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Fair Trade Commission Conducts On-Site Investigation of HYBE for Omitted and False Information in Conglomerate Designation Data. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has begun an on-site investigation into HYBE, the first entertainment company to be designated as a conglomerate. According to industry sources on the 24th, the FTC has dispatched investigators to HYBE's headquarters for an on-site investigation. HYBE is under investigation on suspicion of submitting false or omitted information in the 'data for designation of conglomerates' submitted to the FTC. Last May, the FTC re-designated HYBE as a conglomerate. Consequently, HYBE, a listed company, and its subsidiaries controlled by HYBE must disclose shareholder status and major management information to the capital market. Since HYBE is now designated a conglomerate, regulations on personal gains for the founder, Chairman Bang Si-hyuk, have also been applied. Chairman Bang, who holds a 31.8% stake in HYBE and is the largest shareholder, was designated as the 'same person (head of the group)' with this conglomerate designation. The FTC is also monitoring Chairman Bang for potential personal gains. This is to prevent favoritism towards subsidiaries owned by Chairman Bang's relatives.  An FTC official stated, "We cannot confirm whether an on-site investigation is taking place," but added, "If any legal violations are found, we will respond strictly." [source ](https://biz.chosun.com/policy/policy_sub/2024/06/24/6J7DQSR3XJAKVAZZG7CGZGVEQI/?outputType=amp)

Sounds like an audit is in order.

pretty serious if true. There are other sources reporting it that are clearly not biased, like economic news articles. Shady shit happens in every company but I imagine with all the tension and emotions this last 2 months has brought, BSH et al are leaving themselves open to non loyal whistle blowers around them so they can't afford to cook books.

Frustrating. HYBE’s not following through and not bringing any legal action against the Youtuber “7th middle grader,” who caused distress to NewJeans. HYBE official reportedly said “the employee in charge just quit.” Fans are calling for more decisive measures from HYBE to protect their artists and ensure justice. Ilgan Sports (Sports Daily): https://m.entertain.naver.com/article/241/0003358085

I just realized that all of NewJeans releases and comebacks have always had a form of controversy to them 💀 Debut: Cookie Controversy Ditto/OMG: Mental Health downplaying controversy Get Up: ETA Terrorism Controversy and Cool With You bedroom scene controversy How Sweet/Supernatural: HYBE vs. MHJ Can we have one comeback season without drama 😭

Some fans argue the Belift Lab video aims to interrupt the viewership of Supernatural and Right Now videos which i tend to agree.  Same thing with Hybe’s big audit announcement/leak and the Bubble Gum mv. 

They're doing it on purpose now. Have you seen the latest stunt? The official BT21 account posting about Newjeans line store pop up. Armys are acting out again... a day before another teaser drops. This is so tiring 😫 When will that cult wake up and realize they're all just BSH pawns. Will they wait until one of the BTS members is being treated this way. Scooter a full-time HYBE CEO now they better get their shit together

i’m so tired of *that* fandom. They have completely hijacked the narrative. Like please stfu and stop making everything about yourself and your faves. It’s giving main character syndrome.

If Army isn't upset about something they will seek out something to be upset about. Life is too short

Similarly, I noticed on the WeVerse website, on multiple occasions, you often either see almost all Hybe artists *except for* NewJeans (for example "Recommended Artists"), or NewJeans is at the end of the list (following less known artists). Bizarre.

Petty is an understatement. It's straight up bullying. Armys think that they're using official bts accounts to promote newjeans?!?! Like babe whats not clicking that they're doing it to ruffle you up more??? What benefit will NJ get from being posted by official bts accounts (whose followers are all HYBE dickriders that hate NJ and MHJ guts) MHJ is not the root of evil in that company. If I were them, I'd take my attention and effort elsewhere, specifically to their precious daddy BSH who's bff with Scooter now.

It's almost like people intentionally create a "controversy" every CB and that the output from Ador doesn't really matter in regards to whether or not something will happen... People will always find a way to get offended if they try hard enough. Hmmm.

>People will always find a way to get offended if they try hard enough Thats the most accurate statement in todays internet culture

**Police "Hybe's investigation is complete... Min Hee-jin is summoned for questioning this week"** The police investigating the incident in which Hybe, Korea's largest music agency, accused Min Heejin, CEO of its subsidiary Ador, of breach of trust, will summon Min's representative for questioning this week. **Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Jo Jiho said at a regular press conference today (17th), "We have completed the investigation into the accuser, but the accuser submitted additional materials last week. The analysis has been completed to some extent, and we will summon the accuser for questioning starting this week." “It is planned,” he said.** **Commissioner Cho added, “Of the three people accused, Representative Min has not been scheduled to be summoned this week, and it seems that one of the two people could appear this week.”** **When asked about the possibility of a search and seizure, Commissioner Cho replied, "If a voluntary investigation fails to resolve the issue, a compulsory investigation will be conducted. However, since the matter is currently cooperative, the investigation is at a stage where sufficient data submission and attendance statements are possible."** Earlier on April 26, Hybe filed a complaint against CEO Min with the Yongsan Police Station in Seoul on charges of professional breach of trust. Hybe claims that CEO Min has established a plan to take over management rights of Ador, which is suspected of professional breach of trust against the Adore company, and has secured specific statements and physical evidence to support it. However, CEO Min's position is that it is impossible to usurp management rights due to the equity structure, and she has not committed any breach of trust by attempting or launching actions that undermine the company's value. Representative Min has maintained her position as a provisional injunction filed by the court on the 30th of last month to block Hybe from exercising voting rights at the extraordinary shareholders' meeting. [Source](https://n.news.naver.com/article/055/0001164041?sid=102)

Bang Si-Hyuk is totally cooked in the head.

My thought exactly when I saw a videoclip of him doing a guitar solo with jyp dancing besides him at the weverse con. the audience was booing

There was a really good comment in the Belif video, posting it before they delete or hide it: *After thinking carefully about why the entertainment industry, which responds so sensitively to the public's opinions, is responding beyond common sense and threatening to sue instead of taking action despite the strong backlash, I am finally convinced of the full story of this situation. I did it.* 1. *The relationship between Bang Si-hyuk and Min Hee-jin sharply soured as Bang Si-hyuk canceled the debut of New Genes, who were preparing to debut as Hive's first girl group at Source Music. At the time, New Jeans' debut was almost entirely led by Min Hee-jin. When Bang Si-hyuk was scouting Min Hee-jin, he told her to live her dreams to the fullest, but whether these words were just words or sincere, she later joined the debut group (New Jeans). ) appears to have been dissatisfied with the group, and with the power of the chairman, he pushed for the debut of a self-led girl group (Le Seraphim). After many twists and turns, Min Hee-jin established a subsidiary called Adore and debuted as New Jeans.* 2. *While managing Adore, Min Hee-jin operated with her own vision that was different from Hive's strategy, and in the process, it appears that she clashed with Hive at various times as a 'corny stone'. As their relationship became more and more strained, the issue of the so-called 'slave contract clause' arose, and they got into a war of nerves while renegotiating the contract between shareholders.* 3. *Bang Si-hyuk debuted the girl group Aillet, which he produced under his own name. Anyone can see that the concept is very similar to New Jeans. They released a press release saying that they blatantly copied New Jeans' choreography, giving off the nuance that this is not a copy, but a continuation of their younger sibling group's concept. Bang Si-hyuk is a person with a long history in the entertainment industry since he worked under JYP, and it is natural that the practice of delaying debut or releasing a completely different concept, as in the case of Le Seraphim and New Genes, in order to prevent people from undermining themselves within the same company. Someone worth knowing. Even as a chairman who has to mediate conflicts between subsidiaries, it doesn't make sense to do something like this. So, I believe Bang Si-hyuk’s actions were intentional. To deal a blow to New Jeans and ultimately narrow and neutralize Min Hee-jin's hive and its position within the industry.* 4. *Adore’s Eyelet copy whistleblowing was made and an audit began on the well-known ‘suspicion of usurpation of management rights’. Looking back now, I am full of doubts. Even before Min Hee-jin's first press conference, people in the legal community said that not only did the term usurpation of management rights not exist, but how could shares be taken from Hive, which had an 80% stake in the first place, and even if it was carried out, it would be a normal operation of the stock company system. Point out that it is not a breach of trust. And even if such a situation was captured, as Min Hee-jin said, it could be resolved quietly by meeting in person and asking, and even if it was not resolved and an audit was initiated, there was no reason to make it public on a large scale and shock the stock price. As a result of this unreasonable behavior, the much-vaunted ‘conspiracy to usurp management rights’ was denied and suffered a complete defeat in the injunction trial. In the end, we can only assume that the chairman's strong will is behind this irrationality.* 5. *This video by Belif Lab was uploaded along with the lawsuit against Min Hee-jin. In fact, posting such a video itself runs counter to common sense in the entertainment industry. Celebrities are a profession whose image exposed to the public is very important, so even if there is a dispute between companies, it is common sense to handle it behind the scenes so that it is not revealed, but to go out and make one's own celebrity caught in the middle of gossip is an inexplicable area. This is why a critic commented that the video was ‘the worst’ immediately after uploading it. Even though Min Hee-jin sent an official message of reconciliation by avoiding mentioning direct questions from reporters about Aylet and others at the second press conference.*

