Misoshiru

Hello. This morning, we saw that five organizations— the Korea Entertainment Management Association, the Korea Entertainment Producers Association, the Korea Music Label Industry Association, the Korea Record Industry Association, and the Korea Music Content Association—issued a statement to the press. It is truly regrettable that they are making statements that undermine the fairness of the trial by presenting unconfirmed facts as if they were already determined, despite knowing full well that neither the preliminary injunction nor the main trial has even begun. As always, I ask for your understanding in advance that this may be a long message, as artists have fewer channels to express their stance compared to companies that can freely do so through associations and major media outlets. 1. The five organizations claim that the NJZ members are attempting to resolve what should be a private dispute through public opinion and unilateral declarations rather than negotiations or legal procedures. However, the public surely remembers who first began a media campaign by publicly spreading baseless allegations to oust the former CEO of ADOR, who was trying to address serious issues within HYBE. At that time, HYBE either deliberately fueled or turned a blind eye to the flood of news articles about absurd accusations such as "tampering" and "gaslighting" concerning NewJeans. Everyone also remembers that this media frenzy began less than a week before NewJeans' comeback. No entertainment company would ever do such a thing just a week before their artist’s comeback. I would like to ask where the associations were and what they were doing back then. 2. The five organizations also argue that the K-pop industry is suffering severe damage because a private dispute has been unilaterally made public and turned into a controversy. However, the real victims of this one-sided and unbalanced media coverage are the NJZ members, as well as the fans and general public who love and support music. And this harm continues even now. Furthermore, the decline in HYBE’s stock price and other losses are HYBE’s problems, not the K-pop industry’s problems. This clearly shows that these associations are merely representing the interests of a specific company under the guise of industry advocacy. 3. The five organizations claim that mere allegations can dominate portal sites, online communities, and social media for extended periods, being accepted as truth without proper fact-checking, rebuttal, or criticism. This is the only part of their statement that is actually correct. Indeed, numerous falsehoods about NJZ members have flooded online platforms, and even now, the media continues to publish articles that solely reflect HYBE’s claims and interests, while reckless channels spread unverified opinions as if they were expert analyses. It is heartbreaking to witness individual entertainers being unable to stop this or actively defend themselves. I believe this sense of helplessness toward the associations and industry structures is something many entertainment professionals, artists, trainees, and their families also feel.