News Hybe/MHJ Civil War Megathread (3 Viewers)

[Selfmate]

HYBE under fire as internal report reveals defamatory remarks about rival idol groups

It has been confirmed that HYBE's industry trend report, prepared for internal use only, contains multiple defamatory remarks about other idols.

In a part of the weekly "Music Industry Report" for HYBE executives, disclosed during a comprehensive national audit by the National Assembly's Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee on October 24, evaluations of other entertainment agencies' idols regarding their appearance, private lives, and abilities were summarized.

The weekly report was written by Editor A, who previously worked as a music critic and is currently the editor-in-chief of HYBE's subsidiary Weverse Magazine.

The disclosed report included criticism of other idols' appearances. It stated, "Being young isn’t everything. They debuted a group when the members are at their ugliest. No one looks like an idol, and they genuinely perform like a middle school talent show." It further commented, "The other members are shockingly unattractive. It's very clear why they haven't succeeded."

Regarding idols who appeared on a variety show, it said, "The synergy of their unattractiveness is unbearable."

Additionally, concerning HYBE's 'R U Next' and SM Entertainment's new girl group, the report mentioned, "There's been some buzz about SM's new girl group with about eight candidates, but surprisingly, none of them are pretty. Considering the reactions to the looks of the group ○○○ that debuted back then, you have to wonder if SM's aesthetic sense has changed."

The report also mentioned another SM group, saying, "Most attacks on ○○○ can be defended by ○○○. When someone says this member is ugly, they counter with past photos of member ○○. This has already become a repetitive pattern in online communities like DC Inside."

Furthermore, regarding JYP's former girl group members, the report said, "Members ○○ and ○○, who left group ○○○○, have had so much plastic surgery that they're nearly unrecognizable. It's clear they've been exposed to an environment that makes it hard to maintain their mental health, which especially shows in their looks and sexual appeal. ○○ seems to show similar signs."

The report also directly evaluated other idols' stage performances, saying, "Fans of ○○○ have been using the logic that the company doesn't let the better performers sing live, but Coachella shattered that. The fandom quickly shifted their blame away from the group." It added, "SM fandoms are fast in redirecting issues to protect members. In such cases, the company has to play the villain."

HYBE idols were also evaluated in the report, such as "○○, who seems to seek attention by often talking about their struggles."

The report also contained information on online viral strategies and response plans related to HYBE and other companies' idols, along with defamatory content circulating on online communities and social media.

This report was previously mentioned by former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin. On May 24, she stated, "ADOR has raised objections to the 'Industry Trend Review' document circulated internally by Editor A, pointing out the need for factual accuracy and minimal objectivity." She added, "I don't understand why such a subjective and biased document, lacking credibility, is distributed to the company's executives as if it represents the company's official stance."

HYBE responded at the time, saying, "The Industry Trend Report is an internal document that collects and analyzes subjective consumer reactions and issues, along with quantitative metrics like chart performance, to offer improvement suggestions. It does not represent HYBE's stance or evaluations of artists."

Attorney Roh Jong Un from Law Firm Jonjae commented, "The content includes numerous defamatory and false statements specifically targeting certain idols from other major companies, potentially constituting defamation. Although it is intended for internal use, the fact that it was leaked externally suggests the possibility that employees outside the executive level may have accessed it."

The report was publicly disclosed during the ongoing national audit by the Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee on October 24.

During the audit, when asked by Democratic Party Representative Min Hyung Bae, "Why do you read such reports every week?" Kim Tae Ho, CEO of Belift Lab, responded, "As someone involved in the K-pop industry, I review many monitoring materials on the industry's overall public opinion. This is not HYBE's official stance or judgment, but rather a collection of online monitoring."

A HYBE representative also clarified, "The content disclosed during the national audit is an edited version. It includes not only defamatory remarks but also various industry trends. These are monitoring results, not HYBE's opinions."

Source: https://www.allkpop.com/article/202...ls-defamatory-remarks-about-rival-idol-groups

 

[Selfmate]

HYBE states they will hold leakers of the 'Industry trend review' document accountable

HYBE initially threatened to hold those responsible for leaking internal documents during a national audit, only to delete their statement later.

