Hanni of girl group NewJeans arrives at the National Assembly in western Seoul to attend a parliamentary audit on Oct. 15, 2024.NEWS1
Girl group NewJeans member Hanni filed and partially won a civil lawsuit against two online commenters who posted insulting and abusive remarks about her, legal sources told the JoongAng Ilbo on Thursday.
The singer previously reached a separate settlement last year with an online commenter, whom she sued for insult charges and who was sent to trial.
In July, the Seoul Western District Court ordered the two defendants to pay Hanni 100,000 won ($75) each in damages, according to the sources. The ruling came about a year and four months after the singer filed the lawsuit.
The two commenters posted remarks such as “an Australian […] who can’t even understand what people are saying, imagining herself as the victim,” which included an expletive, and “trying to conspire with someone to get more money” on an article about Hanni’s appearance at the National Assembly on Oct. 15, 2024, when she spoke about her alleged experiences with workplace harassment.
She appeared as a witness at a parliamentary audit by what is now the National Assembly’s Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee and testified about her reported experiences with workplace harassment. Separately, a dispute between former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin and parent company HYBE was taking place at the time.
Hanni claimed that she had been ostracized, including an incident in which a manager for girl group ILLIT, under HYBE subsidiary Belift Lab, allegedly told others to “ignore her.”
“If we respected each other as human beings, things like this wouldn’t happen,” Hanni said tearfully during her testimony.
“Even if there was a legal dispute between [Min] and HYBE, it is difficult to conclude that Hanni personally engaged in conduct deserving of social condemnation,” the court said. “Expressing a critical opinion about another person cannot, in principle, be considered unlawful, but the comments in question contain insulting language or contemptuous and abusive remarks, warranting compensation for [the plaintiff’s] emotional distress.”
One commenter claimed that “the comments did not violate generally accepted social norms,” but the court rejected the argument.
Hanni of girl group NewJeans sheds tears at a parliamentary audit on Oct. 15, 2024.JOINT PRESS CORPS
Labor authorities, however, did not recognize Hanni’s workplace harassment claim. The western district branch of the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office closed the case in November 2024, saying that it was difficult to consider Hanni an “employee” covered by the Labor Standards Act.
NewJeans went on hiatus due to legal battles dating back to April 2024, when HYBE removed Min, the creative force behind NewJeans, following allegations of an attempted management takeover. The members demanded her reinstatement and, by November 2024, moved to terminate their contract, accusing ADOR of breaching it.
ADOR disputed the move and sued to confirm the contract’s validity. A Seoul court sided with the agency in 2025.
Haerin, Hyein, Hanni and Minji have since been confirmed to be back with ADOR, while Danielle left the group and remains in a legal dispute with her former agency.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
