The court ruled that the girl group NewJeans, currently in a dispute with its agency ADOR, must pay a compensation of 1 billion won per person each time they engage in independent activities.

The group NewJeans (from left, Hanni, Minji, Hyein, Haerin, Danielle) responds to reporters' questions after completing the first hearing of the injunction filed by ADOR against the members at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on Apr. 7. /Courtesy of News1

According to the legal community on the 30th, the 52nd division of the Seoul Central District Court accepted ADOR’s application for indirect enforcement against NewJeans. The indirect enforcement fine is a type of penalty imposed for failing to comply with a court order. The court ruled that they must pay 1 billion won each, meaning if all five members independently engage in activities together, they must pay 5 billion won to ADOR.

As a result, NewJeans’ independent activities are expected to face unavoidable restrictions. Independent activities refer to engaging in entertainment activities on their own or through a third party other than ADOR without prior approval or consent from ADOR.

Previously, ADOR, a subsidiary of HYBE, filed a temporary injunction to maintain its status against NewJeans, but at that time did not apply for separate indirect enforcement measures. However, after the ‘grant’ decision in the injunction, it was confirmed that ADOR is the agency of NewJeans. When the members showed signs of continuing independent activities, such as participating in a concert in Hong Kong under the name NJZ, ADOR requested indirect enforcement.

In fact, the court noted as reasons for the indirect enforcement decision that ▲ NewJeans publicly stated their intention to sever ties with ADOR and engage in independent activities consistently since declaring the termination of their exclusive contract on November 29 of last year until February of this year, and ▲ that just two days after the injunction decision, on March 23, they attended ComplexCon Hong Kong, performed under the new group name NJZ, and released a new song titled ‘Pit Stop.’

It also pointed out, ‘Performing under the new group name NJZ and even releasing a new song is a violation of the obligations set in the injunction decision, and there is a possibility of further violations in the future.’

The court stated that the indirect enforcement amount of 1 billion won per person was determined by considering the potential damages to ADOR from NewJeans’ violation of the injunction obligations and the expected violations.