On the afternoon of October 24, a comprehensive audit took place at the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee in Yeouido, Seoul. HYBE's COO and CEO of Belift Lab, Kim Tae Ho, attended as a witness to address recent controversies and new allegations.

During the audit, an internal HYBE document titled "Industry Trend Review" came under scrutiny for its evaluations of idols’ appearances. Shared through internal emails, the document contained statements like “The plastic surgery is too extreme,” “They debuted the group when the members were at their ugliest—none of them look like idols,” and "The other members are shockingly unattractive. It's very clear why they haven't succeeded." It also included appearance critiques of idols from rival companies like SM and JYP. Democratic Party Representative Min Hyung Bae raised concerns, saying, “The content is crude and explicit, filled with insults and appearance evaluations.”

Kim Tae Ho responded, "I don’t recall the specifics of the document," and clarified, "We review a large volume of such monitoring materials. This is not HYBE’s official stance or opinion, but rather a collection of online posts."

After the report, which contained blunt language, was revealed during the audit, HYBE released a statement on its official website. It explained, "The monitoring report disclosed at the National Assembly’s audit on the 24th compiles various reactions and opinions from fandoms and the industry. It was created by directly quoting community and social media responses for internal reference and does not represent HYBE’s stance."

HYBE added, "The report also includes positive feedback from fans, which we as an entertainment company should take into account. We will hold those who selectively edited and leaked only the provocative content accountable, as it falsely suggests that HYBE created a document criticizing artists."

However, the statement was soon deleted after receiving strong criticism.

During the audit, Representative Min Hyung Bae questioned Kim Tae Ho about the statement, asking, "What did you mean by saying you would hold those who leaked the document accountable?" Kim Tae Ho responded, "I was unaware of the statement, and I did not instruct anyone to release it during the audit." Representative Min criticized this approach, saying, "This audit is conducted under the authority of the Constitution and law. Such a response is inappropriate." The chairman of the Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee, Jeon Jae Soo, also criticized the action, stating, "Stating the audit undermines the process. Do you think the National Assembly is so trivial?"

Later, when the audit resumed, Kim Tae Ho issued an apology, admitting, "Releasing a statement during the audit was a mistake. There was no intention to undermine the authority of the National Assembly." He explained, "Due to the overwhelming number of media inquiries and the spreading of distorted information online, we issued the statement to respond quickly. However, we have no intention of identifying or pursuing the internal leaker. Please don’t worry about that."

Earlier, Kim also addressed questions about plagiarism allegations involving Belift Lab’s girl group ILLIT and accusations of HYBE manipulating album sales, stating, "The plagiarism claims are false, and we did not engage in album chart manipulation."

Source: https://www.allkpop.com/article/202...he-industry-trend-review-document-accountable

 

[Selfmate]

Netizens point out that the issues raised against HYBE during the parliamentary audit are the exact same issues raised by Min Hee Jin

On October 24 KST, president Kim Tae Ho of BeLift Lab (also Chief Operating Officer at HYBE Labels, pictured above

) appeared at a session of the ongoing parliamentary audit held by the South Korean National Assembly's Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee.

On this day, assemblyman Min Hyung Bae, representing the New Politics Alliance for Democracy Party, called to question HYBE's "advance purchase" method for inflating album sales.

The assemblyman stated, "There are two options in this 'advance purchase' method. First, the albums are purchased in advance, then returned later. Second, the albums are purchased in advance for use as bait during special events, such as fan signs."

In response, Kim Tae Ho said, "We have never sold albums on the condition that they would be returned later. Earlier this year, an issue was raised about this concern internally, and an audit was conducted. It was discovered that a small number of albums sold in 2023, in the ~0.0% range, were eligible for returns."

However, after hearing Kim Tae Ho's response, assemblyman Min revealed an email sent by a HYBE employee on January 4, 2024, titled, "Projected Return Schedule for Albums". According to the email, HYBE was expecting approximately 10,000 albums to be returned after a certain period by one overseas distributor, and another 25,000 albums to be returned after a certain period by a distributor in Japan.

After confirming the contents of the email, Kim Tae Ho changed his stance, commenting, "I see, some albums sold in 2023 were returned in 2024. I will make sure that these methods are not used again. This incident does not reflect the policies of HYBE Labels, and occurred as a result of an employee's decision-making. We have since adjusted the company's policy so that these sales methods are not permitted."

