Source: E Daily
"CEO Park Ji-won said he would give the kids a long vacation."
While HYBE and it's label ADOR are undergoing a fierce conflict, mother of one of New Jeans members had a phone interview with Daily Sports. A, the mother of a member who was wary of any harm to her kids expressed on the 12th, "I was really distressed because I though something like this happened because we sent an email like that for no reason."
Mother A revealed, "On the day ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin held a press conference on the 25th, three New Jeans mothers including me visited HYBE. We were worried that representative Min would be in big trouble and thought we could build a bridge between HYBE and ADOR. HYBE CEO Park Ji-won came out 20 minutes late and other executives came first. We only talked about mediation for a few minutes and they came out with a laptop and said, 'CEO Min said something like this.' He then added, "You did something wrong."
Previously, on March 31st, the parents of New Jeans members including A sent an email to ADOR pointing out the New Jeans plagiarism issue by new idol group OO that debuted through Belift Lab, a label under HYBE and requested a fix. Representative Min Hee-jin sent her email containing her own opinions and copied HYBE and Billy Frapp on the email on April 3rd. ADOR then sent another email on April 16th saying there was no response to this issue and HYBE sent their first reply to the issue that day. Afterwards, HYBE sent a reply email to ADOR's 2nd email on the morning of April 22 and began auditing ADOR that afternoon.
When asked, "there are suspicions the mothers of New Jeans members may have been persuaded by CEO Min Hee-jin to send an email like that, A stated, "He said it like he (Park Ji-won) knew everything so I was embarrassed. We didn't know whether we could use those words or not so we asked CEO Min Hee-jin to look into what we wanted to send an email to. Even at the meeting with HYBE management, we said it was basically us (New Jeans parents) that started it. We clearly said so."
"At first, idol group OO concept photos were posted and my friends sent me questions asking if these were new pictures from New Jeans because none of the members were in it? I got curious on what the pictures were about since they were so similar to New Jeans so us parents exchanged opinions and asked CEO Min. It was definitely us who started it."
"In the email we sent, we said, HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk doesn't even greet the kids. Not just my child, but other kids also said they had similar experiences after debut. One child said she wasn't greeted even though they were in the elevator together. I raised the issue again that day and the people at HYBE said "Mothers, you really misunderstood. Chairman Bang Si-hyuk may have a facial recognition disorder."
A retorted, "I couldn't say anything more at the scene and left after that. No.. even if you have a facial recognition disability, so you can't hear? Even if you don't recognize someone, whoever it is, if they greet you, shouldn't you greet them back?"
"At the event, HYBE people talked about CEO Min's OO management. At the same time, because this story is a sensitive one so I had to be cautious and was advised to never tell it to the kids (New Jeans). But within an hour of leaving HYBE, articles related to OO management started pouring out. No.. they talked as if they cared so much for our kids but published an article in less than hour. It really made me think.. who are these people??"
"CEO Park Ji-won came later and told us, 'CEO Min did not share any of the data from New Jeans Tokyo dome in June but they a lot of professionals and will be able to proceed well.' They said they were planning to give New Jeans a long vacation after the Tokyo Dome was over."
"I didn't ask how long the vacation would be but CEO Park Ji-won said on the spot, 'It takes about a year and a half to recruit a Grammy (award-winning) producer so we're trying to get one as quickly as possible.' When I left, I met with the other mothers and told them what he said that it takes a year and 6 months but he would put it together as quickly as possible. When they asked if it meant they would have a long vacation, I told them to 'ask that the next time we meet.'
A emphasized, "I clearly told HYBE, we want New Jeans with CEO Min Hee-jin. It's something all the mothers of the five members clearly agreed upon. Actually I have a lot of worries. I'm also worried that without CEO Min Hee-jin, the kids will be left unattended at HYBE for a long time. Before this incident happened, I heard from CEO Min that there were plans for a New Jeans world tour next year so they would get a long vacation."
Meanwhile, in response to this claim by A, a high-ranking figure at HYBE stated, "Giving a long vacation does not mean you have a rest period. Usually, when an idol makes a comeback, they do a lot of activities and then take a break right? After that, if a comeback schedule is set, we will work hard. That's what it means. This is no way means that we are stopping New Jeans schedules or anything like that. We're just saying that we will take special care of New Jeans and support them to become the best artists."
The official refuted, "The people who were present at the time said if they were going to suspend idol schedules for long period of time at the agency, why did they talk about it with the producer? There is an evil play where CEO Min Hee-jin is trying to inflame the anger of fans in order to become independent while making nonsense claims."
He added, "There's is a lot of evidence (related to CEO Min Hee-jin's alleged breach of trust). If these materials are revealed in court, many people will know HYBE's true intentions."