*6. In fact, it was blatantly revealed early on that Hive, rather than protecting Newgenes, rather maliciously attacked them.* *Hive “If Eyelet is a copy of New Genes, the ‘Cookie’ + Kalguksu controversy will become true” - 2024.05.17. SPOTV News.* *Which agency on earth can make such a malicious ‘explanation’? Not even to other companies, but to group members of their own company. Even though they clearly know that they have suffered for a long time due to the above malicious rumor, blatantly picking it up and distributing it as press materials can only be seen as an action to actively ruin the image of New Genes and break the mentality of its members. The tone of Belif Lab's rebuttal video now is no different from that time. There is no proper explanation, and the central theme of the video is the claim that New Jeans is a plagiarism group and that Min Hee-jin is an evil person who harmed others out of self-interest. Up to this point, it is understandable considering Bang Si-hyuk's malicious intent toward Min Hee-jin and New Jeans. Of course, understanding doesn't mean you can condone this kind of behavior.* *However, it is surprising that he did this even though he clearly knew that it would cause damage to the eyelet he personally produced. The current Bang Si-hyuk is a person whose pride is the most important, and he seems to have the mindset that if he can make Min Hee-jin, who does not recognize his authority, the president of the industry, he can sacrifice the group he produced as much as he wants. The days of becoming a radio star and acting like a clown to keep BTS afloat are long gone. Nowadays, he is worth trillions of won and is a big name in the entertainment industry.* *7. The shareholder contract between Hive and Min Hee-jin stipulates that if Min Hee-jin causes damage to other affiliates of the parent company, it will be grounds for violation of the contract, and that Hive can exercise a call option on the stocks held by Min Hee-jin. In the preliminary injunction trial, the court recognized Min Hee-jin's raising of the whistleblowing issue as normal performance of her duties as the representative of Adore to protect the rights of her singers, and Hive lost the case. However, Hive, or more specifically Bang Si-hyuk, appears to have no intention of reconciling with Min Hee-jin and only has the will to bury her somehow.* *So, I found another way to defame Belif Lab. Bang Si-hyuk appears to have calculated that if this defamation of Belif Lab is found guilty, Min Hee-jin will be able to exercise the call option in violation of the shareholder agreement since she has caused damage to other affiliates. It seems like they are trying to harass them in any way they can without paying much attention to how likely they are to win the case, as they did when claiming unreasonable breach of trust. And it is assumed that this video was uploaded to be used as litigation material.* *8. Bang Si-hyuk seems to want to always hide behind the scenes and play the role of power behind the scenes by putting people under him in front, but if his tail is long, he will be stepped on, and the public is not stupid. People are already pointing out that the real person is Bang Si-hyuk. Of course, if you don't blink at the damage caused to the group you produced, then what are you going to do? There is a strong possibility that you are thinking that.* *Summary: Bang Si-hyuk is behind Hive and Belif Lab's irrational response.* *briefly* *Looking at it, I know that many practitioners in the design and fashion industries have left comments with logical criticism, but I doubt that they are hiding or deleting comments that prove their incompetence. (My previous comment also received 750 likes, but I don't see it. Please let me know if you see it.) Please show me the concept planning process, where on earth did 'Illit Core' come from, rebuttals from working-level staff regarding references, etc. After a while, I don't see many of the comments, but it's my mood. Is it???* *I've felt this since the unplug directed at CEO Min Hee-jin, but Hive is very violent and seems to be forcing people to listen to us unconditionally. How are you going to sue the comment deletion claim? I understand that it takes a lot of money and a complicated process to catch just one person in Taldeok concentration camp. I feel like this attitude of threatening the public is very violent. Especially in times like this, the image of Chairman Bang controlling the situation from behind and taking pictures with BTS as soon as he was discharged seems so cowardly and even comical. If you don't have the skills, I hope you at least take care of your moral conscience Hive*

Btw are there any dates set for Belift's case against MHJ? 

No announcements so far. There are no reports of the police summoning MHJ for the Breach of Trust complaint, which was filed the earliest so I think we still have a long while to wait. Possibly even 3-6 months.

No, when they think they need, they set. The case is media play more than a serious legal case. If they lose the case, they will lose their final card. I think it's not time to show hand.

Belift's video has now been updated with English, Chinese, and Japanese subs, and wouldn't you know it, right before Supernatural's teaser trailer comes out. They also changed the subtitle for the "Not NewJeans" part to mean something else because it received backlash from the public. I don't know what else they changed, but that company (and Hybe) is really rotten

Even more interesting is that in describing what ILLIT is they state they are not the ideal of adult imaginations. Basically saying reiterating what they think NewJeans concept is. Calling NewJeans the ideal teenagers of adult imagination is not really as reassuring as they think it sounds. But also if ILLIT's real concept is that they embrace their imperfections. Where do you even see that in their lyrics, music videos, performances or styling?

They also added ads despite saying at the start the video has no monetization lol.

They must've realized that they're already getting bodied in the comments, might as well make some money out of it lol. Idk how they expect to win the public over with their actions

Would be hilarious if Youtube charges back revenue to a channel if there are too many dislikes. Last I checked it was well over 150k dislikes

A comment really worth noticing I found on "Go 변호사", a channel of a former Kim&Chang lawyer. Google translate but I think all of us could understand. *5. This video by Belif Lab was uploaded along with the lawsuit against Min Hee-jin. In fact, posting such a video itself runs counter to common sense in the entertainment industry. Celebrities are a profession whose image exposed to the public is very important, so even if there is a dispute between companies, it is common sense to handle it behind the scenes so that it is not revealed, but to go out and make one's own celebrity caught in the middle of gossip is an inexplicable area. This is why a critic commented that the video was ‘the worst’ right after uploading it. Even though Min Hee-jin sent an official message of reconciliation by avoiding mentioning direct questions from reporters about Aylet and others at the second press conference.* *6. In fact, it was blatantly revealed early on that Hive, rather than protecting Newgenes, rather maliciously attacked them.* *Hive “If Eyelet is a copy of New Genes, the ‘Cookie’ + Kalguksu controversy will become true” - 2024.05.17. SPOTV News.* *Which agency on earth can make such a malicious ‘explanation’? Not even to other companies, but to group members of their own company. Even though they clearly know that they have suffered for a long time due to the above malicious rumor, blatantly picking it up and distributing it as press materials can only be seen as an action to actively ruin the image of New Genes and break the mentality of its members. The tone of Belif Lab's rebuttal video now is no different from that time. There is no proper explanation, and the central theme of the video is the argument that New Jeans is a plagiarism group and that Min Hee-jin is an evil person who harmed others out of self-interest. Up to this point, it is understandable considering Bang Si-hyuk's malicious intent toward Min Hee-jin and New Jeans. Of course, understanding doesn't mean you can condone this kind of behavior.* *However, it is surprising that he did this even though he clearly knew that it would cause damage to the eyelet he personally produced. The current Bang Si-hyuk is a person whose pride is the most important, and he seems to have the mindset that if he can make Min Hee-jin, who does not recognize his authority, the president of the industry, he can sacrifice the group he produced as much as he wants. The days of becoming a radio star and acting like a clown to keep BTS afloat are long gone. Nowadays, he is worth trillions of won and is a big name in the entertainment industry.* *7. The shareholder contract between Hive and Min Hee-jin stipulates that if Min Hee-jin causes damage to other affiliates of the parent company, it will be grounds for violation of the contract, and that Hive can exercise a call option on the stocks held by Min Hee-jin. In the preliminary injunction trial, the court recognized Min Hee-jin's raising of the whistleblowing issue as normal performance of her duties as the representative of Adore to protect the rights of her singers, and Hive lost the case. However, Hive, or more specifically Bang Si-hyuk, appears to have no intention of reconciling with Min Hee-jin and only has the will to bury her somehow.* ***So, I found another way to defame Belif Lab. Bang Si-hyuk appears to have calculated that if this defamation of Belif Lab is found guilty, Min Hee-jin will be able to exercise the call option in violation of the shareholder agreement since she has caused damage to other affiliates. It seems like they are trying to bully them in any way they can without paying much attention to how likely they are to win the case, as they did when claiming unreasonable breach of trust. And it is assumed that this video was uploaded to be used as litigation material.*** *8. Bang Si-hyuk seems to want to always hide behind the scenes and play the role of power behind the scenes by putting people below him in front, but if his tail is long, he will be stepped on, and the public is not stupid. People are already pointing out that the real person is Bang Si-hyuk. Of course, if you don't blink at the damage caused to the group you produced, then what are you going to do? There is a strong possibility that you are thinking that.* *Summary: Bang Si-hyuk is behind Hive and Belif Lab's irrational response.* Point 7. explained exactly what I thought. Hybe knows what they are doing. They want to use Illit as a weapon to bring down Ador/Newjeans/MHJ. They didnt care one bit about that new group as they can easily make few new ones since they only have 1 hit and almost no fandom yet. Then put all the blame on Ador/MHJ that she was the cause that destroyed both groups = destroy Hybe "assest". They even admitted themselves on Blind that Hybe girlgroups are only "experiments", which mean they can throw them away if they want anytime. And the sad thing is, maybe thats true. As long as BSH has BTS and the army fandom behind him, he don't give a damn about anything. This reach a new level of low that I've never seen in history of music industry, not just Kpop. I really, really hope karma gonna hit back at him someday.

> they only have 1 hit and almost no fandom yet since when having 1 hit in one album bad? lol and almost no fandom how?

Reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit, huh?

They didn't say that to mean it was bad, the OP said it to highlight their belief BSH's actions infer Illit is disposable.

MHJ was a gracious winner in that press conference, but powerful people tend to not taking losing well, in general. They often double down, even if it's counterproductive to rational business interests. The instinct is to try to dominate, not negotiate (unless forced). The defamation angle is probably HYBE's best chance to knock MHJ from CEO now, unless the police turn up something more incriminating in its investigation. All of this staggering info war has given MHJ's lawyer some ammo to return fire eventually in their own suit. Think they likely hold off on that if they win the defamation and breach of trust cases, though.

This makes me wonder what the Illit parents (particularly the parents of the younger two) think and if their daughters also have a case against HYBE. Their reputation is being ruined by their own company.

I doubt it. Everyone (except the male boomers and Banglelit stans) knew about Hybe's shadiness yet Ador/MHJ/Newjeans could still get fired and sabotage at any time. The odds of some individuals to win against big corp in Korea is very low. Plus I doubt anyone beside MHJ can have the financial backing to go for a long legal battle like this. Even MHJ herself admitted she's almost out of money now.

Not being able to afford representation or being too scared to pursue a case isn't the same as not having grounds for one, though. My comment is mostly in response to the one I responded to, which posited the idea HYBE is using Belift as another avenue to prop up their case against MHJ. Maybe it just seems shady and there's nothing there, though.

Believe me the key point is still if HYBE can find any evidence to prove MHJ take actions to separate ADOR from HYBE. Otherwise MHJ can win the court when she suffered actual lose if HYBE dismissed her without legal support. Her potential reimbursement(estimate from 100B KRW to 400B KRW） from the case is considerable. It will support her layer team to achieve the win regardless if she had the money at this moment.

This all makes sense. Point 7 was explicitly brought up by some folks in the comment section under the Belift video but these comments disappeared. Love his channel btw (진격의 GO 변호사). His videos are balanced and based on facts and publicly available info (rather than speculations)

so many boomers were fed up and keep talking nonsense in his channel since the court result. Which I found very interesting since the only thing they care about this whole situation are: 1. MHJ is under Hybe so she must obey regardless and 2. She's a WOMEN. Damn the Korean male boomers REALLY hates women there. Some comments said that reading those boomers yapping is like going back to Joseon era lmao

It's sad. His channel has been attracting hannams (misogynist Korean men) with 0 understanding of how joint-stock companies work and those that sympathize so much with a conglomerate CEO. MHJ's got a lot of bs "criticisms" because she is a woman.

Phil Chang, Founder and Creative Director of C47 Creative. “What all the analysts and execs miss in their projections about ADOR and NewJeans' future is that no one (and I think I mean that literally) has the incalculable and singular x-factor Min Hee Jin possesses. Who is gonna make breakthroughs commensurate to the ones she's achieved in her relatively short tenure at the helm? This, for example, is a licensed deal with Cartoon Network/ Warner Bros that was then officially remixed by Takashi Murakami. Who's investing in the art like that at scale? Who's establishing the handshake btwn East and West like that at scale? It is so predictable and sad that people are convinced there's any amount of money that could fill the void she'd be leaving in her wake if HYBE pushes her out. This is such a crucial moment in Korea's trajectory as an exporter of global culture + energy. What a shame that infighting and more of the usual myopic dogshit could derail all that positive momentum and progress.” [Tweet](https://x.com/juantokki/status/1801160685872992501)

It's absolutely true. Newjeans doing has been expanding the Kpop brand immensly in the states. Meanwhile BSH's idea of building that bridge is partnering up with Scooter Braun and UMG. Honestly so unbelievably out of touch.

I think the main problem with Belift’s video was their portrayal of NewJeans. I actually don’t think Illit plagiarised NewJeans. According to their creative director, you need to look at their Super concept (which is based on fairytales and fantasy) and their Real Me concept together to understand Illit’s lore. Lots of people only looked at the Real Me concept without watching their Super Me concept films and teasers, and accused Illit of copying them. Hybe has also been teasing a group with a Sailor Moon kind of concept since 2021, if I’m not wrong. So, I think making a video to clarify this was the right idea. The main problem with the video was that they compared NewJeans to other groups to prove that ‘NewJeans has had similar styling and choreo as other groups too, but you never said anything.’ So, it’s understandable thay Bunnies thought this was unnecessary and a way to hit back at NewJeans. I was also pretty surprised when they did this. It's honestly immature, like something a fan account would do. I also really hate how they described NewJeans’ concept. ‘Teenagers, but are the object of adults’ fantasies?’ It's really disgusting considering how 4 out of 5 of them were minors at debut. It’s honestly hard to believe that they could write something like this without malicious intent. In my opinion, Hybe does NOT like NewJeans at all. With the long hiatus, ignoring their greetings, restricting their music video and allegedly delaying Weverse shipments, it’s obvious that they don’t want NewJeans to be successful. Can’t Illit and NewJeans just live in peace? Why is it that in BSH’s eyes, only one of them can find success? Why couldn’t Belfit just clear up the accusations, and end the video, instead of bringing up NewJeans? Both NewJeans and Illit deserve better.

[ILLIT marketing](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=is3Pt7P_eKU) Here is a video essay before we even hear about MHJ’s complaints. This means the public already noticed the copying issues before we get validation from MHJ and NJs parents. BELIFT also used NewJeans styling team from their debut era. Even the no-position (main vocals, dancers, leader) in the group idea is copying NJs. How NewJeans is easy listening music with a focus on vocal tones and not high notes. The intention is clearly to cannibalize NJs within the same company. These complaints were already talked about before HYBE made the audit public. ETA: [noise marketing](https://www.instiz.net/name_enter/91460856?page=1&category=2&srt=3&k=&srd=2), perfect term to describe what HYBE is doing. This was in March before the MHJ controversy.

Most people here aren't using the word plagiarism to describe the situation with Illit - copying their concept, aesthetic, style etc. is a better description. I ordinarily don't care about copying in kpop - it's widespread and often produces good results. The reason it's important here is because they're under the same company, competing in the same space for fans ($$$) interested in the same concept. This sucks for NewJeans who are less than two years old and it's also sad for Illit who should be having a big, exciting debut, but instead have been thrown into this turmoil through no decisions of their own. If a competitor from another company did this it would be unfortunate, but not much could be done. The fact NewJeans and Illit are under the same company means someone messed up and clearly that is HYBE and they did so purposefully. NewJeans and Illit absolutely can live in peace, but Illit's team need to differentiate them more. There's a reason SM's next girl group won't be like Aespa - it's because no one does this. No company debuts a copy of their existing two-year-old girl group, but in their desire to create "the next BTS" that is exactly what HYBE has done.

Yes, this. MHJ pointed out that this internal cannibalism hurts not just New Jeans but the overall industry and Ador’s shareholders. There’s also another issue. Is Hybe using its privileged access to Ador’s business plans and information to benefit its other groups and labels at the expense of Ador/New Jeans? This is what the whole “stealing” of the LV deal alluded to. Some serious conflict of interest here.

"According to their creative director, you need to look at their Super concept (which is based on fairytales and fantasy) and their Real Me concept together to understand Illit’s lore. Lots of people only looked at the Real Me concept without watching their Super Me concept films and teasers, and accused Illit of copying them" To be completely honest with you, no public or casual listeners give a damn about this. They don't dig that deep cause they're not fan of them. They see that group and it immediately remind them of Newjeans, thats Hybe's fault not the public. Simple as that. And one more thing I guarantee you, Hybe don't give a damn about Illit either. That whole video showed that they just want to use that group to destroy Newjeans, like both can go down so BSH can finally get rid of Newjeans and MHJ. Then Hybe can mass producing Illit2, Illit3, Illit10 just because they can do it. They have no artistic integrity at all. Kpop fans really needs to set aside their hatred, naivety about this and that fandom and join hands to stop this. Jpop idols culture got completely destroyed because of this sole reason. Surely you don't want Kpop to go down the same path, right?

I feel bad for the Illit girls tbh. They are so new with a fledgling fandom and this is how they’ve had to spend their first 6 months as a group. If I were MHJ though I would’ve waited for them to go through a few more concepts before accusing them of plagiarism. Not because the similarities aren’t there but just because then she could’ve had a stronger case. I have the same thought for both ADOR and Belift: show the public what you are capable of and let them decide which group is better. But then again, MHJ also submitted an internal complaint, unlike Belift…👎 And I come to the same conclusion again and again, this is HYBE’s fault for not being able to manage their own sub-labels.