Finally, regarding the ongoing legal dispute between HYBE Labels and Min Hee Jin, former CEO of ADOR, Kim Tae Ho said, "We apologize for this ongoing issue. Due to a succession of publicized events this year, our company has caused fatigue for many people. We will do our best to resolve the issue and ensure that such occurrences do not happen again."

Korean netizens are now noticing that the issue of the "advance purchasing" method problematized during the parliamentary audit is the exact issue that Min Hee Jin had attempted to address internally in April of this year, when the HYBE vs. Min Hee Jin feud first began.

Previously, in early April, Min Hee Jin sent a lengthy email to the executives at HYBE Labels, which called out the following issues and sought to resolve them internally:

1. Inflation of album sales through the 'advance purchase' method.
2. The biased and non-objective nature of the company's 'Weekly Trend Reports'.
3. The discriminatory nature of the 'shared services' supposedly available to all sub-labels at HYBE, for which all companies pay a lofty fee.
4. Suspicion of BeLift Lab girl group ILLIT plagiarizing NewJeans.
However, HYBE Labels responded to Min Hee Jin's email by accusing her of professional malpractice and of attempting to "seize" ADOR for herself. The internal audit mentioned by Kim Tae Ho above was also a response to Min Hee Jin's email, although the audit itself focused on internal corruption at ADOR more than it did on dishonest album sales.

Many netizens are of the opinion that the "dirt that HYBE tried to bury alive by getting rid of Min Hee Jin" is now "being dug up again". Others added on comments like,



"In the end, Min Hee Jin was just trying to call out HYBE's dirty methods!"
"All of the stuff that the assemblyman mentioned is the same stuff that Min Hee Jin talked about during her first press conference."
"She was literally trying to tell us all how HYBE was playing dirty..."
"HYBE thought it could just bury all of the crimes in the dirt."
"I'm actually amazed that Min Hee Jin tried to address the issue internally and find a resolution even though she knew all about the corruption. And that's when they decided to witch hunt her down."
"It turns out, there's more than enough evidence to prove that everything Min Hee Jin accused HYBE of doing was true. But where's the evidence that Min Hee Jin tried to steal ADOR through overseas investors? Well, HYBE?"
"To think that if Min Hee Jin hadn't held out for this long, all of HYBE's dirty tricks wouldn't have come up to the surface like this..."

Source: https://www.allkpop.com/article/202...e-the-exact-same-issues-raised-by-min-hee-jin​

 

[Selfmate]

Leaked Internal Documents From HYBE Lead To Suspicions That They Sabotaged RIIZE

An internal report revealed the following.

On October 24, 2024, HYBE representatives participated in an audit with the National Assembly. During the audit, internal documents were disclosed, which not only pertained to HYBE’s own groups but also included remarks about other companies’ groups.

These revelations sparked significant backlash on social media. One particular document allegedly exposed HYBE’s reports on negative media plays against groups from SM Entertainment, such as aespa and RIIZE, as well as JYP Entertainment’s NMIXX. The document allegedly outlined criticism on aespa’s live singing at Coachella, circulation old photos of a RIIZE member, and accusations for NMIXX of appealing to feminists.

In particular, the alleged plans for RIIZE sparked large backlash due to the recent issue surrounding former member Seunghan. Seunghan made the decision to leave the group in October 2024 after a long hiatus, given the controversy surrounding his pre-debut photos and personal life.

Korean Netizens In Disapproval Of RIIZE Seunghan’s “Couple Photos” In Bed


A document titled “Music Industry Report” was released during the audit.

A news article from Korean outlet Sports Kyunghyang on the audit reported that in the article, there seemed to be plans to generate negative news about SM Entertainment groups.

They mentioned SM Entertainment’s group [redacted], writing “You can counteract any attacks made on [HYBE group, redacted] by using [SM Entertainment group, redacted] as a shield. When someone says that any member is ugly, it can be countered with the member [name redacted] pre-debut photos, or saying that [name redacted] cannot dance and is stiff, while showing clips of them. This is a pattern that is already well-used on DC Inside.

