Author: Shuning Chen
January 21, 2025
1. Hanni’s Case and the National Assembly Inspection
In September 2024, NewJeans, a K-pop girl group managed by ADOR under the HYBE Corporation, held a surprise livestream to address their concerns about the sudden dismissal of ADOR’s CEO, Min Hee-jin. One member of NewJeans, Hanni, a Vietnamese-Australian singer based in South Korea, spoke out during the livestream about the group’s general feelings of insecurity and frustration following Min’s dismissal. The group voiced feelings of trepidation about their management company, HYBE, especially after private videos and chat logs from periods of time the group spent as trainees were leaked online; the spread of this information left the members of NewJeans worried about their privacy and about the general lack of protection provided by their management agency. This incident made the members, who had previously viewed Min as a protective figure, feel increasingly vulnerable, and they feared future privacy violations might occur without HYBE’s enactment and enforcement of sufficient safeguards.
During the livestream, Hanni also recounted an incident where a manager from HYBE instructed various artists working for the same company to ignore Hanni when she greeted them, which perpetuated feelings of isolation and disrespect. NewJeans members raised this issue with the new HYBE CEO, Kim Ju-young, but were told that, due to a lack of direct evidence, no action could be taken, and the matter was ultimately dismissed.
The National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee took up this issue, largely due to the efforts of Team Bunnies (TB), a NewJeans fan group, which organized a campaign and submitted a detailed 70-page report to government authorities calling for a thorough investigation into HYBE’s alleged misconduct. Their original demands targeted a broad range of issues within the company, including workplace bullying, bribery, and employee deaths due to overwork, with the aim of holding HYBE’s Chairperson Bang Si-hyuk accountable in the Assembly. However, the scope of the investigation was eventually narrowed to focus primarily on workplace bullying.
In response to the public outcry, the committee summoned ADOR’s CEO Kim Ju-young as a witness and invited Hanni to testify as a voluntary reference. The hearing, held on October 15, 2024, addressed both the specific workplace bullying incidents raised by Hanni and the broader mistreatment of workers who fall outside the traditional labor protections held in South Korea.
During her testimony, Hanni detailed multiple instances of bullying, stating, "I completely don’t understand why I had to go through such things, especially in a professional environment. This is not the first time, and I decided to speak out today to make sure no one else has the same experience as I did." Despite repeatedly bringing these issues to ADOR’s leadership, including Kim Ju-young, her complaints were dismissed due to a lack of CCTV evidence. Hanni, speaking on behalf of herself, but also in support of celebrity musicians in South Korea, known as idols, underscored a pattern of systemic vulnerability in this industry; this lack of protection for celebrities is heightened for musicians like Hanni, who is a foreign artist in South Korea. As an idol and as a non-Korean worker, Hanni is excluded from the protections of South Korea’s labor laws, leaving her and others in similar positions open to exploitation and mistreatment within the entertainment industry. In her response, Kim acknowledged Hanni’s experiences and expressed regret that technical issues prevented the retrieval of CCTV footage. However, the company’s lack of concrete action left Hanni feeling that her concerns were not adequately addressed.
2. Non-Traditional Workers in South Korea
Hanni's case underscored the limitations of South Korea’s Labor Standards Act, which fails to protect non-traditional workers like foreign idols, freelancers, and contract laborers. While Hanni pointed out the vulnerability of entertainers, a broader issue still looms: the lack of protections provided by the government for the millions of workers in South Korea who operate outside the bounds of traditional employment.
The delivery industry is a stark example of this problem. In 2020, Mr. Kim, a 36-year-old delivery driver for Coupang, collapsed and died from exhaustion after a 21-hour shift. Despite the public outcry following his death and multiple investigations calling for improved conditions, similar tragedies continued to occur. In October 2024, yet another National Assembly Inspection focused on Coupang, examining recent cases of overwork-related deaths among its delivery workers. This ongoing scrutiny underscores the company’s failure to protect workers in non-traditional roles, as the same issues persist four years later. The repeated need for inspections highlights structural flaws in South Korea’s labor protections, particularly for workers in non-traditional roles, whose classification as contractors rather than employees leaves them vulnerable to systemic exploitation.
The key issue lies in the industry’s employment structure: most delivery drivers are not directly employed by companies like Coupang; instead, they are hired through independent agencies that act as intermediaries. This arrangement means that these workers are classified as contractors rather than employees, which excludes them from labor protections under the Labor Standards Act. As contractors, they lack essential rights including regulated work hours, access to overtime pay, and enforced safety protections. This setup allows companies in the delivery industry to shirk their responsibilities regarding workers’ welfare, while intermediaries often lack the resources or incentives to enforce fair working conditions. Similar to Hanni’s testimony during the National Assembly Inspection, which highlighted the vulnerabilities of idols outside traditional labor protections, the current investigation into Coupang’s delivery workers further underscores the systemic gaps in South Korea’s labor laws and the urgent need for reform.