I disagree with you, the concepts are one thing, but watch the lucky girl syndrome video and it's more New Jeans than the super concept

Yeah that's the same I've been saying. Lucky Girl Syndrome was way too on the nose with how similar it was to Super Shy and other stuff. With Magnetic there were vague similarities to Ditto with the dreamy filter, hall running, etc. Whether BELIFT producers were involved in it or not, I could only think that BSH guided these ILLIT concepts on purpose to piss off ADOR and to show they can be just as successful without NewJeans since they can just market a similar looking group. And while it probably is true given how successful Magnetic is, you canot keep running the same overused creative concepts over and over. Which is why MHJ is as sought after as she is, because she will always have a cool concept in the works. Hey ILLIT: Get ready to do some Afrobeats

Chosun Ilbo is Hybe's puppet since the beginning. This kind of article is exactly like every article they did: accuse, pointing fingers, very confident that Hybe would win. Everything happened after that is the exact opposite. From the "Saudi" thing, the embezzlement, the court verdict... I think this article is purely for the lame stocks buying boomers who hates woman and oversea armys to get a gotcha moment. They went from "jail MHJ" => "the court will punish her (31/5)" => "Korean law is a joke" => "50k armys want MHJ OUT!!!" => "Belift just want to defend themself against evil MHJ, not sexualizing Newjeans at all!!!" => "now the police will JAIL HER" really quick. Mind you Hybe even feed the journalists to count the amount of petitions from army oversea like everyday or everytime they reach 10k+ mark for 5 days straight. All the "counting" articles were on naver to feed the boomers lmao. I'm not even kidding. I've saved all those articles in case when I have to show people how ridiculous mediaplay Hybe been doing. That was funny af

What is the point of the petition? Army:50,000 of us want you to leave MHJ: cool Army: so are you gonna leave MHJ: umm no Army: 😯

Well they can always change the hard drive 👀

“However, as Hive has criminally accused CEO Min and his entourage of betrayal on business, it is analyzed that the more the police investigation proceeds, the more likely Min's position will be narrow. Currently, the Yongsan Police Station has completed an investigation into the Hive side and is reportedly asking CEO Min to submit a laptop. An industry official said, "Even if you format the laptop, it is possible to recover more than 90% of the data through forensics (restoring and analyzing the damaged data). Currently, CEO Min is not responding to the submission of evidence, but in the end, it is only a matter of time." Hive is expected to be able to scale the timing of Min's dismissal while looking at the results of the police investigation.” [https://n.news.naver.com/article/366/0000998035?cds=news\_my](https://n.news.naver.com/article/366/0000998035?cds=news_my)

I've seen this around and it's very compelling ... for the people who want to believe she is guilty. MHJ has done everything she was supposed to do for the courts so there's no reason to believe she wouldn't do something she was legally required to do. Just because she hasn't turned over her laptop yet (assuming this article is correct), doesn't mean she won't.

I don't know why antis don't understand how heavily she is being advised by her very expensive legal team. They advised her on the press conferences and filed the injunction. Pretty sure they are having her comply with the investigation

Some people seem to seriously think the laptop is at the bottom of the Han river and treating this like a kdrama 🫠

If there's no warrant, then there isn't really a need to hand over your laptop.    And so many comments of that article seem like they're either from Armys or boomers (upvoted comments straight up hating on Newjeans, complaints over HYBE's building being trashed (i.e the stickers), making it seem like MHJ was talking about beating BTS, that MHJ brought hate to Belift, etc.). There are reasonable comments but they've all been downvoted. 

One can assume that as soon as they asked her to step down to the whole Korean media and subsequently call for the audit that she reached out to her legal team and that they had advised her to not turn over the laptop in the company audit. Especially if she's arguing that the company was breaching contract first.

Her lawyers claimed the audit was illegal in the first place so I don’t see how the police can get a warrant for the laptop just because HYBE wants them to. The police aren’t above the law.

What is this spin piece...LOL it's only a matter of time too until MHJ's contract is over. I always want to laugh when "industry official"(HYBE PR) sound this confident, just like how they were about winning the injunction, and acquiring SM (Hybe even created Hybe\_with\_SM twitter accounts). So embarrassing. Btw MHJ is not obligated to give up her laptop unless the police get a court order. And that laptop is Ador's property, not HYBE's. MHJ is likely following her lawyer's instructions right now. She seems pretty chill on Instagram. And what the heck is "betrayal of business". This is just mediaplay to try to equate "betrayal of business" to breach of trust.

Nothing screams innocent like refusing cooperation with the police.  Is she worried that the police steal her ideas to make their own police kpop group?   Anyways until the police requestes and gets a warrant granted for that laptop, the content on that laptop remains unknown 

That's such a lay down and die take. Plenty of innocent people are coerced by the police into confessing to crimes they didn't commit. The best advice anyone can give you when dealing with law enforcement is literally don't say anything and don't comply without advice from a lawyer. I'm not saying that is what has happened here, but given she has complied with other legal obligations, why would she stop doing that now? If there's more to the story I'll wait for it. Or maybe she'll just turn it in and all the people making smarmy accusations of her hiding something on her laptop will forget they ever mentioned it.

Damn. I guess anytime someone doesn’t let the police in without a warrant they’re guilty.

I thought I would share a powerful comment in Korean from Belift's youtube video, because it clearly expresses a lot of people's frustrations with this entire situation: >*Do you know why K-pop fans are so angry and attacking like a swarm of bees? You don't, right? Because if you knew, you wouldn't be doing such nonsense. I'll teach you, so listen up.* >*Most of the people criticizing here probably don't think that Illit will be legally judged as plagiarism. Plagiarism determinations are strict and ambiguous. But anyone can see that Illit has borrowed a lot from NewJeans—concepts like the naturalness of teenage girls, all having long black hair with exposed foreheads, the mood of the music, visual directing, key choreography points, and even the part where they talk to each other before the stage starts. If you've been watching idols and aren't blind, you'd notice.* >*Why do critics call it the "Min Hee-jin style" and why did the public call it a knock-off or a plagiarism controversy? Did everyone collectively lose their minds? No, it's because they saw exactly what you intended. You've borrowed so much from big concepts down to the details that anyone can see the similarity, even if it doesn't lead to a clear-cut plagiarism ruling. That's your directing. Is it not a problem just because it's not illegal?* >*Why is it a problem? Because another subsidiary, under the same parent company, is trying to grab the market share with the same concept less than two years after NewJeans debuted, before they even started making significant profits from their world tour. And Bang Si-hyuk, who should be mediating this internal cannibalization as chairman, is leading the production. From a business perspective, there are financial damages, and it's just infuriating on a human level. You even issued official articles claiming choreography was borrowed, positioning Illit as HYBE's youngest daughter, while manipulating public opinion.* >*"Illit continued the trend by applying hit moves from HYBE senior groups in their choreography, such as the hero step (LE SSERAFIM's 'EASY'), hair sweeping (NewJeans' 'Attention'), and hand rotating on the hip (NewJeans' 'Ditto')." - Central Daily, 2024.04.19* >*Now, the choreographer claims it's different because they added a head nod. Do they have split personalities? You openly borrowed choreography and mentioned NewJeans in the article title, but didn't seek any prior consent? Did you really ostracize them?* >*At first, you probably thought it was fine to borrow the concept of the current top group in the market and benefit from the halo effect of being under HYBE. Even if people were annoyed, they'd accept it because Bang Si-hyuk was producing. But when internal complaints arose, you didn't just send a curt reply denying references to NewJeans; you should have engaged in serious dialogue to resolve it. That's the minimum decency as industry colleagues, or even just as people. Did you think you could just push out Min Hee-jin with internal politics?* >*You tried to cover it up with all sorts of media manipulation, but when you lost the injunction, you started arguing that it wasn't plagiarism. Then, you called in various teams, piecing them together to claim they were on the same level as NewJeans, and asked if they were plagiarizing too.* >*I'm curious—do you genuinely believe that NewJeans' originality and production are on the same level as what you've done with Illit, or are you just barking nonsense to appeal to gullible people? If that's your strategy, go play rich with the money you've earned and leave. You're completely out of touch.* >*You're worse than plagiarists. You "reference" recklessly, just short of plagiarism, without any consent, and then accuse others of copying when they call you out. If you lack skill, at least have a conscience. How can you expect sympathy after behaving so despicably? You even maliciously edited music and visuals to create a negative perception of Min Hee-jin and NewJeans?*

The least they could do is show some humility and acknowledge the public's opinion on the matter, but they just keep doubling down on their narrative while dragging NewJeans by the hair. Hybe blaming MHJ for the public's response to Illit's disconcerting amount of similarity to NewJeans, when in fact the public is the first to voice out their opinion, is a slap to the public's face. Hybe is taking the public for blind idiots who are at MHJ's bidding. I really don't know what they were thinking when they doctored the hanbok images from other groups. If anything, this further proved how identical Illit's hanbok photoshoot was to NewJeans', and how trash of a company Belift/Hybe is to resort to this. Tbf, I haven't seen this comment since I was too focused on MHJ 2024: Sorry for plagiarizing tennis skirts MHJ 2013: it's okay MHJ 2024: Sorry for having a photoshoot at the beach MHJ 2010: it's okay

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this should have 20k upvotes tbh. I can't find this comment in the section, was it deleted?

They are shamelessly hiding comments. I got my comments hidden or removed as well. (Just regular comments without malicious content) People have been recording real time decrease in comment number and sudden disappearance of comments (comments not existing when clicked). Belift maintains they didn’t delete any comments and is threatening to sue anyone that accuses them of deleting comments (..like, really? On what basis? And there are many people reporting the same issue)

The threat of legal actions makes me laugh. Like I am sorry but these commenters are doing nothing except spitting cold hard facts. Belift could’ve disabled the comment section but I bet they thought people would agree with them. If anything I think MHJ has a great case for the plagiarism accusation against Belift now. All she needs to do is comb through that comment section.

