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On June 5, 2025, the second round of legal proceedings between K-pop act NewJeans and their label ADOR was held at the Seoul Central District Court. The case revolves around a legal complaint filed by ADOR to verify the validity of its exclusive contract with the five-member girl group.
In the session, led by the court’s 41st Civil Agreement Division, NewJeans’ attorneys did not bring any fresh documents. Instead, they repeated that the relationship with ADOR could not be restored, citing the removal of former CEO Min Hee-jin as a key reason.
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The group said they won’t work with the company again. NewJeans’ team said ADOR didn’t do its job as their agency. They called ADOR’s evidence weak and said it didn’t follow their agreement. They also brought up past work with producer Hitchhiker, saying ADOR didn’t explain what happened or the outcome.
"If you actually look at the related evidence, the content of the plaintiffs' answers is considerably weak. Management obligations are not limited to just picking a list of replaceable producers and ending there. We did not sign an exclusive contract for that. If we met with producer Hitchhiker, we should disclose in detail what was discussed and what the results were," the five member girl group said (per Star News).
Meanwhile, ADOR claimed that the group had been changing its stated reasons for leaving the agency. According to ADOR, this pattern suggested that NewJeans was trying to justify the contract termination after making the decision, which they argued was not in line with legal standards for ending such agreements.
In the earlier hearing in April, ADOR had insisted that Min Hee-jin stepped down voluntarily and was not forced out. The agency also noted that NewJeans successfully held a performance in ComplexCon without her assistance, suggesting the group was capable of functioning without her direct support.
NewJeans, however, maintained that the agency had changed significantly after the leadership shift. They said the values and direction of ADOR no longer matched the original setup under which the contract was signed.
"The basic relationship of trust (with ADOR) has been broken, so we cannot continue together," and "If all of the management is replaced, the past and current corporations may be the same on paper, but in reality, they are completely different corporations."
Though the name of the agency remained, they argued, its identity had shifted, and the current version could not support the original agreement.
Seoul court stops NewJeans from solo deals without ADOR’s consent
On May 30, 2025, a Seoul court blocked all five members of NewJeans from taking on any entertainment work without getting prior clearance from their agency, ADOR.
The ruling, issued by the 52nd Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court, bars the group from signing up for shows, campaigns, or third-party contracts unless ADOR gives written approval.
This temporary restriction will hold until the court gives its initial verdict on whether the group’s exclusive agreement with the company is still enforceable.
The court approved a request by ADOR for a ban that prevents the members from making deals related to entertainment or endorsements without ADOR’s green light. The order includes a fine clause.
It says that each member will have to pay 1 billion won (around $726,000 USD) for every breach of the decision. The directive becomes active once the members receive the court’s final notice. Any violation after that point will lead to the stated penalty.
If all five members act outside the agency’s authority, the combined fee could reach 5 billion won. The court also instructed that NewJeans must cover all legal costs for both parties involved in the injunction process.
The case centers on a legal conflict between NewJeans and ADOR over the group’s management rights. Until the court gives its main ruling, the current order will stay in place to avoid any contract-related complications. The court will hear more arguments at the next scheduled hearing on July 24.
