BTS member V has spoken out regarding his KakaoTalk messages being submitted as evidence in the legal dispute between HYBE and former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin.
Previously, on the morning of February 12, the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of Min Hee Jin in her legal battle with HYBE concerning the exercise of a put option (stock purchase claim right) valued at approximately 25.5 billion won (approximately $17.7 million).
On February 20, Sports Kyunghyang reported that, according to the first-trial judgment document from the shareholder agreement lawsuit between HYBE and Min Hee Jin, the court determined that Min Hee Jin’s suspicions alleging that ILLIT had copied NewJeans constituted a legitimate expression of opinion. During the proceedings, KakaoTalk conversations exchanged between V and Min Hee Jin were revealed to have been included as part of the evidence.
According to the report, V had sent Min Hee Jin a message that read, “(About how plagiarism accusations always come up and are never absent) Yeah… I know, right. I also looked at it and thought, ‘Ah, this is similar…’”
Following the report, V personally addressed the matter via Instagram. Sharing a screenshot of the article on his Instagram Story, he stated:
This was part of a private, everyday conversation I shared out of empathy because she was an acquaintance of mine.
I had absolutely no intention of taking either side.
However, I feel very taken aback that this conversation was submitted as evidence without my consent.
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