On April 3, the Seoul Central District Court’s Civil Agreement Division 41 (Presiding Judge Jeong Hoe-il) will hold the first hearing for the main lawsuit filed by ADOR against the five NewJeans members to confirm the validity of their exclusive contracts.

Previously, on March 21, the court granted ADOR’s injunction request, which sought to maintain its status as the members’ agency and prohibit the members from engaging in entertainment activities outside of ADOR.

NewJeans had presented 11 reasons for contract termination, including: Concerns over a production void following the dismissal of former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin; former HYBE CEO Park Ji-won’s comment about “giving NewJeans members a long break”; disputes between ADOR and Dolphiners Films director Shin Woo-seok; a HYBE music report from May 10, 2023, stating, “Drop NewJeans and start fresh”; alleged damage to NewJeans’ identity by Belift Lab’s group ILLIT; a Belift Lab manager allegedly telling ILLIT to “ignore” Hanni; leaked trainee photos and videos of NewJeans; a HYBE PD allegedly downplaying NewJeans’ achievements; HYBE’s alleged album “pushing” practices that diminished NewJeans’ performance; negative public sentiment allegedly fostered by HYBE and ADOR’s retaliatory audit against Min Hee-jin; HYBE CEO Lee Jae-sang allegedly stating he would consider “tarnishing the NewJeans brand and taking both Min Hee-jin and NewJeans down together”.

However, the court did not recognize any of these claims as valid grounds for contract termination.

In response, NewJeans voiced their frustration through international media outlets like TIME and BBC Korea, stating “_This is the reality of Korea. Korea seems intent on turning us into revolutionaries_” and calling the court’s injunction decision “_shocking_”. Despite this, public sentiment has remained cold, prompting NewJeans to take a bold step by halting all activities.

Now, the main lawsuit will once again pit NewJeans against ADOR in court. ADOR currently holds the upper hand following the injunction victory, while NewJeans is preparing to submit additional evidence, file an objection to the injunction decision and proceed with the main legal battle.

Attention is now focused on whether NewJeans members will appear in court again to speak directly, as they did during the injunction hearings, and whether the injunction decision will be overturned.