Belift Lab, ILLIT's agency, has again denied Min Hee-jin's accusation that ILLIT copied NewJeans' concept . The denial was made when the agency's head, Kim Tae-ho, testified during a parliamentary audit at the National Assembly on Tuesday October 22, 2024.
Through the testimony, he emphasized that all statements made by the former ADOR CEO against ILLIT were false and that his party had countersued Min Hee-jin. "The accusations (of plagiarism) are false," said Kim Tae-ho, head of Belift Lab and COO of HYBE.
"We have filed a civil lawsuit against Min Hee-jin who made the accusations." As reported by Korea JoongAng Daily on Thursday October 24, 2024, Kim Tae-ho was present at the audit as a witness. In April 2024, Min Hee-jin accused Belift Lab of plagiarizing NewJeans' concept when creating ILLIT.
The accusation came amidst an ongoing feud between ADOR and its label, HYBE. On the other hand, in a separate trial, the former ADOR CEO also accused Belift Lab of using NewJeans data to create ILLIT. Min Hee-jin's side submitted evidence such as text messages and voice recordings from a whistleblower at Belift Lab, a subsidiary of HYBE.
The evidence revealed that ILLIT's creative director had requested the NewJeans project proposal from the early planning stage. The ILLIT and NewJeans project proposals were quickly compared until they were deemed identical in every respect.
"Insiders reported that HYBE staff requested the NewJeans blueprint from the early stages of ILLIT so that the resulting ILLIT would be exactly like NewJeans," said lawyer Min Hee-jin of Shin & Kim. However, Belift Lab continued to deny the allegations and filed a complaint for defamation and obstruction of business against Min Hee-jin in June 2024.
"We are waiting for the court's decision and we plan to reveal that the plagiarism allegations are false in court by following the existing legal process," Kim Tae-ho said throughout the audit. Kim Tae-ho also apologized to all Kpop fans for the frustration caused by the ongoing conflict surrounding HYBE during the audit.
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