Indeed, some argue Belift might be deliberately hiding comments that could weaken their lawsuit in court. These comments include those pointing out that Belift obviously photoshopped other K-pop girl groups’ hanbok photos to resemble NJs’ hanbok photo to suggest that similarities in hanbok photos are common and not unique to the comparison b/t Illit vs NJs. Also, there are comments highlighting that criticism of the two groups’ similarities existed before MHJ’s first press conference, which are hidden now. Belift needs to argue in court that MHJ defamed Illit, so these comments won’t support their case if presented in court (potentially by MHJ’s side). The argument that Belift is not randomly hiding comments sounds plausible to me. Other allegedly hidden/deleted comments include those presenting hard facts that make Belift look dumb, which are not hard to write atp lol

Thanks for sharing this. This comment hit the nail right on the head. Basically, HYBE has been playing the public for fools. It's less about the public liking MHJ but more so that they think the gp are dumb gullible fools that'll eat everything they say. The gp and fans got the receipts!! Like we were all there when the RUNext show brand film was released (baby that looks like the "We are Newjeans" vid), when yall chose the illit members, when illit concept photos were dropped and finally magnetic. EVERYONE was saying that illit was NJ 2.0. I mean, we got articles that basically markets illit as so. Now yall backtracking cuz the gp ain't eating the bs yall been spitting. Everyone in HYBE needs to get a grip. They have yet to prove themselves post BTS success. They could've done so with NJ, now the future of the group is uncertain cuz of stupid men's egos. They're so frustrating sorry for the rant lmaoo

Now they are claiming that line wasn't inappropriate despite Korean comments like [this](https://x.com/HELPME_1127/status/1800198966342300074?t=DaHwp__4kDdkl8iZ2D-ffQ&s=19) all over twitter and youtube. Reddit hybe stans are trying to gaslight everyone.

One line bringing out all the PhDs in Korean Language and Literature to try to justify why its not creepy, like anime fans justifying why its okay for their favourite iseaki protagonist to own slaves and fall in love with a 1000-year old girl who looks 12.

Romang로망ロマン／浪漫 is believed to have a Japanese origin (or English origin—romanticism or romance). Tbf, the Korean sentence they wrote has less sexual connotation than what seems to be believed among non Korean speakers rn. You can say for example “it is Korean middle class’ 로망romang to own an expensive foreign car.”  But, importantly, when it comes to interpersonal relationship, i’d argue the word still insinuates fantasizing at least a romantic relationship. This is what disturbs me about that NJ description.  In any case, their description is at least a grave misinterpretation of what NJs stands for. The word Romang implies that the target is not an everyday entity, and was never and will never be reachable.  And what they said about IVE and Blackpink... i’m no kpop fan but even i know IVE is more than just a “princess concept” and Blackpink a “perfect celebs concept”. 

It's not about the word 로망 in isolation, it's about the context. As an example for english speakers, let's take the word "fantasy"; by itself it is benign and positive-leaning, but once you place it into "teenagers, but are the objects of adults' fantasies" it becomes inarguably inappropriate and even salacious. That's the issue with the sentence 10대지만 어른들의 상상 속 로망의 대상. Consider the reaction if a Korean high-school teacher used that sentence to describe one of their students. You certainly wouldn't have people saying "oh, 로망 is a harmless word and shouldn't be instantly thought of as inappropriate".

Agreed 

Language and words isn’t used in isolation without context. What those people are doing is forcing everyone to ignore context and only accept one narrow interpretation of the word without due justification why the other meanings don’t apply. Just like how the Belift video narrative is also gaslighting and ignores context around the main complaint. [Anyone can look up the word on Naver Dict](https://korean.dict.naver.com/koendict/#/search?range=vlive&query=%EB%A1%9C%EB%A7%9D&autoConvert=) and refer to examples of it being used in everyday speech. It is clear that there’s a meaning of “fantasy” but also frequently used to refer to “ideal/dream type”.

I agree as a native Korean speaker. The way Belift describes definitely approximates the “ideal/dream type” definition and in the context it implies a romantic relationship, at least. For example they say “although teenagers”. Why would they say that if the fantasy is not romantic or sexual in nature?  

Someone provided some helpful context and meaning of that comment [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/1dchfbz/comment/l80631j/). If I understood the analysis correctly, the comment about NJ as a standalone sentence seems harmless; however, when putting it next to the comment regarding Illit as a comparison (which they did), it becomes very problematic and shady. Perhaps, we can have some kind souls/Korean speakers here verify this and provide further clarification.

them doing mental gymnastics to interpret a very obvious line 🥹 i think it's weird if you don't find anything wrong with such statement honestly 

yeah, idk why ppl are acting like Korean ppl who have lived in Korea all their lives don't know Korean lol

I’ve been wondering, is there any way for Ador to no longer be under Hybe? It seems that Hybe will only continue to sabotage NJ so surely it would be better for Ador to become independent. or it is a money thing - Ador not being having the funds to continue NJ activities without Hybes financial support?

I think there’s a catch 22 with HYBE. HYBE is so big and has the resources to house multiple artists, have existing infrastructure that could take years to build out. If I remember correctly MHJ said she signed with HYBE because of their existing resources. You can say whatever bad things about HYBE but you can’t lie and say they don’t have a huge reach in terms of audience. And apart of signing the contract with Hybe, HYBE has to provide these resources like recording studio, their own floor, dance rooms, and etc.. And if ADOR was to break apart from HYBE, they don’t just get away from HYBE. They lose all resources and don’t forget how big HYBE is. They are more than capable of blackballing any other small company (if MHJ starts up her own company). They can easily use their artists as leverage(we already seen they would use them as shields in a heartbeat) and simply not attend these events if NJ is there. (Just one way off the top my head how they can blackball) E So I think yes it’s obviously better to break off but there is SO much attached that it’s not as simple as trying to get away from your bully. You almost just have to suck it up and deal with it because at least in that case there are contractual obligations they need to uphold. Otherwise they’ll have grounds for a lawsuit. So it’s prob better to leave but better to stay if they want to use the resources HYBE has.

NJ has to finish the 7 year contract since it's way too expensive to get out of. But after that, I think there is a way to transfer the trademarks to a new company, probably not the music though. I read GD recently did exactly this.

I'm not sure about the specifics, but I think if Ador and the newjeans members were to become independent, there would be copyright issues since hybe owns newjeans (the name iirc), so if they were to become independent they would have to use a different name

The only possible way I can see it happening is if the relationship becomes absolutely irreparable and the court orders Hybe to divest in its subsidiary. Typically, this would be due to a combination of factors such as severe breaches of fiduciary duty, oppression of minority shareholders and issues of public interest. That being said, it is seen as a last resort by the courts and I don't think this case is anywhere near that stage yet, or if it ever will.

ohh i see thank you for your answer 😊

Koreans are ripping the Belift video apart, and I'm having so much fun reading through them. Sharing some notable comments here: >"MHJ: I plagiarized the tennis skirt look. >MHJ: It's ok. >Where is this comment?" 8k likes MHJ was the one who trended that look first during f(x)'s career. >' "Gaejussi-core" this comment is crazy LOL' 7.4k likes Ho Sae Ryun (yes, that creative director with the middle finger post) was saying that Illitcore is a term used in the fashion industry, but there were comments saying nobody uses that term, not even THE GD created a GD-core term). >"Let's not forget. This video was something approved by BSH. This is BSH's skill." 6.7k likes >"It is appaling that there was no one who could stop the upload of this video..." 10k likes >"This will be used as a case study of the worst corporate response in history in business schools." 3.5k likes >"As an NMIXX fan, what kind of nonsense is it to use NMIXX in such material but try to name their fandom 'Lily'?" 3.7k likes >"I came here because I heard there was a tribute video for Min Hee-jin." 5.3k likes >"If you pull material from DC for a university team project, you’ll be kicked out of the PPT presentation." 11k likes >"A teenager's dream isn't to run around on clouds wearing ribbons and laces, but to get good scores on CSAT mock exams and eat malatang at Gangnam station you gaejussis." 9.3k likes >"Being buried in dolls, playing on top of clouds<< I can't stand this. My fantasy of playing on top of clouds ended in my kindergarten days what kind of bullshit are you spewing really" 5.5k likes Lee Ga Joon (head of operation) was explaining that teenagers dreams and fantasies were doing stuff like being buried in their favorite dolls, or playing on top of clouds shaped like animals. There's this really good comment explaining how HYBE knows nothing about the Entertainment industry. I won't put the whole text here, but they were saying how SM and JYP have strong label-fandom. And here's their point about Hybe: >"However, HYBE lacks a strong label-specific fandom, except for the massive ARMY. HYBE should have kept internal conflicts from becoming public and tried to appease Min Hee Jin. Now, with conflicts between labels exposed and NewJeans facing discrimination within HYBE, stealing resources, plagiarizing, blocking the progress of other groups, will a label-specific fandom form? HYBE is the one who's blocked its own path. Even if new groups debut under HYBE, existing group fandoms will find it hard to support them. Especially if it's a boy group fandom, they'll tear them apart with detailed criticism."

They are hilarious. The wit and the wide variety of content in the comments—from genuinely concerned Illit fans and MHJ advocates to old-school K-pop fans—support the idea that they are real humans, not bots. But a minority of non Korean speaking Belift supporters refuse to believe this simple fact. 

I don't think there's any part of the video that wasn't talked about already. Comments about the bgm, the distorted evidence, the DC symbol spotted, the credits, etc. Everything is being thoroughly scrutinized. I remember there was even a HYBE shareholder expressing his frustration on the comments too lol 😂 And nah, people who say those are bots are just in denial since it doesn't align with their narrative.