— Sports Kyunghyang

The number of syllables in the redacted names have led fans to suspect that it is related to RIIZE, and in particular Seunghan.

Not only did Seunghan face issues with pre-debut photos, other member Sohee was also targeted by such matters when his past photos were released.

RIIZE Member Hit With Immediate Backlash After Unsavory Past Photos Are Exposed


As all names were redacted from the original report publicized at the audit due to privacy matters, the particular group and members have not been confirmed. HYBE has since denied the matter in a now-deleted statement.

HYBE Posts Then Deletes Statement Addressing Accusations Of Sabotaging Other Companies’ Artists

Source: https://www.koreaboo.com/news/leake...be-lead-suspicions-sabotaged-riizes-seunghan/

 

[Selfmate]

HYBE Allegedly Accidentally Admits To Sajaegi For Album Sales

HYBE‘s representatives attended an audit with the National Assembly on October 24, 2024. During the audit, the matter of sajaegi was brought up when HYBE‘s COO, who is also Belift Lab‘s CEO Kim Tae Ho, was on the hot seat.

At first, Kim Tae Ho denied having conducted sajaegi through bulk-buying and returning CDs, only to be shown a corporate exchange in an internal HYBE channel about plans for the matter.

Kim Tae Ho: “We have never done deals where we buy up albums on the condition of returning them later [in order to push numbers].”

Assemblyman: “Then we will show you an internal document. There is an email dated February 4, 2023. If you look here, it clearly states ‘returns proceedings project.”

Kim Tae Ho: “The content you have shown is regarding what I have just mentioned. The albums that were sold in 2023, were returned in 2024, and after reviewing this, in the future we will no longer be using such methods for sales.”

Assemblyman: “Let me show you one more [document]. An additional order of a minimum of 70,000 albums bought on the condition of returns, with the maximum purchase being 200,000. What is this about?”

Kim Tae Ho: “After we received many queries about such things, we have realized that we cannot do this and-”

Assemblyman: “So are you saying that you have been doing this all this while, but right now you’re not?”

Kim Tae Ho: “As I have said previously, this is not our company’s direction. However, we have confirmed that a portion of the staff decided to use this returns method, and in accordance with our company’s rules, we have laid down guidelines to prevent this from happening in the future.”

Although Kim Tae Ho has admitted to some of the staff members using the returns method to push sales after being shown documented evidence, he continued to claim that the company itself does not agree with it and ergo has never tried to conduct sajaegi to push numbers. His contrary words have led to fans believing that he accidentally admitted to the suspicions.

Source: https://www.koreaboo.com/news/hybe-accidentally-admits-sajaegi/

 

[RandAlThor]

So they have their knickers in a twist because Hybe collects and collates comments from the web and publishes them in an internal memo.
Sounds like a good idea heck i would give it to the trainees. and Tell em this is what you will be facing out there.
If they think Aespa ect are ugly.... well there is not much hope for many of escaping the hate.

 

[RandAlThor]

Also i am not at all concerned about over shipping/selling albums. Sounds very similar to what book publishers used to do.
Way over produce and ship so that there was always product in the stores and on the shelves.
Kpop seems very similar to that if a store / site runs out there is hell to pay.
if at the end of the year they get even as much as 25% back that is still less than the 50% or soo book pub used to hit.

why else do you think you can get pristine copies of books for 3-5 dollars after about a year.

 

[x_x]

okay as a bystander that has been pulled in bc nct dream was mentioned:

im reading all this stuff thats dropping from documents and shit,,,, what the hell is going on
hybe the mafia of kpop for real, they're behind every negative media press at this point 💀




???????????????

 

[catonkatonk]

Trying to untangle some of this.

The Album Sales Thing
I feel like I'm misunderstanding something here. My initial comprehension of the complaint is that HYBE shipped albums to distributers with the understanding that distributers can return unsold stock. This is... basically how distribution works?? And always has done? But the fact that HYBE has pretty much apologised, stated that they only did this briefly, and that they haven't done it since implies that there is something untoward, no? Is it that they deliberately shipped larger quantities? But to what end? People are saying that it's to juice first week sales figures, but that doesn't make sense, because Hanteo is used to track first week sales, and that only counts actually sold units (in theory. Clearly errors creep into the system now and then). What am I missing?

