Former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin is once again at the centre of the public eye, as reports confirm her newly formed company, OOAK Records, is getting ready to debut a new idol group. A report from SPOTV News on December 3rd showed that the agency will be carrying out a private in-person audition on December 7 as the first step towards launching its new act. Read on to know more.
Min Hee Jin To Reportedly Debut New Group Under OOAK Records
Min Hee Jin reportedly registered her company, OOAK Records, officially in October and bought a building in Seoul to locate the company. According to business filings, the agency is registered as a celebrity management company, with Min mentioned as a director. But it was more than a month after that when the label name became widely known, after it appeared in a press release submitted during the third hearing of Min’s ongoing legal dispute with HYBE.
The auditions, which will be open to applicants born between 2006 and 2011 regardless of gender or nationality, will be conducted at one of South Korea’s top dance studios-a signal that the company aims to pursue full-scale idol training even as a newly launched agency.
The announcement has, however, sharply divided netizens. While some showed excitement over seeing what kind of artist Min Hee Jin would come up with next, given her influence on K-pop concepts and branding in the past, others reacted skeptically and in criticism. Several users online questioned the timing of the plans for her debut, especially in light of the very public fallout she had with HYBE and the recent developments surrounding NewJeans.
Some commenters said that it seemed surprising that Min Hee Jin would move on with a new group so quickly after months of the legal fight with ADOR. Others questioned the infrastructure of her new agency, pointing out reports that OOAK Records presently operates as a very small-scale company. Some fans, however, replied that they would still look forward to the artistic direction that the new group may take under her creative leadership.
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NewJeans recently confirmed their return to ADOR following legal proceedings, officially closing a huge chapter of industry controversy.
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