NewJeans member Hanni appears before S. Korea’s National Assembly

She used it as a way to call for better treatment of artists in the industry.

On Tuesday, October 16, Vietnamese-Australian idol Hanni Pham of the K-pop girl group NewJeans made an appearance before the National Asssembly in South Korea.

The 20-year-old star was there to testify and shed light on the bullying and workplace harassment being experienced in the entertainment industry during the hearing of the Environment and Labor Committee of the assembly.

Pham was heard saying that she hopes “… trainees don’t suffer these incidents and that’s why I decided to appear,” before sharing some of her personal encounters such as an instance where she was ignored by members of another group based on the instruction of their manager.

Ador’s new CEO Kim Ju Young, meanwhile, said that she could not immediately corroborate with the story due to differing accounts of what happened and lack of concrete evidence.

However, she also noted that she will be “listening closely” to the grievances of the idols in the company under her current capacity.

It was earlier this year when a rift between the Ador management and Hybe, which owns majority of the company, became an highly publicized matter.

This started with former CEO Min Hee Jin, who had accused Hybe of, foremost, sabotaging NewJeans.

After her ouster, in a surprise live stream in September, the group members addressed the matters and demanded that Min be reinstated in her position in Ador.

Following this, Min Hee Jin has reportedly been reassigned back into the board at Ador, and will begin her new term as an “internal director” at the company on Saturday, November 2.

The group, composed of members Danielle, Hanni, Haerin, Minji, and Hyein, made their debut in 2022 is known for their songs like ‘Attention,’ ‘OMG,’ ‘Hype Boy,’ ‘Ditto,’ and ‘Super Shy.’

In May 2024, they made their comeback with ‘How Sweet,’ which is the title track of its namesake single album.

Last September, they visited the country for the joint ‘Ultimate Fandom Concert’ in Pasay City, where they performed with Filipino musicians like Alamat, Zack Tabudlo, Kyle Echarri, Nik Makino, and Illest Morena.

---