South Korean media claims that parents of NewJeans members reported alleged plagiarism

Last Monday, after the disclosure that HYBE had initiated an audit against its subsidiary ADOR, and the CEO Min Hee Jinthe agency issued a statement, revealing that the conflict with the conglomerate had started after reporting alleged plagiarism by ILLIT, a new girl group from BeLift Lab (also a sub-brand of HYBE).

According to the company, the group would have copied the concept of NewJeanscausing the similarity to be noticed even by internet users on social networks.

“One of HYBE’s labels, BeLift Lab, debuted ILLIT in March 2024, a 5-member girl group. After the ILLIT teaser photos were released, there was an explosive reaction online that people thought ‘it was NewJeans’. The hair, makeup, looks, choreography, photos, videos and even ILLIT events, etc., all of their celebrity activities have copied NewJeans. There were comments that ILLIT is ‘Min Hee Jin’s style’, ‘Min Hee Jin’s type’ and ‘NewJeans style’, etc.

HYBE’s Bang Si Hyuk participated in the production of ILLIT’s debut album. ILLIT’s copying of NewJeans was not only carried out by BeLift Lab as a brand, but it is something that also concerns HYBE.

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Thanks to the emergence of a similar type of group, the image of NewJeans was consumed and dragged into unnecessary debates, being used as a topic among fans and the public, worrying and tiring them. The people who made this happen, HYBE and BeLift Lab, are profiting from it, but the ones who are suffering damage are ADOR and NewJeans,” the agency stated in a statement.

Now, in a new article shared by the South Korean portal Topstar News (via Koreaboo), it states that the issue related to the alleged plagiarism of ILLIT was first raised by the parents of the NewJeans members.

According to the portal, the members’ parents had discussed the matter with ADOR, who took the matter to HYBE, requesting that it be resolved in a meeting between the companies. As a result, the conglomerate requested a new meeting with the artists’ managers, however, they denied the request due to the institution’s lack of sincerity.

Until the publication of this article, no representative of the parents of the NewJeans members had commented on the matter. Likewise, HYBE and ADOR also did not confirm the information.