NewJeans have announced they are going on hiatus after a court in South Korea last week issued an injunction preventing them from pursuing any projects without the involvement of their label - or former label, depending on who you ask - HYBE subsidiary Ador.
The K-pop group confirmed the hiatus during a performance at ComplexCon Hong Kong this weekend. They also commented on Friday's court ruling and confirmed they will continue to fight the wider lawsuit filed against them by Ador, which seeks to enforce its contract with the group after they announced last November that they were unilaterally ending their deal with the label, or agency to use the K-pop vernacular.
According to Soompi, the group issued a statement in English saying that, “out of respect for the court’s decision, we’ve decided to pause all our activities for now”. As a result, “this might be our last performance for a little while”. However, “that doesn’t mean we’re going to give up… it’s just us taking a step back to pause”.
“We understand and know that today’s news might be disappointing or upsetting”, they added, “but it was not an easy decision for us to make either, but at the moment for us, it’s about protecting ourselves so that we can come back even stronger”.
Individual members of the group also spoke about the ongoing Ador situation during the show, reemphasising key points from the joint statement.
According to Dimsum Daily, Hyein told fans that she knows some people think the group should have just “endured” the stresses of continuing to work with Ador. However, by going on hiatus and fighting their former agency’s lawsuit, “we can come back stronger”, she said. That’s why “we stand by our decision without a single regret”.
Echoing that position, Minji said, “We knew from the beginning that this wouldn’t be easy, probably better than anyone else. While we accept the court’s decision and the process, we’ll continue to speak up to protect one another. That’s a choice we’ll never regret”.
Ador filed a lawsuit to enforce its contract with New Jeans in December. It then returned to court in January seeking an injunction to stop the group from entering into any new brand deals without its involvement. That request was then expanded so that the injunction would stop the group from pursuing any new projects without Ador being involved.
The injunction request was considered first, with a court hearing earlier this month before the decision to grant the order on Friday. The full lawsuit is due to be considered in court next month, as is the separate legal battle between HYBE and Ador founder Min Hee-jin, who HYBE pushed out of the CEO role at the agency last August, a move that sparked the breakdown in relations between Ador and NewJeans.
Following Friday’s court ruling, Ador said that its status “as NewJeans’ exclusive agency” had been “legally affirmed”, adding “we are now fully committed to supporting the artists going forward” and “we eagerly anticipate meeting with the artists for a heartfelt conversation at the earliest opportunity”.
The ComplexCon performance was arranged without Ador’s involvement, with the group billed to perform under their new name NJZ. After Friday’s ruling, Ador said it was happy for the show to go ahead providing they performed as NewJeans, adding that their employees would be at the event, partly to support the group, but partly to check that the group’s original name was used.
However, according to Soompa, “the group ultimately performed at ComplexCon under the name NJZ, in addition to selling merchandise with the NJZ name at the event”. And, confirming which side they are taking in all this, fans were reportedly chanting the new name during the show.
Earlier today Ador issued another statement, commenting on the group’s decision to perform as NJZ, and their announcement of the hiatus which - perhaps unsurprisingly - was made without Ador’s consent.
“We consider it deeply regretful that in spite of the court’s decision, NewJeans pushed ahead with performing under a different name instead of NewJeans and unilaterally announced that they would be halting their activities”, the agency said.
“In accordance with Ador’s valid exclusive contract, we would like to do our utmost for NewJeans”, they added, concluding, “We hope that we can meet with the artists as soon as possible and discuss their future”.