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Min Hee-jin wins $216 in damages for malicious comments

Published: 26 Aug. 2025, 13:27

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

Min Hee-jin, former CEO of K-pop agency ADOR, responds to questions from reporters in front of Seoul Yongsan Police Station in central Seoul on July 9, 2024, after being questioned on breach of trust allegations. Police cleared Min of the charges, her lawyers said in July. [NEWS1]

A district court ordered an internet user to pay Min Hee-jin, producer and former head of K-pop label ADOR, 300,000 won ($216) in damages for posting a malicious comment.

The Seoul Western District Court dismissed two of the three claims Min filed but ruled in her favor on one, the Herald Business reported Tuesday. She had sought 3 million won in damages for each complaint.

Min originally sued 11 users over offensive remarks posted on news articles last April, when her dispute with ADOR drew wide coverage. She dropped eight cases and pursued three.

At trial, she argued that the comments caused psychological harm. The court ruled that one remark calling her “nothing but a foulmouthed thug” was unlawful.

The court said the remark was “insulting and contemptuous ad hominem, even when considered as an opinion on an article,” adding that “it goes beyond the mere expression of an opinion and constitutes an expression of contemptuous emotion,” according to the Herald Business.

Former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin [NEWS1]

In March, Min also partially won a damages suit against four online users accused of posting malicious comments. A court ruled that she receive between 50,000 won and 100,000 won in damages for comments that called her expletive slurs.

Min is a producer known for her work with NewJeans while leading ADOR between 2021 and 2024, as well as with other K-pop groups at SM Entertainment.

She was dismissed as ADOR’s CEO in August 2024 amid a legal battle with the agency’s parent company, HYBE. She continued to be involved with NewJeans’ production work as a member of the board of directors until she resigned from the position in November of that year.

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]