUL - Ms Min Hee-jin, former chief executive of K-pop group NewJeans’ record label Ador, filed for an injunction on Sept 13 to be reinstated as Ador’s director when her term ends on Nov 2.

Anticipating that the Ador board will not renew her term, Ms Min’s legal representative law firm Sejong and her PR firm, Macoll Consulting Group, announced that they had submitted a petition to the Seoul Central District Court, requesting an extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting and Ms Min’s reappointment as an internal director.

Previously, Ador held a board meeting on Aug 27 and decided to replace Ms Min as CEO, appointing Ador’s director Kim Joo-young as the new CEO. Although Ms Min stepped down from the CEO position, she remained as a director and continued to handle production duties for NewJeans.

However, she argued that this decision was made unilaterally without her consent and claimed it was a significant breach of the shareholders’ agreement.

Ms Min’s legal representatives explained that while they were preparing for an injunction to contest her dismissal as CEO, they have now filed for an injunction to convene an extraordinary general meeting and reappoint Ms Min as a director before her three-year term expires on Nov 2. Their goal is to reinstate her as a director and eventually reappoint her as CEO.

Ms Min’s side argues that the shareholders’ agreement guarantees her a five-year term as CEO and internal director of Ador, criticising Hybe for violating the court’s previous decision to protect her term as CEO.

Meanwhile, NewJeans members criticised Hybe during a YouTube live broadcast on Sept 11, claiming they have been subjected to unfair treatment under the agency. They called for the reinstatement of Ms Min as a CEO in charge of both management and production, setting the deadline by Sept 25. THE KOREA HERALD/ ASIA NEWS NETWORK