NewJeans’ Hanni, HYBE Testify on Workplace Bullying in K-Pop Industry

In a uncommon second of emotional candidness for the Okay-pop trade, NewJeans member Hanni took to the ground of South Korea’s Nationwide Meeting on Tuesday (Oct. 15) to handle the problem of office harassment and bullying. Testifying earlier than the Labour Committee of South Korea’s Nationwide Meeting, the 20-year-old spoke about her and NewJeans’ experiences working underneath ADOR, the group’s sub-label that’s a part of HYBE that additionally homes the labels supporting BTS, SEVENTEEN, LE SSERAFIM and extra.

Arriving on the Seoul court docket noon on Tuesday to a media frenzy of keen reporters and photographers, Hanni, who’s Vietnamese-Australian, shared in her testimony that she felt undermined and ignored by her firm’s administration. Recalling the incident she had beforehand shared throughout NewJeans’ guerrilla livestream final month, Hanni described how a supervisor overseeing one other Okay-pop act had instructed the artists to “ignore” the NewJeans singer.

“Now we have a flooring in our constructing the place we do hair and make-up and, at the moment, I used to be ready within the hallway as a result of my hair and make-up was carried out first,” Hanni shared, per the BBC, throughout the televised parliamentary audit. “I mentioned howdy to all of them, after which they got here again about 5 or 10 minutes later. On her method out, [the manager] made eye contact with me, turned to the remainder of the group, and mentioned, ‘Ignore her such as you didn’t see her.’ I don’t perceive why she would say one thing like that within the work setting.”

Hanni says these incidents weren’t remoted however a part of a broader sample that left her and her bandmates feeling disrespected. She detailed extra cases the place senior HYBE executives did not acknowledge her.

“Since my debut, we bumped into an individual in a high-up place many occasions, however they by no means greeted me once I greeted them,” she mentioned, generally by means of tears, in her testimony. “I understood from residing in Korea that I’ve to be well mannered to older folks and that’s a part of the tradition — however I believe it’s simply disrespectful as a human being to not greet us, no matter our skilled standing. There was a sure vibe [of disrespect] that I felt inside the firm.” Including that the incidents had her come “to the belief that this wasn’t only a feeling. I used to be actually satisfied that the corporate hated us.”

Representing HYBE throughout the hour-long listening to, present ADOR CEO Ju Younger Kim (who changed NewJeans creator Min Hee-jin as CEO after HYBE’s a number of requests to step down) mentioned she would “pay attention extra carefully” to the artists. “I consider I did every little thing I may,” Kim responded. “However seeing that Hanni felt this fashion and that the scenario escalated thus far, I’m wondering if there was extra I may have carried out.”

“I used to be informed that as a result of there wasn’t any proof, there was nothing that might be carried out,” Hanni defined, per The New York Occasions. The outlet added that Kim cited her choice based mostly on differing accounts of what occurred.

With the Okay-pop trade notorious for tightly managed and high-pressure narratives between artists, firms and the media, Hanni’s direct testimony is a novel perception into an artist’s day by day experiences past the highlight that may sign hope towards extra open conversations about accountability. South Korea’s Atmosphere and Labor Committee of the Nationwide Meeting is presently investigating working circumstances within the leisure sector, the place labor legal guidelines don’t cowl many performers. In the course of the listening to, An Ho-young, the top of the panel, emphasised the necessity for lawmakers to safeguard the rights of entertainers.

In accordance with the Korea JooAng Day by day, Ju Younger Kim, beforehand in a management place in HYBE’s human assets division, expanded on the complexity of dealing with artists and workers.

“My understanding is that artists will not be outlined as workers by the regulation,” she mentioned when requested about anti-harassment rules for firm workers and artists, per Korea JooAng Day by day. “Now we have an inside steerage coverage the place we clarify how constituents, no matter whether or not they’re workers or not, ought to respect one another. We’re holding common coaching applications and utilizing plenty of effort to type our company tradition.” Kim added that artists can not use HYBE’s firm hotline to report office harassment however as an alternative adhere to “an inside steerage coverage the place we clarify how constituents, no matter whether or not they’re workers or not, ought to respect one another.”

Whereas NewJeans have actively sided with Min Hee-jin within the govt’s ongoing energy battle with HYBE, Hanni expressed a extra common hope relating to the way forward for working in Okay-pop.

“I hope trainees don’t undergo these incidents and that’s why I made a decision to look,” Hanni mentioned, in accordance with Reuters. “I do know it’s not going to unravel all the issues on the planet, but when we simply respect one another, at the least there will likely be no issues with bullying and harassment within the office.”