Min Hee-jin's side: "If the article is not deleted, we will file a lawsuit and criminal complaint" Controversy over pressuring the media

SOURCE: http://m.stoo.com/article.php?aid=97536369427#_PA

It has been revealed that former CEO Min Hee-jin of ADOR repeatedly sent emails with similar content to media outlets, prompting criticism that this is an attempt to "muzzle the press."

M Consulting Group, which claims to be former CEO Min Hee-jin's PR agency, sent an email to our newspaper on the 25th. This was in response to a report stating that Min Hee-jin and her associates discussed the penalty for terminating their exclusive contract with NewJeans through social media conversations on March 14. Our newspaper reported that this discussion happened before HYBE's full-scale audit of ADOR began and before any external allegations of plagiarism were raised.

M Consulting immediately requested the deletion of the article following our report. The email contained threats of civil damages and a criminal complaint, claiming, "This is a forensic analysis of a laptop stolen without permission through an illegal audit," and demanded, "Please delete the article immediately."

They further stated, "If the related article is not deleted, we will pursue all possible legal actions, including filing a request for mediation with the Press Arbitration Commission, civil damages claims, and criminal complaints." It has been confirmed that M Consulting sent several emails, not only to our newspaper but also to other media outlets reporting similar content, demanding article deletions and threatening legal action if these demands were not met.

However, contrary to M Consulting's claims, the transcript in question was part of HYBE's defense material made public during the injunction hearing on October 11 and distributed to the press after the hearing concluded. This transcript refutes Min Hee-jin's claim that the audit was coercive, and was also shared with reporters on site. Despite the material being public, Min Hee-jin's side is discussing legal action.

M Consulting alleged that the transcript was from "HYBE stealing the laptop without permission," but the defense materials distributed by both parties to the press clearly showed that Vice President A voluntarily participated in HYBE's audit. Vice President A personally provided the password to the audit staff. When the audit staff member noted through work-related social media that the password did not work, Vice President A responded by sending the correct password again.

Vice President A also authenticated the password when prompted by the audit staff, replying "Yes" to a request for authentication. He even instructed the audit staff to save the KakaoTalk conversation, saying, "Please download the KakaoTalk conversation. I will now disconnect and change the password."

This conversation log does not support the claim by Min Hee-jin that HYBE's audit staff stole Vice President A's laptop without permission or that the audit was conducted under duress.

Notably, this conversation log was made available by lawyers to the press during the October injunction suit via a press release. Despite this, M Consulting and Min Hee-jin's law firm, Sejong, continue to claim that "the laptop was stolen without permission."

This approach by Min Hee-jin's side, involving a large law firm to pressure media outlets whenever reports differ from their perspective, raises concerns about media suppression. With these repeated threats of civil and criminal lawsuits, there is growing suspicion that former CEO Min Hee-jin's side is attempting to "muzzle the media."

A legal expert told Sports Today, "You can request a correction to an article, but unconditional demands for deletion coupled with repeated threats of civil and criminal lawsuits demonstrate a misunderstanding of how media functions."