HONG KONG — K-pop girl group NewJeans has announced a pause on all activities days after a South Korean court ruled against its five members in a long-running dispute with record label Ador.
The band, one of the top-selling acts in the world, said Sunday night during a show in Hong Kong that it might be its “last performance for a little while,” sending shock waves through the audience.
Last year, NewJeans announced a split from Ador, which it accused of “mistreatment,” including “deliberate miscommunications” and workplace harassment. The band members also renamed themselves NJZ and began to organize their own activities.
Ador, a subsidiary of Hybe, the South Korean entertainment giant behind the global K-pop sensation BTS, denied the allegations and filed for an injunction in January to assert its position as the group’s management agency.
On Friday, the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of Ador, upholding an injunction against NewJeans’ carrying out independent performances or solo commercial activities.
The group said it respected the court decision but would challenge it.
In their first public appearance since the ruling, NewJeans’ members — performing as NJZ — debuted a song called “Pit Stop” on Sunday night in front of a crowd of more than 11,000 fans at the ComplexCon Hong Kong festival.
But the fans’ excitement didn’t last long, with the group making a shocking announcement.
“Out of respect for the court’s decision, we’ve decided to pause all our activities for now,” said member Pham Ngoc Han, who goes by Hanni.
One after another, the five members — Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein — read a letter in both English and Korean to their fans at AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong’s largest live music venue.
The pause wasn’t “an easy decision, but we believe this is something we need to do at this moment,” the group said.
“But that doesn’t mean we’re going to give up. We’re going to keep going,” it said.
Despite the court ruling, the members said that they did not regret the choice to break from Ador “at all” and that they had to “speak up to protect the values” they believe in.
The group thanked fans for their support and promised to come back “no matter what the circumstances.”
In response, Ador expressed “regret” over NewJeans’ decision to perform under a new name and “unilaterally” suspend activities.
“We will do our best for NewJeans in accordance with our valid exclusive contract. We hope to meet with the artist as soon as possible to discuss the future,” Ador said in a statement Monday, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
The label previously said the contract was valid until July 2029.
Ador’s parent company, Hybe, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
NewJeans’ dispute with Ador began in August when Ador replaced Min Hee-jin, the group’s executive producer and mentor, with an HR specialist. After it failed to secure Min’s reinstatement, the group announced that it would terminate its contracts and leave Ador.
Hanni, a member of the group, accused Hybe of deliberately undermining the band in testimony before South Korean lawmakers last year.
NewJeans, which debuted in 2022, is known for songs combining pop and R&B music. Billboard named the group “one of the most recognized and most influential groups in pop” in 2023.
It also broke the Guinness World Record for the fastest K-pop act to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify, surpassing K-pop veterans BTS and Blackpink.
