“News Treated Unfairly” Bernie’s Requests Hive State Audit by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

On the 19th, the Bernies sent an email to the National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee (CST) members through their SNS accounts, asking them to investigate the harassment and other infringements on the rights of New Jeans members by Hive and to prepare measures to prevent recurrence, and asked them to participate in this until the state audit period. The state audit period is from the 7th to the 25th of next month.

They claimed, "Newjins (Minzy, Hani, Daniel, Haerin, Hyein) are a representative K-pop group that promoted South Korea to the world, having received the 'Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Award' at the '2023 South Korean Popular Culture and Arts Awards' in recognition of their contributions to popular culture and having been appointed as the '2024 Korean Tourism Honorary Ambassadors'." They also claimed, "A representative K-pop group in South Korea that is rapidly growing is having their music activities hindered by their parent company, HYBE (Chairman Bang Si-hyuk)."

The Bernies demanded the following from the members of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee: △ Suspicion of leak of personal information of New Jeans through collusion between HYBE and Dispatch, △ Whether a hostile environment is created within HYBE against New Jeans, △ Revision of the standard exclusive contract for popular culture and arts figures (centered on singers), and △ Adoption of HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk as a witness for current issues.