NewJeans’ Hanni recently put a brave front and faced the Labour Committee of South Korea’s National Assembly to testify about workplace harassment.
The Vietnamese-Australian singer, who was called to give evidence last month following NewJeans’ allegations against HYBE about the treatment they received following the dismissal of their mentor and former ADOR CEO Min Hee-Jin, revealed that the aforementioned agency has been undermining them as a group and ignoring her.
“I came to the realisation that this wasn’t just a feeling. I was honestly convinced that the company hated us,” she said.
In one instance, Hanni said that a manager had instructed members of another group to ignore her.
“We have a floor in our building where we do hair and make-up. And at that time, I was waiting in the hallway because my hair and make-up was done first,” she said.
Hanni said that three singers from another band and their manager walked past while she waited, so she decided to say hello to them.
“Then they came back about five or 10 minutes later. On her way out, [the manager] made eye contact with me, turned to the rest of the group and said, ‘Ignore her like you didn’t see her’. I don’t understand why she would say something like that in the work environment,” she added.
She also revealed in another instance that she was never greeted by someone in a high-up position since her debut despite her attempts to be nice.
“I understood from living in Korea that I have to be polite to older people and that’s part of the culture – but I think it’s just disrespectful as a human being to not greet us, regardless of our professional status. There was a certain vibe [of disrespect] that I felt within the company,” she said.
Meanwhile, Kim Joo-young, the current CEO of ADOR said that they were “unable to find supporting evidence” of Hanni’s story, though claimed to believe the singer’s story.
