The New York Times has published an investigation into NewJeans’ exclusive contracts with ADOR, saying it obtained the secret agreements signed when the five members were aged 14 to 17. The Times reports the deals stripped child-protection language from South Korea’s standard contract template and gave the company sweeping control over the members’ careers and images after the contracts end.
The government template protects underage artists’ health, education and rest, and bars agencies from demanding excessive exposure or overlong hours. Those protections were deleted from the NewJeans contracts, the Times reports, and experts said that makes it harder for the singers to challenge conditions. Members began training in dorms, some as young as 12, and four of five left school while training. HYBE said it fully complies with child protection laws.
The contracts bar conduct deemed damaging to an artist’s dignity or image, including vague bans on an insincere attitude and neglect of self-management, and forbid publishing facts that harm the company. Experts said the vague wording gives the company wide latitude to find a breach. The contracts also list beauty expenses, including plastic surgery, among costs artists must repay. HYBE said it does not recommend cosmetic surgery against an individual’s wishes.
Experts called the money split fairly standard: after expenses, the group gets about half of concert and advertising profits. The exit penalty is the sharper edge: average monthly sales over months with sales in the last two years, multiplied by months remaining. Lawyers said that formula could inflate the penalty. In Marsh’s case the company seeks roughly $22 million, mostly exit fees. The contracts also let the company keep using members’ faces and voices after expiry, including AI voice clones. Lawyer Jong-eon Roh, one of five experts who reviewed the contracts, called the deal “unusually aggressive.”
The Times reports the terms were non-negotiable: in January 2022, when a member’s mother asked for changes, an ADOR vice president replied that if she did not agree to the draft, it may be best to reconsider the contract itself. The parents signed.
NewJeans announced in November 2024 they were ending their contracts after Min Hee-jin was removed as ADOR chief. A Seoul court ruled in October 2025 that the contracts remain valid until 2029. ADOR terminated Danielle Marsh’s contract in December 2025 and is seeking 33.1 billion won in damages from her, a family member and Min Hee-jin. HYBE said the contracts are lawful and negotiated in good faith.
