The ongoing legal conflict between Min Hee-jin, former CEO of Ador, and Hybe has taken another turn, as an internal whistleblower provided new evidence for the accusation that Illit, a rookie K-pop girl group under Belift Lab, plagiarized the concept of NewJeans. The evidence was revealed in a court hearing at the Seoul Central District Court on Friday. Belift Lab is a sister company of Ador, as both are subsidiaries of Hybe.

New evidence has surfaced concerning Illit’s alleged imitation of NewJeans, which is a key issue, as Min alleges her complaints concerning the topic led to Hybe launching an internal audit in March. The issue was also raised at a National Assembly audit on Monday.

According to Min’s legal team of Shin & Kim, an internal Hybe employee revealed that Illit’s creative director had requested NewJeans’ project plan during the early stages of planning for the launch of Illit. The whistleblower claimed that the two groups’ concepts were identical.

Min’s legal team presented text messages and phone call recordings, quoting the whistleblower as purportedly saying about the launch concept, “I never imagined they would make it exactly the same. ... They must have looked at all this, so why do they keep denying it? It made me feel very uncomfortable.”

Hybe has firmly denied the plagiarism accusations. Belift Lab has also denied the allegations and is pursuing legal action against Min for defamation.

Belift Lab previously conducted an internal investigation...

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