Heejin Min, CEO of Adore. Reporter Park Jong-min
Regarding the conflict between ‘Hive’, the biggest K-pop group in Korea to which the group BTS belongs, and Min Hee-jin, the CEO of Adore, his label, many Korean women see it as ‘young women fighting patriarchal workplace’ was reported in the British Daily Financial Times (FT).
On the 5th (local time), the FT published an article titled ‘Producer star fights K-pop patriarchy captures Korean women’s interest’, including CEO Min’s comments mixed with mystery regarding management Hive at a recent press conference It was explained like this.
Label is a system established by Hive to guarantee independence. Hive owns 80% of Adore, CEO Min owns 18%, and other Adore employees own 2%.
Last month, Hive exercised its right to investigate, claiming it had uncovered instances where CEO Min attempted to usurp Adore’s management rights, including leaking information secret in an attempt to get Hive to give away 80% of Adore’s shares to other investors.
In response to these claims, CEO Min held a press conference and rejected the claim that the takeover of management rights was baseless, that Hive mishandled New Genes and created a daughter group that copied New Genes, and that they were trying to kick him out. when he complained about this. CEO Min recently became a hot topic by using hate towards Hive’s management during a press conference.
The FT included this content and said, “In a country where 6% of executives in the top 100 companies are female, CEO Min’s anger captured the interest of young Korean women who were inspired by criticism of their male leaders.”
A 31-year-old woman who works in the field of education in Seoul said in an interview with FT, “What CEO Min is going through is what we also experience every day there the male-dominated corporate culture.” “What CEO Min says is what we dreamed of.” he said.
Regarding this incident, the TF pointed out that it happened at a time when questions were being raised about how the K-pop industry could reproduce the success of the past 10 years and that stock prices were of the major entertainment companies, including Hive, are collapsing. .’
FT chronicled CEO Min’s career as working his way up from a low-level employee at SM Entertainment to director, and at Hive, he served as Chief Brand Officer (CBO) before becoming Head of affiliated label. In particular, he said that although he was successful in introducing a new trend through New Jeans, his relationship with Hive deteriorated behind the scenes.
The FT also included the analysis of cultural critic Ha Jae-geun that this fight is not over, including the Hive investigation that raised suspicions about the use of the management rights of CEO Min, counterattack CEO Min, the Hive multi-label system, and the controversy over creative independence and autonomy. .
Critic Ha said that CEO Min’s press conference fashion was similar to the clothes worn by the members of New Jeans, and elaborated, “He was trying to attract public opinion and send a message to Hive that he and New Jeans are inseparable.”
He then prophesied, “Chief Min is seen as a hero by many young women, so it will be harder for Hive to deal with him.”