The Market Research Report
So this appears to be an edited collection of netizen noise along with, perhaps, HYBE's own commentary. People are claiming this is standard practice and extremely normal. Maybe it is, but I have a few criticisms which I will go into. But first, this looks very bad:

"They mentioned SM Entertainment’s group [redacted], writing “You can counteract any attacks made on [HYBE group, redacted] by using [SM Entertainment group, redacted] as a shield. When someone says that any member is ugly, it can be countered with the member [name redacted] pre-debut photos, or saying that [name redacted] cannot dance and is stiff, while showing clips of them. This is a pattern that is already well-used on DC Inside. "
And also, from what I've seen elsewhere,

This doesn't seem like passive monitoring of netizen noise, it looks like a strategy to influence the direction of the conversation. But the wording is ambiguous. Hard to say without being able to speak the language myself tbh.
Is it so unbelievable though? Propaganda campaigns have long been perpetrated by governments, political parties and large corporations. We have seen in recent years individual celebrities enlisting bot farms to drum up hate against this figure or that. Why wouldn't k-pop companies do the same, except for perhaps the fear that if they live by the sword, they will also die by it?

Which isn't an endorsement or an excuse - this would be extremely scummy if true.
Let's assume it's false though.

The issue with the report is that its entire premise is wrong-headed. A few mouth-breathing troglodytes on an internet forum are not representative of anything except mouth-breathing troglodytes. I'll draw your attention in particular to the comments about a specific group being overwhelmingly ugly. No normal person looks at any k-pop group and considers them to be overwhelmingly ugly. That isn't a thing non-incels would ever say. This is not good research, this is googling. A first year module in statistics will tell you that you've messed up.
UNLESS, of course, you want to specifically target mouth-breathing troglodytes at the expense of normal people (and, be assured, it is at the expense, these are mutually-exclusive groups where appealing to one will turn off the other, see the Riize situation). Given the background of many HYBE executives in videogames, and in particular, the kind of predatory videogames that pump whales, uhh... Yeah...

But also, the idea that you have to be hyper-aware of the market is the mindset of a market follower. The trend-chaser. All of this is against what built HYBE in the first place. BTS were an unusual group where the members were given much greater-than-typical control and who were criticised by forum-dwellers for their looks. It didn't matter, because no k-idol group would have released a song like Spring Day. In the HYBE of 2024, BTS' creative direction would have been dictated by focus groups which would basically just say, "we want things to sound like [current successful western artist] because that's so in right now"
Which might grant you ephemeral success but is not how you build a legacy.
To put it another way, Aespa are on top of the world right now, but everything about them is extremely SM. It's not the result of outside influence, they're not making easy-listening dnb for TikTok. If they were, would they be successful? Yes, especially with a push. But would they be all-consumingly dominant like they currently are? I don't think so. Market research tells you where the market is. It doesn't tell you where it's going. And the most influential long-term cultural companies stake their claim in defining the market, not following it.

MHJs internal complaint highlighted that the report is "biased" (because it's edited by a human being, it inevitably will be), and MHJ in general has criticised the k-pop landscape as a whole for being predatory in its sales practices and thoroughly uncreative in its vision. Is she wrong, though? Would a focus-group have come up with NewJeans - a group that was at the exact opposite end of what was popular in k-pop at the time?
I think her analysis is generally correct and the hogs went buckwild in the COVID trough. But in 2024, we have seen signs that the chickens are coming home to roost: They did not build the industry to withstand the slightest change in consumer spending power, because they were unable to think in the long-term.

 

[catonkatonk]

Seeing some weird comments about how actually, yes you do need to include incel comments in your research, actually, that's just good science.


No it isn't??? The collection of data is curated and edited by a human, it's not a random sample. Moreover, we're talking about a sample of a sample. Which is to say that opinions posted on the internet are a (non-representative) sample of the population, and this sample itself has selection bias because certain types of people are more likely to engage in conversations about kpop on the internet then others. You have two layers of bias here.
Like, if your research on kpop was limited to social media engagement in 2018, you'd think Loona was the biggest group on the planet.
There's a reason election predictions aren't based on looking at tweets.

That's leaving out the credible accusations that it includes HYBE's own commentary (which wasn't explicitly denied).

