NewJeans are trending in Pakistan today after The New York Times published the contracts the K-pop group signed as teenagers, setting off a fast-moving row between HYBE, its label ADOR, and former ADOR chief Min Hee-jin. The paper says it obtained the contracts the five members signed with ADOR in 2022, aged 14 to 17, and had five legal experts review them. What those experts found has turned a two-year legal dispute into one of the biggest K-pop stories of the year.
What the New York Times Found in the NewJeans Contract
The report, published on 5 November, says the NewJeans contract left out several protections in South Korea’s standard contract for entertainers, which guarantees minors’ physical and mental health, education, and adequate sleep and rest. The Times reported that those provisions were missing from the deals signed by the five members — and that the contracts also lacked limits on revealing clothing or excessive hours. The Korea JoongAng Daily’s account of the report notes that the deals restricted the artists more than the government template.
Two clauses in particular have drawn attention. The first concerns money: the NewJeans contract required the members to repay a substantial share of the costs run up during their trainee years, including cosmetic procedures. The Times cited sources who said some members had been advised to undergo procedures before their debut; HYBE denies forcing artists to have surgery. The second concerns what happens after the deals end: the contracts allow ADOR to keep using the members’ names, faces and voices even after the agreements expire in 2029, and to authorise third parties to do the same — a clause the paper said could cover AI voice cloning, though its enforceability is unclear. The contracts also set a heavy early termination fee and banned “insincere attitudes” and “inappropriate romantic relationships”.
HYBE and ADOR Hit Back: The Protections Were in a Separate Deal
HYBE and ADOR responded with a joint statement on 6 November, disputing the report and insisting the NewJeans contract was lawful and negotiated in good faith. Their central argument is that the missing protections were never absent — they were in a separate document. HYBE labels sign the government’s standard supplementary agreement for minors with all trainees, the companies said, covering personality rights and the rights to sleep, education and rest until adulthood. HYBE also told the Times that the government’s standard contract is a nonbinding guideline rather than a legal requirement.
ADOR says a draft was shared on 7 January 2022, and the contracts were signed in April after three months of discussions and revisions reviewed by the artists’ lawyers. The wording, it said, was jointly negotiated by Min Hee-jin, then ADOR’s chief, a vice president she appointed, each member and their parents, and some members’ lawyers. ADOR said it gave the Times supporting documents and asked it to state Min Hee-jin’s role — a request it says was refused. ADOR’s rebuttal also said material held only by the parties had been leaked to foreign media to attack K-pop. On AI, the agency said the members’ images or voices could not be used in AI-generated content without each artist’s individual consent.
Min Hee-jin Fires Back at HYBE
The dispute did not stop there. Later on 6 November, Min Hee-jin’s side released its own statement, rejecting HYBE’s version of events. Her side says the draft was written by HYBE’s legal team — not by Min Hee-jin — and the company should stop blaming her for every part of the affair. Her statement urged HYBE to drop what it called the absurd theory that everything was Min Hee-jin’s fault, and to show responsibility for the future of K-pop.
The exchange matters because Min Hee-jin is the executive who built NewJeans. She led ADOR from its founding and shaped the group’s sound and image before their July 2022 debut. Her falling-out with HYBE in 2024, and her removal as ADOR chief executive, sits at the heart of the wider dispute — and each side now accuses the other of rewriting how the original contracts came to be.
A Two-Year Dispute — and Why This Row Matters for K-pop
The NewJeans contract row is the latest chapter in a dispute running since November 2024, when the five members announced they were terminating their exclusive contracts with ADOR, accusing the agency of breaching them. ADOR disputed the move and sued to confirm the contracts were valid; a Seoul court sided with the agency in 2025. Four members — Haerin, Hyein, Hanni and Minji — have since returned to ADOR, with Minji still in talks over her future. ADOR terminated Danielle’s contract in December 2025 and filed a lawsuit seeking damages from her.
What is different this week is that the public can see the terms: the Times published 26 images of the contracts, a rare look inside the paperwork behind one of the world’s biggest girl groups. The full account of the report shows why the story has travelled: the questions it raises — how much protection teenage trainees get, who pays for making a star, and who owns a young artist’s face and voice in the age of AI — reach beyond one group. Korean entertainment draws huge audiences in Pakistan, from chart-topping groups to hit series such as All of Us Are Dead — and this contract row is now part of that conversation.
For now, nobody’s position has changed. HYBE and ADOR insist the deals were fair and properly negotiated; Min Hee-jin insists HYBE’s own lawyers wrote them; and the members themselves have said nothing in public since the report appeared. What happens next is likely to play out in courtrooms and in public opinion at once — and with NewJeans among Pakistan’s most searched topics today, the audience is far wider than South Korea. K-pop’s biggest nights, including the MAMA Awards 2026, are about the music; this week, the paperwork has taken centre stage instead.
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