Court orders K-pop girl group NewJeans to pay agency Ador $933,000 for each unauthorised activity

SEOUL – South Korea’s Seoul Central District Court has ruled that each member of NewJeans, the K-pop girl group under Hybe subsidiary Ador, must pay one billion won (S$933,000) to the agency for every entertainment activity carried out without its prior consent.

The quintet – made up of members Minji, Danielle, Haerin, Hanni and Hyein – began independent activities after ending their contracts with the K-pop agency in November 2024, citing a breach of exclusivity.

In January, Ador filed an injunction to

block the group’s solo activities

and assert its role as NewJeans’ management agency.

According to a South Korean report, the Seoul court on May 30 accepted Ador’s request for an indirect compulsory execution, a legal mechanism used to pressure a party to comply with a court order by imposing monetary penalties for non-compliance.

“Since NewJeans violated the obligations set by the injunction by performing under a new group name and even releasing new songs before and after the injunction ruling, it is necessary to impose indirect compulsory enforcement to ensure compliance with the order,” the court ruled.

“If the debtors violate these obligations from the date they receive the official copy of this decision, they must pay one billion won per violation to the creditor,” it added.

The ruling does not apply retrospectively, sparing the five members from owing billions of won for unauthorised activities they have undertaken since unilaterally declaring their exclusive contracts to be terminated.

“Until a verdict on the first trial on the ongoing lawsuit regarding the validity of NewJeans’ exclusive contracts is delivered, the members are prohibited from engaging in any entertainment-related activities without Ador’s prior approval,” the court stated.

In March, the same court sided with Ador in a preliminary injunction that barred NewJeans from signing individual endorsement or entertainment deals outside the agency’s purview, further reinforcing the label’s legal position in the ongoing conflict.

NewJeans

rebranded themselves as NJZ

in February before the ruling. After the ruling in March, they performed at music festival ComplexCon in Hong Kong and debuted a new song, Pit Stop. They then announced onstage they would go on hiatus out of respect for the court decision.

In an official statement, NewJeans said the court’s decision on indirect enforcement was related to a previous injunction issued on March 21 that prohibited members from conducting independent activities. They stressed that the latest ruling was not part of their ongoing appeal of the initial injunction.

“The indirect enforcement decision announced today was made in response to an application filed by Ador on April 4,” the statement said. “It is not directly related to the appeal of the original injunction, which is currently undergoing a separate legal review.”

NewJeans added that the court’s latest decision “is only temporary pending the outcome of the appeal”. 

“If NewJeans members prevail in the injunction appeal, both the original injunction and the related indirect enforcement decision will lose their legal effect,” the statement said. “In fact, indirect enforcement is usually issued at the same time as the injunction decision.”

The second hearing in the ongoing main lawsuit to determine the validity of the contracts is scheduled for June 5. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK