Min Hee Jin wins defamation lawsuit involving ILLIT and NewJeans

A Seoul court has released a detailed 12-page judgment regarding a defamation lawsuit filed by Serian Heu, the creative director of the group ILLIT, against former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin. The court dismissed the lawsuit, which had been decided in August 2026, providing specific reasoning for the ruling.

The judge determined that Min Hee Jin’s allegations regarding creative similarities between ILLIT and the group NewJeans did not constitute defamation against Heu personally, noting that Min had not explicitly named her. The court also addressed the sharing of NewJeans’ planning materials, citing evidence that Heu’s team had requested such materials and that HYBE had provided them. The court ruled that Min’s disclosure of this timeline was based on objective facts.

Additionally, the judgment noted that the public backlash faced by Heu was partly self-inflicted, citing social media activity such as a photograph she posted during the controversy.