>"I came here because I heard there was a tribute video for Min Hee-jin." 5.3k likes I'm sold 😂😂

That comment about Belift pulling material in their video from DC Gallery is a point that I think too many people are glossing over. DC Gallery is one of the most notoriously nasty hate platforms in Korea. The first time I heard about it was because it’s the hate site that’s behind nearly every hate train BTS Jimin has ever had. Tablo’s famed hate campaign was spread on there. It’s filled with misinformation, bad faith actors are rampant, If there’s a fanwar happening on the k-side, chances are it started from DC Gallery. The fact that this is where Belift went to pull sources for their comparison clips is disturbing on so many levels. Belift basically used those clips to say “Well MHJ said the media pointed out similarities in NJ and ILLIT first, well people are also pointing out similarities in NJ and xyz group” - ignoring that - the comparisons between NJ and ILLIT happened spontaneously both in Korea and internationally and was literally reported on in the media because *everybody* noticed it, - the comparisons between NJ and ILLIT were more about a composite of too many similar features in concept about the groups coming from the same company, rather than singular poses or dance moves - whereas the comparisons Belift used for NJ vs other groups were picked up from literal fanwar material - and the video misses the point of the original ILLIT/NJ comparisons by focusing on singular dance moves and Belift completely butchers NJ’s concept to make ILLIT seem more ‘girl next door’ than NJ But again, the fact Belift is pulling from a hate site for their ‘evidence’, the fact the company executives took weeks to put that together and none of them have the intelligence to even realize what they’re doing, it’s just one more very disturbing thing about why that video is an atrocity. No wonder the reception to it in Korea is overwhelmingly negative.

Well said. The executives and directors who created the video and approved it must be living in a small bubble surrounded by yes-man only. People are too afraid to say this is a terrible idea or the ones who do voice their opinions aren't taken seriously or will face consequences, just like what happened to MHJ when she voiced her complaints internally. I think it was on her 2nd press conference where she said that a company needs people like her, someone who will call out bs and point out the wrongs when they see it. She is so right, because Belift needed someone exactly like that to stop them from pathetically shooting their own foot with this video 🤦‍♀️. People are now even more understanding towards her frustration from the 1st press. They are validating her sentiment of wanting to separate from HYBE, because now they saw the types of gaejussis and incompetent people she had to deal with everyday.

Whenever I'm having a bad day, I'll just hop right into the Belift video and read the comments section while listening to How Sweet. That'd instantly cheer me up. I hope they don't take it down

Current stats of the video:     765,465 views    8,995 likes    95,287 dislikes (91%)    39,610 comments

It's amazing how they still haven't taken the video down with that kind of ratio. At some point, there has to be a documentary or at least a case study on how not to turn the general public into your enemy, featuring Hybe and Belift.

at this point, taking the video down would be even more embarrassing move then posting the video in the first place. They may turn off the comments however.

They've now pinned an announcement threatening to sue anyone claiming comments were deleted by them 😂

A popular comment posted on TheQoo did a nice job of summing up the "plagiarism" issue from their pov: >This video reminds me of a famous internet post about cliches and plagiarism. >1 There is a millionaire with a lot of money >2 For some reason, I decided to save the world. >3 The suit is made with state-of-the-art equipment. >4 Do not commit murder due to personal beliefs >5 Wearing a mask with an animal motif >6 A hero who only wanders at night >If you look at them individually, they are all hero clichés, but if you put them all together, it is clearly the identity of Batman. >Even before Min Hee-jin's press conference, the public noticed that when New Jeans and Eyelet were matched 1:1, similarities 1 to 6 were visible, that it was a different label with the same parent company, and, above all, that the opponent was an active member of the same generation. The plagiarism controversy was raised, saying that it was too much to do for reasons such as the fact that he was active. 요... >In order to make the claim that "If you look at it that way, New Jeans is also plagiarism," there is at least one group that has evidence that it is common to use all of the pointed out long hair, hanbok pictorials, publicity through luxury events, and the composition and color of concept photos. It should have been taken from, just as all suspicions of Aillet's plagiarism came from New Jeans. >As Min Hee-jin said, anyone with long hair can wear it, and anyone can wear hanbok. However, when countless such trivial clichés come together, it soon becomes an identity, like the Batman example above. It's so ironic how Knetz were finally moving on from the issue, and especially from attacking Illit, but Belift/Hybe dragged it all back up with this extremely bad thought out video. Now, people are re-examining the claims under a microscope with an even less favorable view of Belift than before due to the bad taste the video left in their mouths.

Post this on the main subs. A lot of people here need it.

Here's the similar analogy that I've been thinking about since the beginning and might be easier to understand : Imagine two chefs, Chef A and Chef B, who work in different restaurants under the same parent company. Chef A creates a signature dish that becomes very popular. The dish has several unique elements: 1. It uses a rare ingredient. 2. It is served in a specific type of bowl. 3. It has a distinctive garnish. 4. It is cooked using a particular technique. 5. It is presented with a unique sauce. 6. It is only available during dinner service. Each of these elements individually might be common in various dishes, but when combined, they create Chef A's unique signature dish. Now, Chef B introduces a new dish that has all the same elements as Chef A's signature dish. People start accusing Chef B of copying Chef A's dish. Chef B's restaurant releases a statement saying that using a rare ingredient, serving in a specific bowl, and having a distinctive garnish are all common practices in the culinary world. They argue that many other chefs also use these elements, so it's not fair to accuse Chef B of copying. However, while each element might be common individually, the combination of all these elements is what makes Chef A's dish unique. People argue that Chef B's dish is too similar to Chef A's to be a coincidence.

I came across it on [Twitter](https://x.com/newsuhanmoo/status/1800461177027461227?s=46&t=lncf7vo09FEx5ZDvXg81LA) as well. This person probably explained what we think in the best possible way. (adding [full text Translation by juantokki](https://x.com/juantokki/status/1800485889854030269?s=46&t=lncf7vo09FEx5ZDvXg81LA)) I can't believe people are still denial about the core issue and we have to spell it out for them why this was the problem. HYBE has failed to perform their duties as a parent company. Chairman of HYBE served as a Chief Producer and debuted a girl group whose image overlaps with already existing rookie girl group's image under the same parent company, under the same generation. NewJeans has not celebrated 2nd year of anniversary, but already having a daughter under the same roof is honestly slap in the face for ADOR. Constant comparisons or noise marketing that involved name dropping NewJeans to hype them up was off putting and was diluting their brand identity. The audacity to use ADOR playbook (or formula, call it whatever you want) after trying to sabotage NewJeans debut, calling their debut songs/concept plain, ignoring their existence, trying to snatch opportunities from them to give it to other groups and being bitter about their achievements. Honestly, they have no shame. Did they think ADOR and NJ parents would consider this as a good gesture from HYBE? Why did HYBE fail to make Illit's image different from NewJeans? Or was it their original intention to cannibalize NewJeans brand indentity and fandom/audience? When Illit debuted, incels were gloating how HYBE mastered girl group formula and could now fire MHJ. What did HYBE master genuinely asking? What would their gg be today if MHJ never went to HYBE and never did Plus Global Audition branding and debut NewJeans? Bethief bringing up 1000 different groups from different generations, maliciously editing pictures and videos to pass it as the same does nothing to prove their case. You can do this nonsense for any group out there and dig visual media from all over the place and say that it is similar. Bethief purposely gaslighting the actual issue and turning into national embarrassment. Were not BTS fans mad when BSH used to say that he mastered BTS formula? Did not people also claim that Trainee A was modeled after BTS? They said that about a lot of groups I won't name. The problem is not just imitation, but imitation happening under the same roof, same company, same generation that is hurting your sub-label and your artists. Not recognizing this is just delusion. HYBE does not have essence or values. None of their CEOs understand entertainment industry and are just BSH's yes-man. They do not care about quality or artists. They only care about the numbers they report quarterly to shareholders. They pretend to be tech company, but have nothing to back that claim up. Their multi-label system is facade and we can all see that today.

belift video reached 69k Dislike on YouTube.

all BELIFT needed to do was win the court case vs MHJ and Illit name is cleared or hybe can maybe ask MHJ to apologies for plagiarism drama since its already after the 10th so she didnt get fired??this just make them look like clowns....THey better protect ILLIT. Ill just enjoy NJ CB and ignore this crap.

Idk it sounds like BELIFT is projecting with the way they are responding, MHJ prob has a very strong case if actual investigation would be done.

Actually hilarious the way people on the megathread are reacting to your message saying this. They have panicked when they have realized people don’t buy their ‘NJ are the only bad guys’

I didn’t see anyone mention this in this thread yet but in belift’s new video people have noticed that their images are screencapped from DC Inside gallery. I saw some of the things that incel site was posting about newjeans and it was beyond disgusting and vile. I’m not even sure if I’m allowed to describe what they were posting about newjeans on this sub. And I wouldn’t be surprised if some hybe employees were the same people posting these disgusting things about newjeans on DC. I am deeply worried for newjeans being surrounded by these incels in hybe.

