K-pop girl groups may sell record-breaking numbers of albums and have millions of fans and followers on social media. But you can’t call them workers – and neither are they protected under South Korea’s workplace harassment laws.
That was the ruling the Seoul Regional Office of Employment and Labor announced on Wednesday (Nov 20) in the case alleging harassment against NewJeans member Hanni.
The Vietnamese-Australian Hanni (born Pham Ngoc Han) told the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee last month that the incident took place at HYBE HQ in Seoul.
During a YouTube livestream in September, Hanni claimed that a manager of a K-pop group under the HYBE umbrella instructed her artistes to “ignore” Hanni. Hanni signed to ADOR, which is a subsidiary of HYBE, in 2022.
The incident incited NewJeans’ fans to lodge a complaint with the Ministry of Employment and Labor, which then led to a hearing.
In her testimony, Hanni said: “We have a floor in our building where we do hair and makeup and, at that time, I was waiting in the hallway because my hair and makeup was done first.”
“I said hello to all of them and then they came back about five or 10 minutes later. On her way out, [the manager] made eye contact with me, turned to the rest of the group, and said, ‘Ignore her like you didn’t see her’. I don’t understand why she would say something like that in the work environment.”
Hanni added that this was not an isolated incident and alleged that other disrespectful incidents have made her and her bandmates realise that “this wasn’t just a feeling. I was honestly convinced that the company hated us”.
“We are all human. I think a lot of people are forgetting that,” she said during her testimony. I understand that the contracts for artistes and trainees may be different [from that of regular workers], but we are all human.”
However, a statement from the Labor office noted that, “Given the content and nature of the management contract Hanni signed, it is difficult to regard her as a worker under the Labor Standards Act, which involves working in a subordinate relationship for wages”.
The relationship between Hanni and ADOR is one in which, “each party fulfills their contractual obligations as equal contracting parties, making it difficult to consider there was supervision or direction from the company”.
The statement concluded: “It is difficult to consider Hanni a worker under the Labor Standards Act, so the case is administratively closed”.
Hanni has yet to comment on the government’s decision but on Wednesday, NewJeans fans have rallied under the hashtag “IdolsAreWorkers” in support of the group.
One user on X commented that the ruling, though unsurprising, “shows the need for reform in the K-pop industry”.
