Mothers of NewJeans members allege HYBE deleted security footage related to harassment claims, raising concerns about accountability.
October/7/2024 19:41
The mother of a NewJeans member claimed that HYBE deleted part of the security camera footage. Today (7th), according to a report by Nikkan Sports, the mother of NewJeans repeatedly requested security camera footage related to 'harassment within the company' from HYBE. In response, HYBE reportedly said, 'The related footage has disappeared and is no longer available.' Previously, on the 11th of last month, during an emergency live broadcast, Hani revealed, 'Recently, there was an incident. At a place where we frequently encounter other groups for hair and makeup, I encountered members and managers of other groups, but the manager told me, loud enough for me to hear, to 'ignore them,' exposing harassment within the company.' In response, Minji added, 'We informed the company, but they took no action, and instead of an apology, they did not even acknowledge the mistake.' The mother of member A stated, 'Hani's mother first spoke to the other members' mothers at the end of May,' explaining that 'from May to June, when issues between HYBE and former representative Min Hee-jin were becoming active, we protested to the newly appointed CEO Kim Juyoung and the changed board of directors of ADOR about this fact, requesting measures to prevent recurrence.' She also claimed, 'They only dragged out time, searching for the security camera footage of the main scene of the problem, and the answer we received was that there was no evidence.' Furthermore, she stated, 'It has been four months since the problem arose. We raised the issue in May, but there was no sign of resolution, and we finally checked the security camera footage.' She added, 'There were not just one or two strange points. We raised this issue immediately after the incident. There are records left in emails, yet we received the answer that the security camera footage is deleted after 30 days.' The mother of A expressed anger, saying, 'It wasn't that there was no footage from the day of the incident at all. The times when the artist and manager appear are important, yet we were told that all footage from other time slots was deleted. Why is it that only non-problematic scenes remain? It felt like we were being mocked, and it was unpleasant.' The mother of member B conveyed her frustration, saying, 'When I asked, 'Why was that scene deleted?' I was told it was deleted by someone who has left the company, so they didn't know the reason. The security team used their superior as an excuse, and the superior blamed it on the person who left, it was a mess.' The mothers of NewJeans expressed concern that such issues occur in blind spots that others do not understand, fearing that they may be concealed over time, and they have significant worries about the lives of the children within HYBE. In response to this, HYBE stated, 'We are thoroughly confirming the facts.' Previously, on the 30th of last month, the Environment and Labor Committee voted to request the attendance of Kim Juyoung, the former CHRO of HYBE and current representative of ADOR, as a witness regarding the 'harassment within the company' issue, and also requested Hani of NewJeans to attend as a reference. The national audit is scheduled to be held on the 25th.
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