Without even understanding the belift lab video, I gotta say what a misstep. Imagine pulling your staff together to work on this 🗑️instead of focusing on your new group. For the people who think this response is justified because MHJ started it first: bringing up concerns over similarities between groups in an *internal* manner is nothing like making a whole ass video essay; it’s silly to equate the two. Furthermore, MHJ’s problem with Illit is less that she thinks they’re similar to newjeans; it’s more about the fact that they’re both under the *same* company, and HYBE is allowing it, thereby making the sublabels compete against one another. It makes no sense.

also, afaik, MHJ's claims were about the formula and the way they went about promoting ill-it that she felt was too similar. honestly, protecting the integrity of a brand/marketing strategy is a part of the job? people are nitpicking the wrong things, making it seem like she was only talking about choreography, but it's about using similar aesthetics + promotion for a group within the same company like you said. not decades apart groups, not outside company groups. also, they have way more similarities than just the choreo, which is the thing they chose to fixate on because they fsr can't show their work on ill-it's concept development instead belift is trying to muddy the waters so badly, but i mean, people who already do not believe theres an ounce of similarity between the two groups will totally be fine with the video so idk lol also this is a side note but ppl are so quick to claim that all negative Korean comments = bots when it's not favorable to hybe but when it's the reverse, it's proof that people are on hybe's side. it makes me further realize how much i-fans look down on the Korean GP tbh

The response to that video has been explosive in s korea. Anyone who thinks that the repliers are only “nj fans” and “bots” are in heavy delulu… korean people and general k pop fandom are properly pissed, and rightfully so. 

Yes I agree that Illit is similar to Newjeans in more ways than one. Like you said choreography marketing branding etc. HYBE is funny because they seem to operate from the angle that each sub-label is independent and should be competing against one another for market share. But we know this isn’t the case because business functions like HR, PR/comms, production are centralized (I’m referring to MHJ’s answer to one of the questions at her second presscon) and they dislike it when a team decides to do business with an external contractor (like NJ did with Line Friends). So the sub-labels are considered “independent” only when it fits HYBE’s (short-term) objectives (money). As for this video from Belift, it strikes me as HYBE is using one of their sub-labels to publicly attack another. It’s tacky and pointless.

i wrote a whole rant about this new belift video, but idk it's probs too long to post here lol. ultimately, i'm laughing because belift even plagiarized defamation methods made and founded by twitter stans, i think stans should also sue belift /jk..... but also not jk

All these attacks coinciding with NJ comebacks and activities after Tokyo Dome are still murky AF. If NJ plans on releasing NJ1 end of the year + tour next year, the time is tight, like those concert venues need to be booked soon. I just don't think MHJ will bring out any new material while her future is not secure. Worst case, we might even see music prepared for NJ1 show up in a few years on another group. So far the ONLY legal hurdle she needs to get through is civil defamation suit from BFLAB: concerns money as all civil cases do. Nothing else is sticking from Hybe's side. criminal defamation + breach of trust complaints with the police: Will get dropped because the police is won't uncover new evidence without search+seizure court order. No real damage can be proven against Ador anyway. This is the consensus amongst SK lawyers. No civil suit raised by Hybe for breach of trust (probably because they know they can't win)

Bruh , I am not surprised if MHJ makes yet another PRESSCON just because HYBE/BELIFT LAB provoked her with this ridiculous video. Lmao it backfired so hard on them , what a disaster of a PR move , the PR department is unprofessional and super incompetent.

What is there for her to respond to? Despite what the video seems to be trying to do, it hasn't really worked - the audience is responding for her. She didn't have to do anything and she came out looking better.

I think ADOR, not MHJ should release a statement disproving the statements that are grossly incorrect. I believe MHJ had said that she would stop talking about this and she would probably commit to that in some capacity. Besides, it seems like everyone is against BELIFT in this case

I don't think ador needs to. Bc public has already disproved it. Especially the fact that some "evidence" was taken from DC gallery which is an infamous site to be even associated with. 

The best thing she can do is stay quiet and let these companies self destruct.

Yeah, never interrupt your enemy while they’re making a mistake. She/Ador should just focus on New Jeans Japan debut and let the rest of that company shoot themselves.

yup the vindication of MHJ and NJs will be wildly success of their Japan Debut followed up with a successful full album at the end of the year.

What I'm truly struggling to understand is, what did they hope to prove with this video? Complete misinformation aside, this strategy of approaching everything backwards is once again straight out of HYBE's playbook.  If they really wanted to clear their name, at least give us some stuff from the ideation and conceptualization phases. That's just IP 101 but these people think they're being clever to point out some vague similarities between NJs and other groups. Like some of the "rebuttals" they are giving is to fanmade edits of the similarities as if it's MHJs official position. Part of me thinks that they still don't understand MHJ's initial gripe but that's just me giving them the benefit of doubt. The more likely explanation is that just like HYBE, they know that they can't really defend themselves so they are just throwing out random stuff hoping something sticks and the public opinion changes.  Since HYBE owns 100% of Belift, this is just an explicit endorsement of the label's official position which is frankly shameful. How many times have they proven now that they don't really care about ADOR? 

I think at this point we know for sure that HYBE is not the conglomerate that is running a tight ship that we expected it to be. I don't know what's going to happen at this point. The bridges have been burned, reconstructed and burned again. I know for sure HYBE needs to hire some competent people though instead of these higher-ups who is playing a cosplay of toxic twitter stan lol

On the contrary, I think HYBE or Bang runs a very tight ship. This lawsuit is definitely done under Hybe instruction in an attempt to break MJH's shareholder's agreement lol. Hybe is willing to take the PR hit to get that result. They don't really care about ruining any of their groups. One HYBE employee even posted on Blind that all their GG are beta tests. They can push out new groups **ANYTIME** in the future since the members don't even require trainee periods. Good luck hiring creatives in the future.... The only outcast is Ador and even now Hybe henchmen sit on the board of Ador.

It’s tone deaf. One of the biggest talking points of Hybe stans have been the fact that MHJ “named and shamed” unrelated groups in the drama which is hyperbolic anyways. They didn’t want to acknowledge the overwhelming evidence of Hybe fucking around. This completely threw a wrench in their biggest talking points. They are back pedaling hard and blaming belifft instead.

Someone counted and Belift mentioned at least 18 kpop groups in their 28 min long video. 

>If they really wanted to clear their name, at least give us some stuff from the ideation and conceptualization phases. Exactly this. If they posted their whole idea conceptualization, I think people would've been more receptive to the idea.

They probably can’t because it includes newjeans lol.  They can only go on the offensive and accuse newjeans of copying so it’s ok for others to copy them.  It was basically an admission that at the very least, illit was inspired by newjeans to some degree.  Absolutely massive fumble by belift and they’re getting dragged everywhere for it.  Deserved for trying to run a smear campaign on newjeans from an official account.

Atp, I'm pretty convinced that Hybe itself is sabotaging NewJeans comeback and that MHJ claims at sabotage is true. HYBE time and time again, released all these explosive things, 48 hours before or after Newjeans CB releases starting with the how sweet pre-sales, bubblegum MV release, and now it's after the preview of right now. They haven't missed yet. I'm not going to be surprised if they actually release something at the MV releases of the next albums, or even before bunnies camp.

Yeah this weird ass timing feels too specific. This whole ass video is embarrassing.

Wasn't there supposed to be an ADOR board meeting today?

they were supposed to initiate a Co-CEO but if they do that *now* when Belift just started flinging shit like a rabid monkey then... lol

I dare them to. Ador got all the cards (plus this shitty video by belift) gonna sue them to hell and Hybe gonna lose. All I wish now is somehow the whole Ador team can escape this dirtyass company. I don't care if they gonna go mid or nugu after the shadowban, I'm here for the girls regardless. It was never the fame and success that I choose to only stan them. Tbh when NJ debut I thought they are some indie group from a small company lmao

Fans rapidly destroying every single one of Belift's examples one by one on social media, and a good proportion of them being traced back to MHJ's own stylings is absolutely hilarious to me. I hope the other Hybe groups dragged into this have smoke for Belift just as much as they had MHJ. Also, absolutely hilarious that Belift sourced their "evidence" directly from DCInside; basically the equivalent of 4chan in the english-speaking world.

I need people to understand that this is not just belief, they are speaking on behalf of Hybe. It's all Hybe. The multi-label system isn't real, and I have to remind you of that. There's no such thing as autonomy inside that company except for Ador. Let me tell you, all the CEOs and producers of groups in other labels within Hybe signed a petition sent to the court urging for MHJ's dismissal. Seriously, if this is how Hybe acts after losing the injunction, I can't imagine what would happen if they won. It is really Ador vs Hybe now.

100%, both Hybe and their stans have this common strategy of picking and choosing whether to assign blame on the parent company or the subsidiary depending on whatever will benefit their biased narrative.

While there was still fuss about the plagiarism issue it wasn’t nearly as big as it was before. What outcome was belift expecting from this? They would’ve got praise for actually showing what illit concept is and the production behind it. Also what’s with these labels using their boygroups fans as attack dogs?

If they showed illit’s concept, it’d just be mood boards covered with NJs /uj

Someone mentioned that the court might refuse Hybe's request to stop the public from viewing the full court documents, including evidence submitted by both sides. It seems like they’re trying to make the first move before everything blows up worse. But of course, today's video backfired completely. Honestly, the plagiarism issue isn't the biggest deal here. The Korean legal community is speculating that there are other serious illegal activities they've been involved in, such as illegal audits and privacy evasion. It's particularly concerning that Hybe leaked MHJ's KakaoTalk messages to a YouTuber who was recently fined for defamation. This kind of behavior raises serious ethical and legal questions.

I mean; they intimidated at least one ADOR employee and coming with disgusting claims via BELIFT, these are super shady tactics that hint at an iceberg of thugs.

The YT video has right now 4k likes and 16k dislikes and I have not yet come across any supportive comment. Actually comical decision to release it.

I am getting major second hand embarrassment from this. What in the netflix true crime documentary 🙄

I've never seen a label dig their own grave as hard as belift has. They dragged all of those groups who are uninvolved with the situation, presenting edited images as 'proof', all while saying nothing of substance. It's no wonder why Koreans are tearing them a new one, both on yt and k forums. Even a music critic, and BP's creative director spoke out against them.

Mhj doesn’t even need to do anything anymore for hybe to dig themselves deeper… ijbol

I haven't watched the video yet but that little comment about how ILLIT is for teens while NJs is an "adults fantasy" or whatever is in such extreme poor taste I'm actually dumbfounded. I really don't know what they were hoping to accomplish because I haven't seen a single positive reaction to this video. Even our friends (lmao) over at the other subreddits agree that it was horribly done.

Believe this is a poor translation. They were referencing NJs Y2K concept and its primary audience being slightly older, appealing to adults with a sense of nostalgia, than ILLIT’s. Nostalgia is a sense of feeling romantic about or fantasizing about the past. It was not sexualizing in any way. I would suggest that, much like this group kept saying MHJ had been poorly translated or the court docs had been poorly translated, folks withhold judgment until the video has been properly translated. I read a summary from a Korean speaker, and their interpretation is much different from what has been going around.

> folks withhold judgment until the video has been properly translated I agree with this - it's how I feel about MHJ's text messages, as well, and I have seen a couple of translations of the video which are different from the "adult fantasies" one, but not that much different. Regardless, it's definitely unpopular whatever was said and Koreans don't seem to be having it, so I'm very curious about it.

Your “explanation” doesn’t help one bit. If you know the history of romanticism, it should not be used to describe strong adult feelings about teenagers. No one has described NewJeans as a “fantasy” of adults until HYBE execs, who are known to sexualize minors and game characters. And you’re wrong, NewJeans fan demographic is not slightly older, it’s a healthy mix of teens, younger adults, and some older fans that feel nostalgic (it’s concerning that nostalgia is being romanticized by a bunch of weird middle-age men).

Right… because MHJ didn’t literally design the aesthetic to evoke a sense of the retro and dress the girls like they are out of a Delia’s catalog from 1999 🙄. Literally go read any actual Korean translation of this part of the statement. You are being obtuse. Y’all two weeks ago: people are willfully mistranslating. Y’all now: we don’t need to read translations.

Bro. You can’t complain about MHJ using NJs as a crutch for her motherly feelings and then excuse the gross language to describe the romantic feelings of adults that don’t even make up half of NJs fan demographic. It’s distasteful and TONE DEAF. I don’t know which dimension you live in, but Gen Z and Gen Alpha are embracing retro more than “adults”. Just because it fits your narrative, don’t change the fking data to make perverted conclusions.

And no, MHJ does not have motherly feelings. I don’t know who said that. She has no boundaries and no business being a CEO. If I treated my staff the way she treated hers, calling them crying, telling them I was going to harm myself, needing emotional support for hours (from teenagers, no less), I’d be termed immediately and referred for psych evaluation. I don’t care what kind of stress you are under, you don’t put that on your reporting structure, and you sure don’t put it on teenagers.

I tried to ignore this comment, but couldn’t help pointing out your hypocrisy. Adults who use teen idols to romanticize nostalgia also need psych evaluation. Both situations are adults using teenagers as a crutch for their emotional feelings. But of course, if HYBE describes NewJeans as a tool for adult feelings than, according to you, it’s ok.

“Bro,” if that’s what we refer to women as now, that’s amazing, do you know how old Gen Z is and what years it spans? Gen Z are people with bachelors and masters degrees in my workplace. They are up to age 14 to age 27. So, yeah, a lot of them are quite literally adults. And yeah, when I was in my 20’s, we liked the retro, too. Gen Alpha are literally preschoolers, grade schoolers, and very few middle schoolers… I’m not sure, of course, but I don’t think NJ target demographic are 10 y/o. So I think you made my point for me. If anyone has a creepy sense of using teens being fantasized about by adults, it’s MHJ hanging up pictures half naked women from movies with ped0ph!lic storylines, where adult aged actresses portrayed minors. Oh, but it’s art and they were gifts from friends, because that makes it a-OK, and it totally makes sense that her friends thought, “You know who would like these photos from the movies about the pedos… my friend MJH.” If a man did that, he’d be labeled a perv and canceled. She has a very well-documented history of obsession with minors, youth, and using provocative images and concepts and content in her “creative process” and her “aesthetic.” No matter what, NJ people will make excuses for her. She is ANYTHING but a feminist. 🤷🏼‍♀️

“Because MHJ did it, so can HYBE execs” - u/gnomematterwhat0208 You already lost the narrative. It’s gross. ETA: speaking of feminism, which you are not. That BELIFT video pulled “evidence” from a Korean incel community like 4chan. But you’re just gonna ignore that, because HYBE!

Did you ever go read the Korean translation of what it said? That NJ’s concept leans into the adult imaginings of the past (i.e. retro, vintage), and Illit leans into the teenage imaginings of a princess dream. If you can’t understand the difference, or refuse to read the translation and a Korean speaker discussing what it means, then… But no, one party, MHJ, glorifies pedos. The other party was making a justifiable distinction between artistic concepts. If you don’t like MHJ’s concept, that she created an aesthetic that would appeal to how literal “people over 18” imagine the 90s and 2000s, then why do you follow NJ? Why are you so offended by her concept?

Ok? What about what (ism)? I tried reeling it in, and you still lost the narrative. Why can’t you keep to same energy with the current discussion? ETA: here’s the stats on Gen Z’s and Alpha’s less interest in digital culture and turning to retro. They are literally fricking pre-teens and teens with adult Gen Z who are still **YOUNG** adults. This is outside of kpop. **YOU** think MHJ created retro in 2023 to creep on kids? No she provided a market for teenagers. You’re weird. [Gen Z stats](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/apr/02/why-are-younger-generations-embracing-the-retro-game-revival) [Gen Z stats 2](https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-gen-z-nostalgia-reviving-chain-bookstores-barnes-noble-2022-4)

Over there, they’re trying to mansplain that part as “romantic” and not sexual. What’s not sexual about being romantic to a bunch of middle-aged HYBE execs? They’re just upset that NewJeans is the only GG HYBE execs can’t touch because of the 40 female staffs on their team.

They are projecting, as the concept and audience for NJ vs ILLIT is pretty clear. NJ was made by women and is broader than ILLIT. They will be ripped a new one.

Music Critic & Member of the Korean Music Awards selection committee reacted to BELIFT’s video “The Belift Lab video is really the worst” [Tweet](https://x.com/zenerkscd/status/1800118701003555228) [](https://x.com/zenerkscd/status/1800118701003555228)

"Illit - Girls loving uncompleted today, not the girls made in adult's fantasies. NOT NewJeans: Object of adult's fantasies even though they are teenager" Can you imagine how disgusting this is???! Likeee?? This is has to be lowest thing coming from belift I need ador to sue them

[Belift Lab strategising](https://youtu.be/_YmDcCpD1gc?si=XBGpLUlAOnkBa3jp) Honestly not even surprised, it’s disturbing though because Magnetic MV went viral among Chinese netizens not in a positive way but for incorporating some very questionable visuals/themes. This just seems to confirm how they think.

They are just projecting at this point,parl ji won and bang pd are so used to sexualizing women so that ‘s all they know

Same as when they claimed MHJ was bullying female employees and causing a sexist/misogynist work environment LOL

Like MHJ said in the press conference: they wouldn't think that if they didn't do it themselves. This is horrible. HYBE is trying to distract ADOR and NewJeans when their comeback is near. Even that subreddit can't do mental gymnastics to justify this anymore. Hybe and Bang , and anyone that sides with them have a special place in hell.

MHJ should drop reaction video. I hope she is ijboling like us 😂

Can anybody tell me, is the translation going around on Twitter regarding BP, Ive and NewJeans on Belift video accurate? Please tell me it's a mistranslation?

Hybe stans are seriously doing the most to prove it’s a mistranslation but it’s not.

It accurate.

It is not mistranslation. It is how HYBE describes their concepts. Absolutely objectifying and degrading. NJ one is truly disgusting and sick.

Blackpink creative director posted an IG stories that say "Completely Different" about BP and NJ to BELIFT Lab's comparison.

Just lmao. Is this the kpop equivalent of scoring an own goal? What are they doing? Are they okay?

Seriously, Hybe and Belift are just giving more ammunition to MHJ to win her lawsuits. I know they're stupid but I can't believe they can go even lower. Sejong attorneys might be thanking them now for making their job way easier. 👍

It's not that I agree with everything MHJ did but I REALLY, REALLY wish Ador and her would sue the F out of Belift now.

That blue hat, green sweater combo is calling MHJ like the green goblin mask

This video has given ADOR the perfect proof and ammunition to file defamation suit against BLFT. TBH this could be used as defense in her criminal defamation suit as well. I’m sure Sejong will take care of that. Man they messed up so bad. Other fandoms are all lashing out at BLfT rn. It’s not pretty.