Attorneys from Sejong (Shin & Kim / 법무법인 세종) filed resignation notices on August 25 and stepped off Min Hee-jin’s side of the HYBE fight. Not one file. The put-option appeal and other Min vs. ADOR / Source Music / HYBE matters. No public reason. The timing is loud.
The date that matters is September 18 — the first oral argument in the put-option appeal at the Seoul High Court. In February, Seoul Central District Court told HYBE to pay Min about ₩25.5 billion and rejected HYBE’s bid to kill the shareholder agreement. HYBE appealed. That second-round hearing is three weeks out, and the firm that had been carrying the flag just left.
Sejong is not a boutique. It is one of Korea’s heavyweight firms and has been on Min’s files through the first-instance win. Neither Sejong nor Min’s camp has given a reason for the walkout.
What the First Trial Actually Held
The February ruling found HYBE’s July 2024 termination of the shareholder agreement did not stand, and that Min’s November 2024 put-option exercise was valid. The court also ordered payments to two other former ADOR executives who exercised put options with her. HYBE said it would appeal; enforcement of the payout was later stayed pending the appeal.
Weeks after the win, Min offered to waive the ₩25.5 billion if HYBE dropped the remaining civil and criminal cases tied to her, NewJeans members, partners, and former ADOR staff. That offer did not end the appeal.
What Fans Are Saying — Unconfirmed
The bill. Big-firm hours on a year-plus, multi-case war add up. After the first-instance win, the appeal is a new invoice. The rumor is that checks slowed or stopped.
Roster clean-up. One shop, less chaos. Some trackers say Sejong is coming off several Min-side files while other firms (Hwa Woo has been named in related Belift / Source Music coverage in earlier phases of the fight) take different slices, because overlapping cases plus multiple firms is expensive and messy.
Reputation risk. The less kind version: a top firm got tired of having its letterhead taped to a two-year entertainment blood feud that already chewed through a group, a CEO title, and a stack of tossed complaints.
The waived prize. Sejong already has the ₩25.5 billion first-instance win on the wall. Min then offered to give it up. Some people think the firm simply did not want to litigate a prize the client put back on the table.
Again: none of that is confirmed. The only hard facts on the lawyer move are the August 25 resignation filings, the scope across multiple Min-side files, and the silence on why.
What Comes Next
September 18 is the first argument date in the put-option appeal. Until a new counsel of record is named in those files, the open question is who walks into that hearing for Min — and whether the walkout changes strategy, timing, or both. HYBE’s appeal of the ₩25.5 billion order remains live. Related civil claims involving Source Music and Belift Lab have been running on their own calendars.