Although the government has pressured major logistics companies to improve conditions and prevent overwork-related deaths, these measures have had limited impact. Some companies have pledged to hire more staff and to provide adequate rest periods, but these promised changes rarely come to fruition. Union leaders continue to report hazardous working conditions, while delivery drivers are subjected to relentless schedules with minimal labor protections.
While the tragic cases of delivery workers like Mr. Kim spotlight the vulnerability of non-traditional workers, even more severe cases of workplace neglect continue to be overlooked. These delivery workers, classified as contract laborers rather than full-time employees, are not well protected under labor protections under South Korea’s Labor Standards Act, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and unsafe working conditions. Similarly, In June 2024, a catastrophic fire broke out at a lithium battery factory owned by Aricell in Hwaseong, resulting in the deaths of 23 workers, including 17 Chinese nationals and one Laotian national. Many of these individuals were temporary laborers; additionally, as foreign workers, they were hired to work dangerous, physically demanding jobs often avoided by Korean nationals, which yielded further disparities in treatment compared to Korean-born individuals. This case illustrates a broader issue: that there is a lack of protection for millions of workers in South Korea who operate outside the bounds of traditional employment, including idols, freelancers, contract laborers, and temporary foreign workers.
A significant factor in the lithium battery accident was the Employment Permit System (EPS), South Korea’s program for managing foreign labor. Under the EPS, foreign workers are tied to specific employers for the duration of their contract and require employer consent to change jobs. Even in cases of unsafe working conditions or of exploitation, switching employers is often a lengthy and bureaucratic process, with permits restricted to specific industries. This creates a severe power imbalance, where workers frequently fear retaliation, blacklisting, or deportation if they attempt to leave exploitative environments. Beyond the structural limitations of the EPS, foreign laborers face additional barriers, including language and cultural differences that make navigating legal processes or asserting their rights especially challenging. Many workers lack the social networks, community backing, and/or resources to find alternative employment, even when legal opportunities exist. These barriers are further compounded by a lack of integration support, leaving foreign workers isolated and dependent on their employers for housing, information, and even basic survival. Research has shown that foreign laborers in South Korea face almost three times the risk of fatal workplace accidents compared to that of local workers.
As another example, in August 2024, the Suwon District Prosecutor’s Office filed arrest warrants for several factory officials in the district’s jurisdiction. However, demands from the victims' families to summon the factory’s CEO as a witness in the National Assembly Inspection went unanswered. Left with no recourse, the families, including the family member of a victim, a 25-year-old Chinese girl, resorted to protesting outside the Assembly in hopes that they might draw attention to the issue and properly get answers from Aricell’s CEO at the National Assembly Inspection.
This incident emphasizes the compounded vulnerability of foreigners in South Korea, whose workplace rights and protections are often disregarded or unenforced due to their “second-class” citizenship status. Although their plight exemplifies the very issues of labor exploitation that the National Assembly Inspection aims to address, these workers—unlike South Korean nationals who benefit from more immediate public and political attention, or Hanni, whose sizeable social media following and prominent presence in the music industry amplify her voice—struggle to gain comparable recognition. This disparity reflects deeper social stratification within South Korea, where foreign laborers occupy the lowest rungs of the nation’s socioeconomic hierarchy and are often viewed as “other.” The limited visibility of their struggles signals an uncomfortable truth: the protection of labor rights in South Korea is unevenly applied and is influenced by both national origin and perceived social standing. The tragedy of the aforementioned fire thus serves as a powerful reminder of how certain lives (and deaths) remain “invisible” within the public discourse, especially when they do not align with the political and social priorities of much of the nation.
3. Political Motivations and Media Manipulation
The National Assembly Inspection, originally intended as a serious investigation into labor rights abuses, became a platform for politicians and corporate leaders to pursue their own agendas. Many politicians seized the opportunity to use Hanni’s popularity to boost their own public image, leveraging her influence to trend on social media and garner goodwill from young voters, thereby overshadowing the core issues of worker rights and safety.
A particularly egregious example was Jeong In-seop, CEO of Hanwha Ocean, whose company had faced scrutiny after five workers died due to dangerous working conditions earlier in the year. Rather than addressing these critical safety failures, Jeong used the Inspection as a chance to publicly align himself with Hanni, even going so far as to take a smiling selfie with her during the session. This act, widely criticized as callous and disrespectful, appeared to trivialize the Inspection’s purpose and shift focus away from Hanwha’s neglect of worker safety.