Let's go back to MHJ:

Additionally, the “Industry Trend Review” document, circulated internally each week by Editor-in-Chief Kang Myung-seok of Weverse Magazine, has been consistently biased and subjective. ADOR has raised objections, requesting that facts like data and metrics be included to ensure at least a minimum level of objectivity. CEO Park Ji-won advised, “Don’t read it,” while CHRO Kim Joo-young suggested, “Think of it as an individual’s opinion.” It’s unclear why this personal, unverified information lacking objectivity should be distributed as if it represents the company’s official stance, raising concerns about whether the document was distributed for promotional or propaganda purposes due to its overt bias.

Why would you not include actual performance metrics in your sentiment analysis? For as much as people complain about fan streaming, I think the numbers are a better indicator on the popularity of Lisa and her songs than posts on the internet (for example).

Since this is conglomerate-wide data and since HYBE thinks of itself as a big boy, it should be conducting actual polling. I mean, that's if they believe this stuff has value (which I don't! But if you're going to do it at least do it properly). All the tech company cosplay in the world can't help you if you can't actually science.

 

[RandAlThor]

Seeing some weird comments about how actually, yes you do need to include incel comments in your research, actually, that's just good science.


No it isn't??? The collection of data is curated and edited by a human, it's not a random sample. Moreover, we're talking about a sample of a sample. Which is to say that opinions posted on the internet are a (non-representative) sample of the population, and this sample itself has selection bias because certain types of people are more likely to engage in conversations about kpop on the internet then others. You have two layers of bias here.
Like, if your research on kpop was limited to social media engagement in 2018, you'd think Loona was the biggest group on the planet.
There's a reason election predictions aren't based on looking at tweets.

That's leaving out the credible accusations that it includes HYBE's own commentary (which wasn't explicitly denied).

Let's go back to MHJ:

Why would you not include actual performance metrics in your sentiment analysis? For as much as people complain about fan streaming, I think the numbers are a better indicator on the popularity of Lisa and her songs than posts on the internet (for example).

Since this is conglomerate-wide data and since HYBE thinks of itself as a big boy, it should be conducting actual polling. I mean, that's if they believe this stuff has value (which I don't! But if you're going to do it at least do it properly). All the tech company cosplay in the world can't help you if you can't actually science.

nice takes i was leaning more to give this to the leaders/trainees and prepare them for the shit storm that WILL come when they debut no matter how good/pretty ect they are.

at the end of the day i think we have learned Hybe is like many other lottery/unicorn business winners. They know f all about how to deal with the success, and make mistakes a plenty.
I dont think any of us thought mass buying of success full acts/companies was sustainable.

 

[RandAlThor]

Also i think as the Korean market continues to shrink all the companies will become even more cutthroat.

just from the SM drama we knew that inside sm they hated hYbe.
While SM and JYP clearly used to believe that a rising tide lifts all, the tide is a changing.

Warner Korea tyrinto steal 50/50 is a clear indicator that its going to get worse.

 

[catonkatonk]

nice takes i was leaning more to give this to the leaders/trainees and prepare them for the shit storm that WILL come when they debut no matter how good/pretty ect they are.

at the end of the day i think we have learned Hybe is like many other lottery/unicorn business winners. They know f all about how to deal with the success, and make mistakes a plenty.
I dont think any of us thought mass buying of success full acts/companies was sustainable.

It's mind boggling to me, because they had the money to attract the best people in the country. You can't tell me their PR game isn't absolutely abysmal after all this.

For example: They released a statement about the leaked document while the hearing was still happening, which led to the National Assembly chewing out their representative. Who was then forced to apologise. HYBE then retracted the statement. Just totally incompetent. I've never seen such a large company be so bad at PR, which is doubly bad because that's their main job!

Watch it turn out that it was all nepo hires.

 

[RandAlThor]

It's mind boggling to me, because they had the money to attract the best people in the country. You can't tell me their PR game isn't absolutely abysmal after all this.

For example: They released a statement about the leaked document while the hearing was still happening, which led to the National Assembly chewing out their representative. Who was then forced to apologise. HYBE then retracted the statement. Just totally incompetent. I've never seen such a large company be so bad at PR, which is doubly bad because that's their main job!

