Belift Lab and former CEO Min Hee-jin are locked in a heated battle over KakaoTalk evidence.
On the afternoon of the 15th, the 12th Civil Division of the Seoul Western District Court held the 6th hearing for the damages lawsuit filed by Belift Lab against former ADOR CEO (and current OK Records CEO) Min Hee-jin.
Belift Lab previously filed a lawsuit for approximately 2 billion won, taking issue with plagiarism allegations made by Min in 2024. During her tenure, Min claimed that the group ILLIT imitated NewJeans. Belift Lab countered that these were false claims and sued Min for defamation and obstruction of business.
Belift Lab’s legal representative argued, “The essence of this case is the defendant’s attempt to damage ILLIT’s reputation as part of a process to take NewJeans for her own personal gain. The planning of these actions is clearly revealed through KakaoTalk messages, showing circumstances where she conspired by contacting NewJeans’ parents and various reporters.”
In response, Min Hee-jin’s legal representative argued, “The plaintiff’s representative claims that the press conference was the realization of a pre-planned conspiracy based on KakaoTalk evidence, but we did not hold the press conference using the methods of ‘public opinion warfare’ mentioned in those messages.”
They continued, “Anyone can imagine anything in their head. KakaoTalk is where people share those personal dreams and imaginations, which is why they are protected by privacy laws. However, they are using audit rights to frame her. In reality, nothing was executed. There was no public opinion war or contact with reporters. She protested plagiarism or copying to HYBE via internal emails, and the audit was the response to that. They claim the press conference was planned, but there were 1,700 articles reporting it as a witch hunt before the conference even happened. You can see the mental distress the defendant suffered by watching the press conference.”
Belift Lab countered, “We have detailed how the defendant intentionally presented false facts. Like a lion in the Serengeti searching for prey, the defendant spent a long time scouting which group within the labels, including parent company HYBE, to attack. ILLIT was the chosen target. KakaoTalk messages revealed that she conspired and planned various attack methods. Most notably, she planned to frame them through ‘chart manipulation’ starting in early March 2023. By mid-March, there were traces of her calculating the costs if NewJeans were to terminate their contracts. It was also revealed that she ordered plagiarism claims about ILLIT to be leaked to analysts and collected community posts regarding copying. Despite these specific details, she claims it was just ‘in her head’ and requires privacy protection. We question whether that can be called a legitimate right to defense.”
