She filed against Min for slander.
33 minutes ago
ILLIT‘s creative director Heo Se Ryeon has reportedly lost a civil lawsuit involving former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin, drawing renewed attention to the long-running plagiarism controversy surrounding ILLIT and NewJeans.
The lawsuit was reportedly filed by Heo over alleged false statements and defamation, following Min Hee Jin’s highly publicized claims regarding similarities between ILLIT and NewJeans.
According to an account from someone who attended the court proceedings, Heo’s side argued that the fundamental issue was whether the plaintiff had clearly proven that Min Hee Jin had stated specific false facts.
The defense reportedly argued that Min Hee Jin had not specifically singled out Heo as having copied anything. Rather, her controversial comments had been expressions of criticism surrounding allegations of similarities between the two groups that were already being discussed by both the media and the public.
“The question is whether saying ‘A copied B’ constitutes a false statement. Even before the defendant’s remarks, suspicions of copying between A and B had already been raised among the public and in the media. We ask that these circumstances be considered comprehensively.”
Min Hee Jin
Another issue reportedly raised during proceedings concerned allegations that NewJeans’ parents had requested an internal investigation into suspected plagiarism.
According to the courtroom account, the defense argued that any investigation resulting from the parents’ request was conducted internally within HYBE, rather than being an attempt to publicly spread the allegations.
NewJeans
They further argued that this issue was separate from the comments made during Min Hee Jin’s infamous press conference, which the plaintiff had taken issue with. The case has now attracted significant attention online following claims that Heo lost the lawsuit.
Some Min Hee Jin supporters have interpreted the result as proof that the accusations of “copying” or “plagiarism” were legally established as true. However, a loss in a false-fact defamation damages lawsuit does not necessarily mean that a court affirmatively ruled that ILLIT plagiarized NewJeans. Depending on the judgment’s reasoning, a claim can fail for other reasons, including failure to establish that a particular statement was a false assertion of fact, that it specifically concerned the plaintiff, or that the other elements required for liability were satisfied.
The development nevertheless marks another legal turn in the years-long dispute surrounding Min Hee Jin, HYBE, ADOR, and ILLIT, with fans now waiting for the full judgment to become available.