BTS's V Caught in HYBE–Min Hee-jin Case, Speaks Out on Instagram

• Kim Taehyung a.k.a BTS V, expressed disbelief when private messages he shared with Min Hee-jin were revealed in court records as evidence.
• Those messages surfaced during a Seoul Central District Court ruling, which favored Min, ordering HYBE to pay around ₩25.5 billion.
• The court accepted V's comments simply as part of a broader industry perspective in the argument about creative overlap between NewJeans and ILLIT.

Kim Taehyung, the BTS member known as V, broke his silence on February 20 after learning that private messages he exchanged with Min Hee-jin had been entered as evidence in her legal fight with HYBE. In an Instagram Story, he said the comments were made personally and out of empathy. They were never meant for public consumption or courtroom use, he wrote, adding that he had not taken sides in the dispute.

According to court filings, Min's legal team submitted screenshots from a KakaoTalk conversation with V to support her claim that HYBE's newer girl group ILLIT borrowed creative elements from NewJeans, the act she built at ADOR. In the exchange, V reportedly said he had noticed conceptual similarities between the two groups. The Seoul Central District Court, however, treated the messages not as V's personal endorsement of Min's position but as one data point in a larger body of industry commentary.

Court sides with Min Hee-jin, rebukes HYBE's conduct

The disclosure followed a February 12 ruling by the Seoul Central District Court that largely sided with Min in her shareholder dispute with HYBE. The court upheld Min's exercise of a put option under her contract and ordered HYBE to pay approximately KRW 22.4 billion (~$15.5 million) to Min, plus KRW 1.7 billion and KRW 1.4 billion to two other former ADOR executives, for a combined payout of roughly KRW 25.5 billion (~$17.7 million). HYBE filed an appeal on February 20.

The court directed pointed criticism at HYBE. It found that the company, not Min, first damaged the relationship by turning an internal disagreement into a public spectacle. The judges pointed to an exclusive news report released on HYBE's behalf on April 22, 2024 — the same day the company launched an audit of ADOR, demanded Min's resignation as CEO, and began dismissal proceedings — as the act that brought the conflict into the open. The court determined that this sequence caused HYBE's stock price to fall 7.8% that day, a decline the company itself cited in a criminal complaint as reflecting a KRW 800 billion (~$553 million) drop in market capitalization.

Separately, the court dismissed claims that Min had sought to seize control of ADOR or misappropriate NewJeans as unsubstantiated and speculative.

The ruling also credited Min with building ADOR's value. Assuming the alliance among NewJeans, Min, and HYBE had continued, the court estimated NewJeans' fair market value could have reached roughly KRW 2 trillion (~$1.38 billion), comparable to BLACKPINK at that group's commercial peak. The court further confirmed that HYBE founder Bang Si-hyuk produced ILLIT's debut album, a finding that added fuel to the creative-overlap debate. Min has since launched an independent label, OOAK Records, where she is developing a new boy group.

Privacy questions mount as BTS album nears

Fan response has focused largely on the privacy issue. Many voiced support for V while criticizing the use of personal conversations in a corporate lawsuit. The timing compounds the sensitivity: BTS is preparing for activities around its March 20 album, "Arirang," a release that carries significant commercial stakes for HYBE, and the group's members face heightened public scrutiny in the lead-up.

With HYBE's appeal pending, the case could establish new legal boundaries in South Korea's entertainment industry. At stake are questions about creative ownership, the limits of using private professional conversations as evidence, and the governance standards applied to the country's largest music conglomerates.