*This content was translated by AI.
Min Hee-jin, former CEO of Audor, completely denied allegations of tampering with NewJeans, a girl group.
On the morning of the 28th, an open press conference was held at the Kyowon Jonggak Building Challenge Hall in Gwansul-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the suspicion of "NewJeans tamping." Attorney Jiam Kim Sun-woong of the law firm attended.
Earlier on the 27th, lawyer Kim Sun-woong said, "The press conference was initially considered to be held on Thursday, January 29, but it was moved up by one day to Wednesday (January 28) in the process of recruiting the venue. As a result, coordination of the schedule for Min Hee-jin, former CEO of Airdo, is currently underway, and no decision has yet been made on whether to skip the press conference."
In the end, Min Hee-jin was absent on the day. Attorney Kim Sun-woong said, "It is difficult to talk about it because there is a problem with the family of NewJeans members, and in fact, some of them were quite shocked when they heard about the family relationship recently, so it is difficult to come out today about that part. We ask for your understanding."
Attorney Kim Sun-woong claimed, "The substance of the suspicion that Min Hee-jin's so-called 'NewJeans tambering' triggered by the report in December 2024 and January 2025 was a fraud to the public by the family of a NewJeans member and a specific businessman who attempted to boost stock prices or manipulate market prices of a specific company, unrelated to Min Hee-jin."
Min Hee-jin then said, "When the suspicion was raised, Min Hee-jin attempted to reach an agreement with Hive even by giving up all rights under the contract between shareholders to return and re-activate NewJeans, and in the process, the family of a member who is close to Hive's core management took advantage of Min Hee-jin's situation to plan NewJeans tamping and attract stock market disruptors."
Min Hee-jin's argument is like this. NewJeans member's family (old father) B and Dabolink Chairman Park Jung-kyu tried to manipulate stock prices using themselves, but when the situation was not good, the "NewJeans Tamping" frame was put on as they conducted retaliatory interviews using other media. Hive also claimed to have acquiesced to all this progress even though he was aware of it.
At the same time, Min Hee-jin released a recording file of the two, saying that B said he would proceed with negotiations with Hive, but failed to produce any results and held a meeting with Hive CEO Lee Jae-sang on September 28, 2024.
According to a voice conversation released by Min Hee-jin, Lee Jae-sang said, "I heard another strange rumor these days. Have you heard of Terra Science Dabolink?" and Min Hee-jin said, "I have no idea. What's that? What kind of company is that?"
Then, Lee Jae-sang said, "There was information that such friends had some access around Hee-jin." I was worried. Don't meet me. I'm not saying we met. Min Hee-jin said, "Honestly, I'm not interested in investment or anything, and now Hive is snarling to kill me like this, and I'm definitely going to get nervous if someone says I'm crazy, so would I? Companies that are much more famous than here contact me, but I know them when I hear their names, but they're not meeting. That's why it's better for Hive. Rather than going anywhere and doing anything, just think about various things," he said.
He also denied rumors of investment talks with Chairman Park Jung-kyu. Min Hee-jin said, "On December 2, 2024, one of the media's articles, Min Hee-jin asked Park Jung-kyu, 'Can I bring a NewJeans out?He said, "There is no fact that I have said that, and I have never sought investment with my member's uncle, Lee."
Min Hee-jin then claimed, "Min Hee-jin knew the unknown names 'Terra' and 'Dabo' while listening to Lee and Park Jung-kyu's phone call on September 29, 2024, and of course, he did not know the relationship or investment between Terra Science and Dabo Link in advance."
Earlier, Min Hee-jin reportedly met with Chairman Park Jung-kyu and B at their Cheongdam-dong home in September 2024. According to a media outlet, B suggested to Park Jung-kyu, "Can we invest about 5 billion won in Min Hee-jin?" and Park Jung-kyu counter-proposed, "Let's make a structure by taking Daborink." It was designed to hand over practical management rights to Min Hee-jin after B came to the fore and took over Dabo Link.
In addition, Park Jung-kyu claimed that Min Hee-jin already knew everything related to the 5 billion won investment proposal. Photos of the three-way meeting were also released. Park Jung-kyu even told another media outlet, "Min Hee-jin first asked, 'Can I bring NewJeans out?' and "I even advised Min Hee-jin that if he leaves the door, the company's value will decrease, so that he can eventually bring NewJeans out."
However, Min Hee-jin denied all reports related to this, saying, "On September 29 and September 30, 2024, CEO Min Hee-jin was first told by B and Park Jung-kyu to be Terra and Dabo. In a meeting with CEO Lee Jae-sang of Hive on September 28, 2024, Lee Jae-sang asked Min Hee-jin whether he was specifically contacting Terra Science and Dabo Link. Min Hee-jin met to agree with CEO Lee Jae-sang, but Lee Jae-sang said at the end of the interview that there was intelligence that he would contact Min Hee-jin by specifying the names of Terra Science and Dabolink companies. He also claimed that another family member's family, who introduced B, who attempted NewJeans tempering and attracted a capital market disturbance force called Park Jung-kyu, said they had been informed by B that they should not trust CEO Lee Jae-sang, and delivered the information to Min Hee-jin."
Min Hee-jin then said, "These details raise reasonable suspicion that Hive management and major shareholders knew in advance that Min Hee-jin and Park Jung-kyu would have no choice but to meet on September 30, 2024, and that this was known to a media company and eventually used it to create Min Hee-jin's NewJeans tamping frame and helped it."
The investigative news outlet The Gate also disclosed the contents of the conversation with B. According to the transcript of the call, when asked, "Why did Min Hee-jin stay silent when there was nothing about tamping or taking out the members?" B replied, "It's just a minor episode, so I moved on."
In response, the investigative media said, "During the reporting process, I asked Min Hee-jin why he was silent for more than a year, but the answer was the same. "I was worried that the members might get hurt." He said, "I've been suffering from nervous breakdown for more than a year, and I've been silent because I'm afraid that my members will get hurt and my family will have a hard time." In addition, "I shared the recording file with Mr. B that we covered with the lawyer. As far as I know, Min Hee-jin fainted after hearing B's "because it's a minor episode." "I fainted when I saw the family of NewJeans members who I wanted to keep smiling, saying, "It's not a big deal."
Earlier in July 2024, Hive terminated the contract between shareholders, saying Min Hee-jin tried to privatize NewJeans and Adore and caused damage to the company and its affiliated labels. After that, Min Hee-jin was dismissed from his position as CEO of Audor a month later. Eventually, in November of the same year, Min Hee-jin resigned from his position as the company's executive director and notified Hive of the exercise of put options worth about 26 billion won. However, Hive argued that the shareholder agreement had already been terminated in July, making it ineffective for the exercise of put options.
In response, Min Hee-jin refuted that Hive's notice of termination was invalid because there was no violation of the shareholders' contract, maintaining the position that the right to claim payments should be recognized because the put option exercised by him is valid.
In the process, NewJeans lost the first trial to confirm the validity of its exclusive contract with Adore in October last year, and all members expressed their intention to return to Adore without appeal. However, in December of the same year, Odor notified Daniel of the termination of the exclusive contract and filed a lawsuit against Daniel, a family member, and Min Hee-jin for damages worth 43.1 billion won. Min Hee-jin established a new agency, "Okay," in October last year.
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*This content was translated by AI.