Watch it turn out that it was all nepo hires.

i do not think any kpop company has ever been good at pr. At times they were not awful but that was about it.

 

[catonkatonk]

Also i think as the Korean market continues to shrink all the companies will become even more cutthroat.

just from the SM drama we knew that inside sm they hated hYbe.
While SM and JYP clearly used to believe that a rising tide lifts all, the tide is a changing.

Warner Korea tyrinto steal 50/50 is a clear indicator that its going to get worse.

All of the companies grew unsustainably during COVID. It's easy to be relaxed when you don't have to consider downsizing your company by double-digit percentage points.

 

[Selfmate]

HYBE submits internal report in NewJeans bullying investigation

HYBE has submitted its 'Music Industry Report' as reference material in the ongoing investigation concerning allegations of workplace bullying within the company involving NewJeans. The report, initially drafted for internal use by HYBE executives, has been referenced in a case brought to the Seoul Western District Office of the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

On October 28th, it was confirmed that A, an individual unaffiliated with HYBE, NewJeans, or Min Hee Jin, the former CEO of ADOR, had submitted portions of this internal report. The report, recently leaked to online communities, contained remarks about various idol groups, including comments on physical appearances, which have been criticized. It was also noted that NewJeans was mentioned in some of the content.

In an additional petition, A referenced HYBE's '2023 Sustainability Report', which states that “HYBE complies with labor laws and regulations, including the Labor Standards Act, to respect the rights of all members, and operates channels to report human rights violations and ensure swift resolution and prevention of recurrence.” The petition highlighted that the report outlines measures to “investigate incidents of human rights violations and take appropriate action,” including workplace harassment.

A argued that the 'Music Industry Report' released on October 24th contradicts the “respectful behavior code” mentioned by ADOR’s CEO, Kim Joo Young. A emphasized that the Ministry of Employment and Labor should investigate the background and specifics of how this internal report was produced.

A further asserted, “The 'NewJeans workplace harassment case' goes beyond a specific group's issue, symbolizing the problems faced by workers not fully protected under labor laws. Therefore, I strongly urge the Ministry of Employment and Labor to thoroughly investigate this matter and take special measures to address the shortcomings in current regulations.”

The Seoul Western District Office of the Ministry of Employment and Labor will use the submitted report in its investigation into the “alleged workplace bullying by NewJeans' manager.”

Previously, on September 12th, A had filed a formal complaint through the National Petition System, calling for the “truth behind the alleged bullying within HYBE to be uncovered.”

The complaint emerged after a YouTube live broadcast by NewJeans members on September 11th, where they revealed that a manager reportedly instructed them to “ignore” another celebrity in the hallway of the HYBE building. Hanni, a member of NewJeans, testified as a reference at the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee hearing on October 15th, claiming that HYBE had attempted to downplay and cover up the incident.

Source: https://www.allkpop.com/article/202...nal-report-in-newjeans-bullying-investigation

 

[Selfmate]

HYBE under fire for alleged 18K-page internal report demeaning K-pop groups: Complete list of artists named so far

HYBE under fire for alleged 18K-page internal report demeaning K-pop groups: Complete list of artists named so far

On October 25, The Korea Times reported that HYBE got embroiled in another controversy of allegedly demeaning Stray Kids, NCT, BLACKPINK, and other groups. According to internal documents from HYBE Co.

www.sportskeeda.com

(For some reason I can't copy and paste)

 

[RandAlThor]

i still do not get why the supposed ignore her thing is dragin on .. girl is in a group that is instigating trouble on many levels .
greet her do the minimum and do not engage at all.

 

[RandAlThor]

At the end of the day MJH wanted to be a disruptor and sow chaos, and that she has done. Helped ofc by insane levels of corporate incompetence.

HR's entire reason to exist is to control these types of issues. Boggling.

 

[Selfmate]

i still do not get why the supposed ignore her thing is dragin on .. girl is in a group that is instigating trouble on many levels .
greet her do the minimum and do not engage at all.

because they are (I believe) laying the groundworks for a mistreatment claim
hell they've already claimed mistreatment (not saying whether the claim is justified or not)

ultimate goal is of course to leave hybe (without the massive financial penalties)