Min Hee Jin starts new agency: reports
Former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin has established a new agency amid her legal dispute with HYBE.
According to reports by local media Korea JoongAng Daily and The Korea Herald, Min has started a new K-pop agency called One of A Kind, which was registered on Oct. 16.
The new agency will specialize in celebrity management, music production and distribution, performance and event organization, and brand management.
It is reportedly located in Garosu-gil in Seoul’s Gangnam-gu, with capital assets of 30 million won ($21,000 or P1.2 million). Min is among the members of the board, per Korea JoongAng Daily.
Industry observers suggest that NewJeans may join OOAK if ever the court sides with them on whether their contract with ADOR can be nullified in an upcoming hearing on Oct. 30, per the outlet.
In March of this year, the court prohibited the girl group from carrying out independent activities under the name NJZ, granting ADOR's injunction request.
Min's move came almost a year after she left ADOR in November 2024.
Legal battle
In April 2024, HYBE filed a complaint against Min, accusing her of trying to take over ADOR to become independent from the parent company, which the latter denied. In the same month, Min also released a lengthy statement, slamming HYBE for allowing Belift Lab's ILLIT to allegedly "copy" K-pop girl group NewJeans.
In September of the same year, NewJeans broke their silence on the issue for the first time via a surprise live broadcast on their YouTube channel, where they demanded Min's reinstatement as CEO.
A month later, Soompi reported that the court had denied Min’s request for an injunction for her reappointment as ADOR CEO, saying her claims “did not meet the legal requirements to constitute grounds for an injunction.”
Min later resigned as an internal director of ADOR in November 2024, officially leaving parent agency HYBE.
Last week, she was found guilty of workplace harassment against a former ADOR employee by the Seoul Western District Court, upholding a previous ruling from the Seoul Labor Office.
