[비즈한국] It has been confirmed that ADOR has appointed Lee Sun-jin, head of the HYBE352820 legal team, as an executive director. ADOR is a subsidiary of HYBE and the agency behind the girl group NewJeans. Attorney Kim Hak-ja served as an outside director for ADOR until last year before resigning. While some expected a successor to be appointed as an outside director, ADOR decided to add an executive director instead.
ADOR recruited attorney Kim Hak-ja as an outside director in August 2024. As a non-listed company, ADOR is not required to appoint outside directors. The entertainment industry believes that ADOR recruited Kim to enhance the objectivity and procedural legitimacy of board decisions during its dispute with former CEO Min Hee-jin. However, Kim stepped down as an outside director in December last year after being appointed as a member of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea.
The entertainment industry was keen to see if ADOR would appoint a successor for the outside director position. However, according to the corporate registry, it was confirmed that ADOR appointed Lee Sun-jin, head of the HYBE legal team, as an executive director in March. Instead of appointing an outside director, they increased the number of executive directors by one. Director Lee currently also serves as an auditor at Source Music, another HYBE subsidiary.
While ADOR has not released an official statement regarding this, the atmosphere in the entertainment industry suggests that Director Lee was appointed to strengthen compliance. Compliance refers to adhering to laws, internal regulations, and ethical standards, as well as performing compliance monitoring and internal controls in corporate management. Typically, legal personnel often handle compliance-related tasks. It is known that ADOR's previous appointment of attorney Kim Hak-ja as an outside director was also intended to enhance the objectivity and procedural legitimacy of board decisions.
Separately, the return date for NewJeans remains undisclosed. As NewJeans is the only artist under ADOR, the group's performance directly translates to the company's financial results. Current members Haerin, Hyein, and Hanni have returned, while Minji is still in discussions regarding her return. As for Danielle, ADOR has refused her return. Therefore, it is difficult for NewJeans to operate as a five-member group as they did in the past. ADOR has also begun new activities beyond NewJeans, such as posting an audition notice for a boy group last March.
Recently, posts have surfaced on social media claiming that Haerin and Hyein were spotted in Copenhagen, Denmark. Some speculate that this is for new content production ahead of a NewJeans comeback. ADOR stated, "It is true that the NewJeans members visited Copenhagen," but did not disclose the specific reason for their visit.