Court upholds ban on NewJeans independent activities: ”Breakdown of trust cannot be recognized” = South Korea

Five members of the popular Korean idol group New Jeans appealed a court decision banning them from continuing their independent activities, but the appeal was dismissed.
On the 17th, the Seoul High Court's Civil Division 25-2 (Judge Hwang Byung-ha) ruled that "the management office (ADOR) should maintain its position and enter into advertising contracts, etc."
The Supreme Court dismissed NewJeansmember's appeal against the preliminary injunction regarding the "prohibition on any independent activities." This is because the court found that the prohibition on NewJeansmember's independent activities was not unreasonable.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled last month that "if NewJeans acts independently without ADOR's prior approval, it will be fined 100,000 yen per member for each violation."
The court ordered the company to pay 1 billion won (approximately 110 million yen) to ADOR. In the appeal hearing on this day, the court stated, "The decision of the first instance court to grant this provisional disposition is justified and unsatisfactory.
"We cannot say that there is any illegality or mistake that would affect the outcome of the trial," NewJeans said. "The relationship of trust with ADOR has been broken, and it is difficult to maintain the contract.
However, the court ruled that "there is no reason to consider that the trust between the parties was damaged in this exclusive contract, and it is not possible to unilaterally terminate an exclusive contract based solely on one party's subjective circumstances.
"Despite NewJeans' refusal, ADOR has maintained a trusting relationship with NewJeans.
"In the current situation, it cannot be said that there is an objective evidence that the relationship of trust has broken down."
The court also ruled that "if NewJeans engages in entertainment activities independently, NewJeans shall
"While ADOR would effectively have a monopoly on the fruits of its activities, it would suffer the serious disadvantage of losing all of the benefits of its investment to date."
Prior to this, the five members of NewJeans were terminated from their contract with ADOR, a label under HYBE, in November of last year after violating an exclusive contract.
In response, ADOR filed a provisional injunction in January this year, requesting that its members be prohibited from signing advertising contracts with Exclusive.
The Seoul Central District Court's 50th Civil Division (Judge Kim Sang-hoon) ruled in March that the plaintiff (ADOR) had violated a major obligation under the exclusive contract and thus violated the exclusive contract.
"It cannot be said that there is sufficient evidence that a reason for dissolution has arisen or that the mutual trust that is the basis of the contract has been irretrievably broken down," the court said, completely rejecting ADOR's application.
In response, NewJeans members filed an appeal to the same court, but it was dismissed in April of this year. They then appealed to the Supreme Court, but this time the appeal was dismissed again.
The first trial of the lawsuit filed by ADOR against NewJeans members seeking confirmation of the validity of the Exclusive Contract is currently underway.