The Inspection thus became a theater of self-promotion and damage control, where politicians and corporate leaders alike sought to benefit from Hanni’s high-profile presence. This exploitation diverted public attention away from the serious issues at hand—namely, the failure of corporations like Hanwha to protect their workers and the structural flaws in labor protections for vulnerable employees. The opportunistic behavior of these figures[1] [2] , who leveraged Hanni’s participation as a tool for their own gain, not only undermined the sincerity of the investigation but also diminished the clear need for urgency when addressing systemic labor abuses; this behavior revealed the darker side of political and corporate manipulation within South Korea’s labor rights landscape.
4. The Glass Cliff Effect: Women as Political Pawns
Another notable aspect of the hearing was the shift in focus away from the HYBE Corporation, the aforementioned management agency of Hanni’s girl group, NewJeans, where allegations of misconduct—including workplace bullying, bribery, and employee overwork deaths—were initially directed, to ADOR, a HYBE subsidiary, represented by its CEO, Kim Ju-young. Although HYBE’s Chairperson, Bang Si-hyuk, was originally expected to appear at the hearing due to the broader scrutiny of HYBE’s labor practices, the investigation was ultimately narrowed to focus more on workplace bullying within ADOR, leaving Kim to face direct questioning as opposed to Bang.
Through additional public relations efforts, Bang managed to avoid the hearing. Similarly, Hanni became a focal point of public attention and pressure during the investigation. This is a clear example of the glass cliff effect, where women are placed in high-risk leadership positions during crises, only to be blamed when things go wrong. Hanni herself pointed to this imbalance at the beginning of the inspection, noting that "those who should have attended keep avoiding responsibility."
The hearing also expanded beyond bullying claims to probe HYBE’s political connections, such as questioning whether its ‘Best Workplace’ award was influenced by the connection between Bang Si-hyuk’s father and South Korea’s First Lady. This shift stemmed from the original demands of Team Bunnies (TB), a NewJeans fan group, whose campaign called for a comprehensive investigation into HYBE’s alleged misconduct. While the investigation was officially narrowed to focus on workplace bullying, questions about HYBE’s broader labor practices and political ties still surfaced. Lawmakers, for instance, demanded the removal of the award, citing the company’s workplace controversies and broader labor issues, including overwork-related deaths. Despite the clear focus on HYBE’s wrongdoing, the burden of defending the company fell largely on Kim, who is the head of HYBE's subsidiary ADOR, even though the investigation also dealt with HYBE itself. This further reinforces the gendered dynamics in these situations, where powerful men often escape accountability while women are left to bear the blame.
Glossary of Terms
Hanni (Phạm Ngọc Hân): A Vietnamese-Australian member of the K-pop girl group NewJeans, who testified at the South Korean National Assembly in October 2024 about workplace bullying and mistreatment of her company HYBE.
NewJeans: A popular South Korean K-pop girl group managed by ADOR under HYBE Corporation.
National Assembly of South Korea: South Korea's unicameral legislature, responsible for making laws, overseeing government activities, and holding hearings. On September 30th, 2024, ADOR’s CEO Kim Ju-young was summoned as a witness, and Hanni voluntarily attended as a reference, discussing issues such as workplace bullying and the status of workers outside traditional labor protection.
HYBE Corporation: One of the biggest South Korean entertainment companies that manages several major K-pop groups, including BTS and NewJeans. HYBE was involved in internal power struggles and lots of controversies in 2024.
ADOR: A subsidiary of HYBE Corporation that manages NewJeans. Its CEO, Kim Ju-young, took the brunt of the scrutiny during the National Assembly hearing.
Bang Si-hyuk: Chairperson of HYBE Corporation. Although he was not summoned to the National Assembly hearing, many of the issues raised during the investigation were related to his leadership and the company's management.
Kim Ju-young: CEO of ADOR, a subsidiary of HYBE. She was summoned to the National Assembly hearing. She represented ADOR in a difficult situation while higher-level executives were not present.
K-pop Industry: A genre of popular music originating from South Korea, characterized by a wide range of audiovisual elements, including highly choreographed performances, and often produced by large entertainment companies. K-pop has gained global popularity in recent years, but the industry is also known for its rigorous training systems and controversial labor practices.
Glass Cliff Effect: A phenomenon in which women are more likely to be placed in leadership roles during periods of crisis or downturn, where the risk of failure is higher.
Hanwha Ocean: One of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of South Korea, along with Hyundai and Samsung. This company is under investigation for multiple worker deaths due to unsafe working conditions.
Jeong In-seop: CEO of Hanwha Ocean, involved in a controversy during the National Assembly hearing for taking a selfie with Hanni.
Workplace Bullying: Refers to unethical or harmful behavior directed at employees, often involving power imbalances.
Labor Rights Violations: The failure to uphold safe, fair, and ethical working conditions for employees.
Additional References and Resources