Min Hee-jin Steps Down as CEO of ADOR, Continues Producing NewJeans (Comprehensive)

Min Hee-jin has stepped down from her position as CEO of Adore, the agency managing the group NewJeans.

Min Hee-jin, CEO of ADORE, is answering reporters' questions as she leaves Yongsan Police Station in Seoul on the afternoon of the 9th after completing her first summons investigation related to the charge of 'breach of trust in the course of business.'

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On the 27th, Adore held a board meeting and announced, "Kim Ju-young, an internal director of Adore, has been appointed as the new CEO."

The new CEO Kim is currently the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at HYBE and is an expert with extensive HR experience across various industries. She was the first female head of the HR team at Yuhan-Kimberly, served as the head of HR at the major game company Krafton, and was later scouted by HYBE.

With this, Adore has separated production and management.

Former CEO Min has stepped down from the CEO position but will retain her role as an internal director at Adore. She will also continue to handle the producing work for NewJeans.

Ader held a board meeting on the 27th and appointed Kim Ju-young, Ader's inside director (HYBE CHRO·Chief Human Resources Officer), as the new CEO. The photo shows Kim Ju-young, the newly appointed CEO of Ader. [Photo by Ader]

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The current Adore board is composed in a 1 to 3 structure. It has been reorganized with former CEO Min, new CEO Kim from the parent company HYBE, CEO Lee Jae-sang, and CFO Lee Kyung-jun. HYBE holds an 80% stake in Adore.

Earlier, on May 31, HYBE attempted to dismiss former CEO Min at an Adore extraordinary general meeting (EGM), raising allegations of 'management rights takeover.' However, the court accepted Min’s injunction request to prohibit the exercise of voting rights, so the dismissal did not proceed.

However, the injunction at that time targeted only former CEO Min herself, resulting in the dismissal of her close associates, Vice President Shin and Director Kim, from their internal director positions.

The court’s ruling at that time applied only to HYBE’s voting rights exercise at the May 31 EGM and is unrelated to the current board decision.

Adore stated, "With this personnel and organizational restructuring, Adore plans to spare no support for NewJeans’ growth and greater success."

Despite the court’s injunction decision, former CEO Min and HYBE continue their conflict, filing lawsuits against each other for defamation of affiliated artists, unauthorized disclosure of messenger contents, and violations of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc. (information and communications network infringement).

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