Report Says K-pop Label Removed Child Protections From NewJeans Contracts

A report has found that Ador, the record label behind the K-pop group NewJeans, stripped child protections from contracts the group's members signed while they were still minors, according to The Guardian.

K-pop, short for Korean pop, is the South Korean music industry that produces groups with highly trained, often young performers. Those performers typically sign long contracts with the agencies or labels that manage their careers, and those agreements have drawn scrutiny for years.

NewJeans and Ador are now parties to a long-running legal dispute over the artists' contracts. In early 2025, the BBC reported that the group had claimed its Ador contracts were invalid. The group alleged a pattern of bullying, harassment and subterfuge, a term for deceptive tactics.

The wider industry has faced similar questions. In 2009, a boy band sued its label over 13-year contracts known as "slave contracts," according to The New York Times. The same reporting says the South Korean government has sought changes to restrictive K-pop contracts. Those are agreements that limit what artists can do, for how long, and on what terms.

The findings about NewJeans' contracts bring those questions back to a single group. The disputed agreements were signed at a time when the members were minors, and the report says those signing years were the point at which the protections were removed.