ADOR’s Min Hee-jin denies ignoring sexual harassment at agency

Ador CEO Min Hee-jin responds to reporters’ questions as she leaves Yongsan Police Station in Seoul on July 9 after being questioned on a breach of trust allegation. Image: Yonhap via The Korea Herald

ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin has taken the bull by the horns, disclosing her KakaoTalk messages on her Instagram account on Tuesday to combat allegations that she disregarded a female employee who claimed to have been sexually harassed by a male executive.

Min shared six conversations that involved the male executive, the female employee, an advertiser, and herself.

These conversations show the male executive and the female employee arranging a meeting over dinner with an advertiser during which the female employee claimed to have been sexually harassed by the male executive.

It also shows the female employee resigning from ADOR after six months of training after reporting the male executive for sexual harassment and workplace bullying.

According to Min’s Kakaotalk messages, Min asked the female employee to rethink her resignation after the in-house investigation into the reported sexual harassment closed without charge.

ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin at a press conference held in Seoul on April 25. Image: Yonhap via The Korea Herald

Min advises the female employee to talk with the male executive as there seems to be a misunderstanding between the two.

Min also says she can go with her if she is afraid of meeting with the male executive alone.

The female employee thanks Min for her advice and later tells Min that she talked it through with the male executive.

Another set of conversations between Min and the male executive shows Min criticizing the male executive for claiming he does not remember anything when the female employee remembers even the smallest details.

Min also shared a KakaoTalk conversation between the male executive and the female employee after Hybe closed the in-house investigation of the case. ADOR is a HYBE subsidiary.

Min explained that everyone reconciled and emphasized that not all conversations took place on Kakaotalk.

She claims to have scolded the male executive over the phone for two hours after hearing the female employee’s side of the story.

Min also expressed regret for the divergence of the essence of the battle between Hybe and herself due to the continued disclosure of her personal online messages.

“I really don’t know why I have to endure a factual distortion mixed with real names and false facts when HYBE is extremely reluctant to fight upfront and instead controls news articles and continues to send me a certificate of content letters,” said Min. A certificate of content is a service offered by the post office for registering the content of postal communications.

On July 25, Dispatch, a Korean entertainment media outlet, raised the allegation that Min disregarded a female employee who claimed to have been sexually harassed by a male executive of the agency. The Dispatch report included some Kakaotalk messages extracted from an audit report submitted by HYBE to an external agency.

ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin speaks during a press conference held in Seoul. Image: Yonhap via The Korea Herald

Min is believed to be considering taking legal action against Dispatch.

On July 24, Min filed a lawsuit against HYBE’s CEO Park Ji-won, Outside Director Lim Soo-hyon, Chief Legal Officer Jung Jin-soo, Chief Financial Officer Lee Kyung-jun and Chief Communications Officer Park Tae-hee for obstruction of business, illegal monitoring of electronic records, and defamation.

On the same day, HYBE CEO Park Ji-won was replaced by the K-pop monolith’s Chief Strategy Officer Lee Jae-sang, three months after becoming embroiled in a dispute between HYBE and ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin.