NewJeans’ Pre-Debut “Dorm Full Of Roaches” Revealed To Be BTS’s Trainee Dorms
This article is part of our coverage of HYBE vs. ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin. You can read more and view the entire timeline here.
On July 24, a bombshell interview with NewJeans‘ Minji‘s mother was released to the public by Sports World that revealed some of the alleged terrible treatment the then-trainee received while she was with SOURCE MUSIC.
She claims that the trainees’ parents were forbidden from entering the dorms they were living in at the time, and were only able to visit their kids after a year. The living conditions were shocking, with visible mold in the corners of the room and cockroaches running around. Only 13 at the time, Minji also had to commute back to the dorms alone at as late as 2AM in the mornings.
When I still think about Minji who persevered in that harsh environment, my heart breaks.
— Minji’s mother
It’s not unusual for K-Pop trainees to have less-than-ideal living situations during their early pre-debut days, but learning about the extreme circumstances that Minji and others had to live through at SOURCE MUSIC — a subsidiary of HYBE Labels — understandably upset many, and shouldn’t be the norm for anyone, especially kids. Because of this, Minji’s mother shared how relieved she was when Minji moved to ADOR, where she claims Min Hee Jin took much better care of the future NewJeans members.
We signed a contract with ADOR. We were happy that Min Hee Jin was with ADOR when we moved from Source Music. We are still very happy that Minji is in ADOR and we have never thought about leaving the label.
The problem is HYBE is harassing us. I remember all of the reports that flooded out for 3 days starting on April 22. The reports even tried to frame NewJeans and their parents as strange. It is disgusting that a conglomerate would attack one person like they did to Min Hee Jin. How can we depend on and trust this type of parent company?
— Minji’s mother
But now, new information has come to light that has shocked many. There are claims that the “dorm full of roaches” that Minji and others had to live in were once the dorms belonging to BTS‘s members during their pre-debut days.
Known as the Cheonggu Building, these dorms were transferred to SOURCE MUSIC in 2017. The netizen that posted about this revelation commented, “Min Hee Jin who believes in Shamanism or the [members’] parents probably let them stay in the dorm thinking they would receive BTS’s energy.”
@young1004_94 CHEONGGU BUILDING (청구빌딩) WHERE BTS WAS BORN! 💜 ADDRESS : Gangnam-gu, 10-31, Nonhyendong, 2F Cheonggu Building, Seoul, South Korea @bts_official_bighit #BTS #ARMY #BIGHIT #HYBE #CHEONGGUBUILDING #방탄소년단 #빅히트 #아미 #청구빌딩
It’s unclear if the living conditions were as severe back when BTS’s members were trainees — they would have lived their prior to their debut in 2013 — but it’s disheartening to think that even more young future idols could have lived in such hazardous conditions.
Additionally, netizens are condemning the release of this alleged information, claiming that this is yet another way that HYBE Labels is trying to get back at NewJeans and Min Hee Jin in their ongoing feud.
