https://www.khan.co.kr/article/202503241905001
Sent: Mar 24 2025, 19:05 KST | Edit: Mar 24 2025, 22:16 KST
Girl group NewJeans (NJZ) answers questions from reporters while leaving the courthouse after completing the interrogation date for the injunction request on 'Preservation of Agency Status and Prohibition of Advertising Contract Execution' at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 7th. Yonhap News
Girl group NewJeans announced the temporary suspension of their activities on the 23rd. This followed the Seoul Central District Court's acceptance of ADOR's injunction request for 'preservation of agency status and prohibition of advertising contract agreements.' Although temporary until the main lawsuit results are announced, we won't be able to see their sparkling talent for the time being.
In an interview with TIME right after the court ruling, NewJeans said "This might be the reality of Korea" and "It seems like Korea is trying to make us revolutionaries." This already hinted at their activity suspension, with the word 'revolutionary' embodying their will to stand against ADOR's constraining standard exclusive contract and the Goliath that is the K-pop industry.
NewJeans' situation is not simple, involving contractual obligations, management rights issues, and responsibilities to fans. There's much debate about their stance of 'not compromising.' However, one thing to note is their perspective of 'choice.' Member Haerin said, "Though it wasn't an easy decision, it was a necessary choice for us." Hyein also said, "This is about protecting ourselves, and only then can we return stronger."
What drives their heart of resistance as they stake their future? NewJeans' activity suspension isn't merely pitiful because of this 'choice.' While respecting the law yet standing in resistance, we see their inner strength yearning for dignity. It's their consistent declaration that 'we are not just components of K-pop.' They now question what artists' right to self-determination means and where its limits lie. While it began as a management rights dispute among adults, it has become NewJeans' challenge, refusing to be passive idols sacrificed in the conflict. Before them stands a massive wall of the K-pop industry, beyond HYBE. Thus, the outcome of this challenge could become a turning point for K-pop's ethics.
Some might question why we're talking about revolution when it comes to idols. Cuban revolutionary hero Che Guevara said, "Let's all be realists, but dream impossible dreams in our hearts." Nikos Kazantzakis wrote in "Zorba the Greek" that "(resistance is) a proud Don Quixote-like reaction of humans trying to create a new world according to their spiritual laws." The conditions for resistance and revolution are the 'walls of reality,' and the motivation is an unbearable 'inner calling.' NewJeans truly qualifies as 'revolutionary.'
The Korean word '여적(Yeojuk)', which corresponds to the English word 'Excursus', when written in Chinese characters, means 'ink remaining at the tip of the brush'. I spent more time deliberating whether to translate this word as 'Remains' or 'Excursus' than translating the actual article.
The Kyunghyang Shinmun, one of South Korea's largest and most historically significant progressive news outlets, has used this term since its founding in 1946 to designate its column section. The name was personally coined by poet Jung Ji-yong, who has never been absent from Korean literature textbooks, with the meaning "since there's still some ink left on the brush after writing, I'll put down the untold stories."
In South Korea, which spent a long time under dictatorial regimes, this column section endured many hardships. It became a target for attacks on the newspaper by far-right groups, and in 1959, the newspaper was even forced to shut down by the government due to an editorial critical of the administration published in this section.
Afterward, for a long time, this newspaper was passed around between military dictatorships and large corporations, forced to serve as a government-aligned publication. In 1987, during South Korea's democratization, there were even instances of protesters performing demonstrations where they burned copies of the Kyunghyang Shinmun.