The “disastrous” crisis management by HYBE’s subsidiary label has made things more difficult than ever for their artists
At the end of April, HYBE initiated an internal conflict with Min Hee Jin, the “creator” of NewJeans. The emerging entertainment conglomerate publicly audited Min Hee Jin and her associates, accusing them of misappropriating management rights. This ignited a “historic K-pop confrontation” that has seen tense developments over the past two months.
To retaliate, on April 25, Min Hee Jin held a public press conference lasting nearly two hours, accusing the conglomerate. She publicly criticized HYBE and BELIFT LAB, making serious allegations that “ILLIT copied NewJeans.” ILLIT is HYBE’s new girl group under BELIFT LAB, consisting of five members selected from the survival show “R U Next.”
At that time, ILLIT was the most promising rookie group. They debuted on March 25 with the title track “Magnetic” and the EP “Super Real Me.” With just their debut song, ILLIT broke all records for rookies, achieving Perfect All-Kill and gaining global fame with their catchy, modern melody. They even surpassed their seniors, NewJeans, by entering the Billboard Hot 100 just 25 days after debuting.
Despite their high achievements, the public ultimately viewed ILLIT as an untalented, copycat group. They faced controversy for weak live singing and unengaging stage presence. Min Hee Jin’s direct accusation of copying the concept significantly damaged ILLIT’s reputation. For the first time, two sister groups under the same conglomerate became arch-enemies, drawing all attention to the ILLIT-NewJeans relationship.
On June 10, BELIFT LAB, the label under HYBE managing ENHYPEN and ILLIT, made several notable moves regarding recent controversies. The most prominent was a 27-minute video titled “Perspective on Plagiarism Accusations,” responding to Min Hee Jin. BELIFT LAB compiled arguments and images to prove there was no copying between ILLIT and NewJeans.
However, the most noticeable aspect of BELIFT LAB’s 27-minute clarification video was the frequent appearance of various other artists and arguments deflecting plagiarism accusations towards NewJeans. Instead of proving the creative process for ILLIT’s concept, BELIFT LAB continuously “attacked” the girl group under ADOR.
The company edited a series of NewJeans’ visual and dance details, comparing them with other artists. “If you say this is plagiarism, doesn’t that mean NewJeans also took inspiration or learned from groups like BLACKPINK, BTS, ENHYPEN, LE SSERAFIM, GFRIEND, IZ*ONE, Sunmi, IVE, NMIXX, Oh My Girl, Triple S, VIVIZ, LABOUM, DIA, PRISTIN…?” BELIFT LAB questioned.
BELIFT LAB’s clarifications only worsened the situation because their evidence accusing NewJeans of plagiarism was unconvincing. For instance, they accused NewJeans of copying NMIXX’s “Love Me Like This” choreography for “Ditto,” but in reality, “Love Me Like This” was released three months after “Ditto.” The most embarrassing failure was when BELIFT LAB used BLACKPINK’s debut photos to compare with NewJeans, which was refuted by a former YG creative director as “not similar at all.”
It was evident that NewJeans’ visual style carried the distinctive creativity Min Hee Jin had honed over nearly two decades as a visual director. One of BELIFT LAB’s accusations was actually a product of Min Hee Jin’s previous work, such as the tennis skirt trend popularized by SM girl groups like SNSD and f(x) during Min Hee Jin’s tenure as a creative director. BELIFT LAB created an accusation video without adequate expertise.
Industry officials expressed concern over BELIFT LAB’s unwise crisis management. A music industry official shared with Sports Kyunghyang that BELIFT LAB acted too emotionally, and the logic of “if we are plagiarists, so are you” only made the issue unnecessarily serious.
Following the release of the 27-minute video, BELIFT LAB announced plans to sue Min Hee Jin for defamation and business interference. However, by shifting the focus to accusing “NewJeans of copying,” they engaged in a similar wrongdoing.
An official criticized: “If they wanted to refute this as a ‘Witch Hunt,’ they needed to provide concrete evidence. It seems they were angry at the term ‘copying’ and only wanted to prove ‘we worked hard like this.’ They included opinions from producers to increase credibility, but ultimately, credibility decreased as they repeatedly mentioned other groups.”
It’s challenging to determine plagiarism or copying in concepts. Even the accusation that “ILLIT copied NewJeans” sparked mixed opinions. Such claims fall within the realm of “intellectual overlap.” BELIFT LAB should protect its artists from malicious comments and train their skills, not create controversies.
But instead of doing the right thing, BELIFT LAB wanted to “fight to the end” with Min Hee Jin by criticizing NewJeans. Due to this emotional approach, ILLIT’s management nearly lost the public’s trust.
Discussing the issue, album and artist manager D noted: “In the current pop culture field, ‘pure creativity’ is becoming difficult. Creating new projects based on ‘references’ is common. Not only industry officials but also fans and the public understand this. Even without copying or taking ideas from other groups, similarities can occur. This applies not only to these two groups but to any artist.
However, the company misunderstood the public’s mindset. They reacted emotionally by questioning, ‘Are we plagiarists?’ Some rebuttals in the video made viewers doubt the professionalism. This caused the video to lose credibility. Currently, the company should avoid creating new controversies.”
