ILLIT accused of plagiarizing NewJeans, HYBE denies the claims in court
The ILLIT vs. NewJeans plagiarism controversy heated up on July 18 KST during the third hearing of HYBE’s ₩2.50 billion KRW ($1.80 million USD) lawsuit against Min Hee Jin, former CEO of ADOR.
Min Hee Jin accused ILLIT of copying NewJeans’ photoshoots, MV styles, aesthetics, concepts, and choreography. HYBE’s legal team pushed back hard, sarcastically dubbing it the “Min Hee Jin created everything theory.”
ILLIT’s lawyers mocked the accusations, saying Min was acting like she created everything in K-pop. They highlighted that NewJeans also used choreography moves common across the industry.
They cited examples:
- The “hair flip” move from NewJeans’ “Attention” also appears in performances by Chungha, KISS OF LIFE, aespa, Hearts2Hearts, ITZY, and IVE.
- The arm-rotation move in “Ditto” has been done by BLACKPINK’s Jennie, BTS, G-Dragon, KISS OF LIFE, and aespa.
- The iconic sitting pose from “Hype Boy” was seen in Hyolyn and ITZY routines.
ILLIT argued these moves are standard K-pop material, not exclusive rights owned by NewJeans. They warned that labeling such moves as plagiarism could choke creativity in the industry.
The defense caused backlash online. Many netizens slammed HYBE for dragging uninvolved idols into the feud.
“How many groups are they going to mention?”
“They’re dragging every celebrity by the hair. Seriously.”
Others defended the argument as necessary evidence.
“It’s not like they were mentioned in a negative way. How else do you explain similar moves without examples?”
“If they’re submitting evidence, some mentioning is unavoidable.”
Meanwhile, HYBE subsidiaries Source Music (LE SSERAFIM) and BELIFT LAB (ILLIT) filed separate lawsuits against Min Hee Jin. Source Music seeks ₩500 million KRW ($359,000 USD) for defamation. BELIFT LAB demands ₩2.00 billion KRW ($1.44 million USD) citing reputational damage.
The legal battle is far from over. Stay tuned for more updates.
