The court has put a halt to the girl group NewJeans' attempt to promote under the new team name 'NJZ' while their exclusive contract with their agency ADOR remains in effect. On the 21st, Yonhap News reported that the Seoul Central District Court's Civil Division 50 (Presiding Judge Kim Sanghoon) granted ADOR's injunction request to prohibit the five NewJeans members?Kim Minji, Pham Hanni, Danielle, Kang Haerin, and Lee Hyein?from signing advertising contracts and to preserve ADOR's status as their management agency.

The court stated, "If the relationship of trust between the parties to the contract is broken, an entertainer can terminate the exclusive contract," but also added, "The party claiming the dissolution of the contractual relationship bears the burden of proof regarding circumstances that make it difficult to maintain the contract." This injunction was filed by ADOR to assert its ongoing status as NewJeans' agency and to prevent the members from independently engaging in advertising activities without the company's approval or consent.

Previously, at the injunction hearing held on the 7th, ADOR argued that the five NewJeans members had unilaterally notified the agency of the termination of their exclusive contracts, and that there was no just cause for termination given ADOR's substantial tangible and intangible support for the group's growth. ADOR also claimed that the five members were accumulating breaches of contract by announcing a new team name and declaring their intent to sign with a new agency while their exclusive contracts had not yet ended.

HYBE Building, Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

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Although there was no obligation for the parties to appear at the injunction hearing, all five NewJeans members attended court in person. The NewJeans side countered that ADOR's parent company, HYBE, continued to discriminate against and restrain NewJeans compared to other groups under its label, and that ADOR had neglected to address this. They also emphasized that since HYBE holds more than 75% of ADOR's shares, ADOR is structurally unable to make independent decisions, making HYBE's faults essentially those of ADOR, and thus the notification of contract termination was lawful and justified.