Report Suggests Min Hee Jin Accused ILLIT Of Plagiarism Solely To Sway Public Opinion, Gets Hit With Massive Backlash
A recent report by TenAsia regarding the ongoing court battle between former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin and Belift Lab about Min’s viral plagiarism accusations has sparked controversy online.
During the most recent hearing on October 11, Min submitted court documents that evidenced HYBE had formulated ILLIT‘s concept and debut based on her own conceptual plans for NewJeans.
The HYBE employee delivered the conception plans to ILLIT’s creative director but they had no idea that Belift Lab would make plans that were identical. The employee couldn’t believe that Belift Lab was denying the plagiarism allegations and expressed their disdain about the situation.
— Min Hee Jin
Following the hearing, TenAsia published an article titled “What did ILLIT do wrong… Min Hee Jin addresses ILLIT plagiarism issue, stating, ‘I’m not interested in punishing HYBE. The goal was to create a buzz’” Netizens have since accused the report of being biased — some even claimed it was part of HYBE’s media play to promote ILLIT.
In the report, TenAsia suggests that Min Hee Jin had previously received legal advice from a law firm that it “would be difficult to substantiate the plagiarism allegations.” Regardless, Min allegedly went ahead with publicly raising the issue “for the sake of public opinion.”
Are we doing this to correct HYBE? HYBE’s punishment (or improvement) is something I don’t care about (the phrase means ‘I didn’t ask, and I’m not curious’). Our goal was never about improvement.
We’re just filing a complaint, and the moms will immediately pressure the Fair Trade Commission for quick results. Whether the FTC investigates or not, the issue will spread like wildfire in the meantime, and the world will be turned upside down.
— Min Hee Jin
The report has been hit with massive backlash from Korean netizens. Some have specifically pointed out the fact that the article ends with a sentence that mentions ILLIT’s comeback: “ILLIT is set to make their comeback on the 21st with their mini-album ‘I’ll Like You.'” Another main problem has been the article’s title, with many comments emphasizing that NewJeans, too, have done nothing wrong.
- “What did NewJeans ever do wrong, you bastards? Look at the pathetic way these articles are written.”
- “Stop with the nitpicking, for real. With proof of ILLIT being a knockoff already out, the ones who really deserve sympathy are NewJeans and the Bunnies, who were happily enjoying their fandom.”
- “‘They’re making a comeback on the 21st with their mini-album I’ll Like You.’ LOL, this promotional article is so weird.”
- “Isn’t that all from April, when they dug through KakaoTalk messages themselves? How long is HYBE going to keep milking those?”
- “Is this from TenAsia again?”
- “What the hell are you idiots at TenAsia even saying.”
- “So why were they even looking at another company’s planning documents in the first place? Does that make sense to anyone? Lol”
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