Court halts New Jeans’ independent promotions

A South Korean court has ruled that members of the K-pop girl group NewJeans, currently embroiled in a contract dispute with their agency ADOR, are not permitted to pursue independent activities under the new name "NJZ." As a result, the group's plan to promote as NJZ—after the five members filed a trademark application for the name last month—has hit a setback.

The Seoul Central District Court’s Civil Division 50 on Thursday granted an injunction filed by ADOR to prevent the five members from signing advertising contracts or engaging in promotional activities without the agency’s approval.

The group had attempted to move forward with independent promotions under the name NJZ after filing to terminate their exclusive contracts with ADOR in November last year, citing what they claimed was a “serious breach of contract” by the agency.

In response, ADOR filed a lawsuit in December to confirm‎ the validity of the exclusive contracts, stating, “We want to legally verify that the contracts are still valid.” In January, they also filed for an injunction to prevent the members from independently signing advertisement contracts or engaging in activities without ADOR’s approval until a verdict is reached in the exclusive contract lawsuit.

Following the court’s decision, ADOR released a statement saying, “We are grateful for the court's wise judgment. We hope to meet with the members soon for an open and sincere dialogue, and as their agency, we will fully support their future activities.”

Due to the court’s ruling, the members’ activities under NJZ are now on hold. They had planned to release a new song under NJZ on Sunday and perform it at the ComplexCon festival held in Hong Kong on the same day. The members' side responded, “We respect the court’s decision, but the injunction is a provisional ruling. We will raise objections and contest further issues through the proper legal channels. We still intend to attend the Hong Kong event as planned.”


김기윤 pep@donga.com