ADOR’s Min files court injunction seeking reelection as board director

Former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin has filed a court injunction seeking reelection as an internal director of the K-pop label’s board, with an aim to eventually reclaim her CEO position, weeks after being ousted from the role.

Min’s legal team said Friday the injunction request was submitted to the Seoul Central District Court earlier in the day. The injunction calls for ADOR to convene an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting to vote on Min’s reelection as an internal director, according to the team.

ADOR, a subsidiary of leading entertainment company Hybe, manages popular girl group NewJeans.

Last month, ADOR’s board of directors removed Min as CEO and appointed Kim Ju-young, another internal director, in her place.

Min has contested her removal, describing it as “unilateral” and a breach of the “shareholders’ agreement” with Hybe as well as a prior court injunction prohibiting the exercise of Hybe’s voting rights to remove her during the shareholders’ meeting in May.

According to Min, the agreement guaranteed her term as CEO, further supported by the injunction.

Currently, Hybe and Min are the largest and second-largest shareholders of the label, holding 80 percent and 18 percent of its shares, respectively.

Her legal team said while she had considered filing an injunction to nullify her dismissal, she chose first to pursue her reelection as an internal director, as her current three-year term is set to expire Nov. 2.

She is expected to seek her reappointment as CEO if she is reelected to the board with an injunction.

In the injunction filing, Min’s legal team reiterated that her contract with Hybe ensures a five-year term as CEO.

The dismissal followed months of tension between Hybe and Min amid allegations that she attempted to take control of ADOR and its flagship group NewJeans, which Min has denied.

Before her removal, Hybe notified Min of the termination of the shareholders’ agreement and filed a lawsuit to confirm its termination.

“Hybe unilaterally claims without any grounds that the shareholders’ agreement was terminated with less than two months remaining in Min’s term as a board director,” the legal team said on Friday. “Hybe should stop its continuous contract violations, business interference, defamation, and insults, and make rational management decisions for the future of ADOR and NewJeans,” they added.