NewJeans' declaration to terminate exclusive contract will have a fatal negative impact on the industry...The Korean Management Union is taking an opposing stance...Why?

When Korean girl group NewJeans announced the termination of their exclusive contract with management office ADOR, the Korean Management Union immediately publicly expressed its concerns.
The Korea Management Union (KMU) issued a statement on the 3rd (today) urging NewJeans and ADOR to end their dispute as soon as possible and return to a normal relationship.
The Korea-Malaysia Federation said, "The recent intensification of the dispute between ADOR and NewJeans is having a variety of negative effects on the Korean pop culture and arts industry."
"The art industry is based on mutual trust and mutual respect for the exclusive contract between the artist and the management office," he said. "This foundation is based on the artistic foundations that have been built up over the past several decades.
"There is a consideration and trust between the talent agency and the strike, which means that simply because some kind of problem has arisen, it does not become a condition for the termination of the contract," he emphasized.
Furthermore, "NewJeans' current position of ignoring all procedures shows that they have never taken into consideration the mutual efforts required to maintain the contract, or
"The loss of the contract's effectiveness through such a unilateral claim for contract termination could deal a major blow to the overall trust relationship of the exclusive contract.
"We need to be very careful because there is a possibility that the relationship between the artist and the entertainment agency will be a mutual partnership, not a simple labor relationship," he continued.
In accordance with the exclusive contract, the artist must exert his/her best efforts to demonstrate his/her talent and qualities and cooperate with the management office's activities, and the management office must respect the artist's talent and qualities to the greatest extent possible.
"We must support all activities so that the company can fully utilize its capabilities," the Korea-Malaysia Federation explained. "In the event of a dispute like this, the exclusive contract cannot be terminated by a declaration like this.
"The allegation that such a move could lead to a drastic result for Korea's pop culture and arts industry, which does not rely on short-term contracts but on long-term contracts lasting several years and which invests in artists from the trainee stage onwards," he added.
He continued, "The Korean industry for singers has always been based on the principle of 'invest first and pay later'," and "Since agencies have made investments first, they have been the weaker players with exclusive contracts.
In particular, agencies that have invested in new talent must protect their artists as much as possible, maintain their contracts, and make new profits until they can make more than the minimum investment.
"The biggest challenge is to create a new system for the management office to deal with disputes between artists and the management office," he continued. "In other words, if a dispute arises between the artists and the management office, we will thoroughly support the side of "Party B" and maintain and preserve the exclusive contract.
"When viewed from this perspective, an approach like the current 'NewJeans' is a non-starter that could shake the foundations of Korea's pop culture and arts industry.
"We would like NewJeans to withdraw its previous position and enter into negotiations with the company, and we would like to see this contentious situation resolved," he added.
"I sincerely hope that this will end smoothly and that it will not lead to the worst case scenario."
On the 28th of last month, he held an emergency press conference at a location in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and said, "Since the issues I requested to be corrected have not been improved, I will be leaving ADOR," and "As of midnight on November 29th,
The issues that NewJeans requested to be corrected were the return of Min Hee Jinformer, CEO of ADOR, and a request to "ignore" member HANI.
The manager made the statement, issued an official apology, deleted the photos and footage used without the members' consent, provided a solution to the damage caused by the postponement of the album release, and made a music video.
These include resolving disputes with Shin Woo-suk, the director of the dolphin kidnapping group that participated in the project, and guaranteeing the unique color and workmanship of "New Jeans."