In recent weeks, South Korea's entertainment industry has been buzzing with a war of public opinion between producer Min Hee-jin and entertainment giant HYBE. On April 21, HYBE accused Min Hee-jin, the representative director of its subsidiary ADOR, of abusing his power to disclose internal information and conspiring to seize the management rights of ADOR with the intention of becoming an independent company. On the same day, HYBE launched an internal investigation into Min Hee-jin and informed her of her resignation as the representative director of ADOR. Min Hee-jin said that HYBE tried to fire her because the company was "a thief", and the girl group NewJeans she created herself, whether it was the shape or the operation route, was plagiarized by HYBE and used to create the new girl group ILLIT, which is obviously a malicious competitive behavior.
Min Hee-jin and HYBE's love-hate relationship
Min Hee-jin is a Korean art director and graphic designer. In 2002, she joined SM Entertainment and was promoted from graphic designer to creative director, responsible for the visual branding of Korean idol groups such as Girls' Generation, SHINee, F(x), and Exo. During her tenure at SM, she was spotted for her innovative, experimental approach to art direction. At the end of 2021, HYBE established an independent subsidiary, ADOR, with Min Hee-jin as the representative director. On August 1, 2022, the five-member girl group NewJeans, created by Min Hee-jin, debuted.
NewJeans is very different from previous Korean idol groups, it is youthful, energetic, and not over-packaged, and it is undoubtedly a breath of fresh air among girl groups with the same appearance. As early as when the members were preparing to debut, it was called "Min Hee-jin Girl Group" by many media, and several members of NewJeans were already active in the entertainment industry. Danielle was a regular actress on tvN's 2011 children's show "Rainbow Kindergarten"; Hyein debuted in November 2017 as a member of the children's music group "USSO GIRL" under the stage name U.Jeong. On July 22, 2022, ADOR officially announced the name of its girl group and the music video for the first title song "Attention" of their first mini album "New Jeans" on their social media accounts. On August 18, 2022, NewJeans won the first place since their debut on the show "M Countdown" with "Attention". On the first day of the physical album's release, "New Jeans" sold 270,000 copies, breaking a number of Korean girl group debut records, and NewJeans also set a record for the highest sales of a debut album in the first week. In a way, NewJeans' success contains too much blood and tears from Min Hee-jin.
On April 25, local time, HYBE handed over the specific evidence collected by "Min Hee-jin revealed the company's internal intelligence and seized the company's management rights" to the South Korean police. On April 30, local time, the police filed a case and said that they would "conduct a prompt and thorough investigation" against Min Xizhen. At the same time, HYBE also held an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to remove Min Hee-jin from her position as the representative director. In desperation, Min Xizhen chose to confront him publicly. At a personal press conference, Min Hee-jin criticized HYBE's K-POP training system and publicly revealed that HYBE "didn't do what she promised her": "When I first selected NewJeans members, I had the initiative. In June 2021, the leader told me that NewJeans was not the first girl group of HYBE, and that LE SSERAFIM of Source Music was the first girl group. What was promised to me, but they broke it. ”
The name "No. 1 Girl Group" is very important, and it is because of this title that Hyein, a member of NewJeans, chose to join NewJeans. Just as Min Hee-jin began to prepare for the debut of NewJeans, HYBE quickly debuted with Heo Yoon-jin and Nakamura Kazuha in the group LE SSERAFIM, and the title of "No. 1 Girl Group" was naturally attributed to LE SSERAFIM. In fact, Min Hee-jin not only cares about the title of "No. 1 Girl Group", but also cares about the fact that HYBE's promise has not been fulfilled. "The investor said he wanted to invest, but when he came, he did something strange to me. I've been through so many strange things, and I think that the social life that women need to go through is so dirty. I really can't flatter some people, so I might as well get paid in the company. I don't need that much money, just enough to live. ”
Patriarchy in the Korean workplace
On September 1, 2023, HYBE launched a new girl group ILLIT, Min Hee-jin believes that this new girl group completely copied Newjeans' building route, and some media believe that HYBE replaced Newjeans with the girl group ILLIT to suppress Min Hee-jin's strength. Min Hee-jin's success is a heavy blow to the Korean entertainment industry full of patriarchy. According to South Korea's "Women's Daily", HYBE's gender wage gap is the largest in the Korean entertainment industry. The annual income of women is 51 million won (about 260,000 yuan), and the annual income of men is 76 million won (about 400,000 yuan). In the top 100 companies in Korea, only 6% of senior executives are women.
"Confront me face to face, don't speak ill of me behind my back." At the press conference, Min Hee-jin said angrily. "What Min Hee-jin experienced is exactly what many women experience in a hierarchical corporate culture." Youn Hye-shin, who works in Seoul's education department, said, "She said what we couldn't say. "Min Hee-jin is the most important creativity in the entire K-pop industry," commented K-pop critic Kim Young-dae, "Before she came along, K-pop, while successful, had been repeating the old pattern in an effort to retain its existing fan base." "NewJeans introduces a new trend of blending effortless and vintage-inspired aesthetics, which is the industry's most significant development in the last five years."
Not only in the entertainment industry, patriarchal culture and gender discrimination are reflected in every workplace in South Korea. According to CNN, South Korea's three largest banks, KB Kookmin Bank, KEB Hana Bank, and Shinhan Bank, were exposed to manipulate job seeker scores and weed out female applicants. In 2016, Shinhan Bank had a 3:1 ratio of men to women. Park Kwi-cheon, a professor of labor law at Ewha Law School in Seoul, said: "Although Korean women are highly educated, the employment rate is low, which shows that hiring discrimination still exists in many ways. "While the National Human Rights Commission and the Ministry of Employment and Labor are responsible for investigating discrimination, most HR-related documents are not made public, and the evidence is insufficient, and women who are discriminated against face difficulties.
According to industry analyst and cultural commentator Cha Woo-jin, the struggle between Min Hee-jin and HYBE also reflects problems such as systemic deficiencies and lack of senior leadership within HYBE. In December last year, BTS members Park Jimin and Jungkook joined the army, and all seven BTS members began their military service. Without this "cash cow" HYBE, coupled with the battle with Min Hee-jin, HYBE's stock price has fallen by more than 15%. In desperation, HYBE sought to break the pop group into the U.S. market. "Hybe needs to guarantee that each brand under its control has a certain degree of independence and autonomy." Cha Woo-jin said.
News and picture sources: CNN, Korea JoongAng Daily, Financial Times, some pictures from the Internet
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