HYBE and allegations of heretical cult, expedient marketing and plagiarizing concepts “Min Sso Gong?”

This led to legal action from BTS‘s agency Big Hit Music, a subsidiary of HYBE, as the term “Min Sso Gong”, meaning “A Small Ball Shot by Min Hee-jin”, surfaced.

Following CEO Min’s press conference exposing HYBE, various suspicions surrounding HYBE emerged online. Particularly, CEO Min’s rebuttal to HYBE’s claim that she received management coaching from a shaman sparked rumors about the relationship between a meditation group, deemed a cult by some, and HYBE.

First, online communities flooded with posts claiming that the music video for the song “OMG” by NewJeans (under ADOR) targeted the meditation group. Furthermore, after the press conference, CEO Min conducted an exclusive interview with a media outlet called CBS, a Christian broadcasting. This interview, along with the disbandment of GFriend (under Source Music) and the alleged connection between the meditation group and deities, fueled more speculation.

Most BTS members attended the school owned by this meditation group, held their debut showcase at the group’s performance venue, signed autographs at the group’s brain education center and endorsed the group’s cosmetic brand. Claims arose that BTS indirectly or directly promoted the meditation center.

Additionally, suspicions arose about TXT, also under Big Hit Music, regarding their connection to the meditation center. Some members of TXT attend the school owned by the meditation group, and their debut song “Crown” coincidentally matches the titles of chapters in the meditation center’s books.

Moreover, there were allegations that ILLIT’s debut song “Magnetic” suggested a connection to the meditation center due to its similarity to chapter titles in the center’s books. ILLIT is under Belift Lab, another label of HYBE.

The meditation center, which advertised that it could improve health and prevent various diseases through gymnastics and meditation, was classified as a heretical cult by the Orthodox Church in Korea due to similarities with pseudo-religious elements in its training programs.

Additionally, the controversy surrounding BTS’s “expedient marketing” from seven years ago resurfaced. According to reports in 2017, A was prosecuted 8 times for threatening Big Hit officials to appropriate 57 million won by saying, “I have data on illegal marketing activities. If you don’t give money, I will reveal the information to the media.” A is known to have participated in fraudulent marketing for Big Hit and BTS.

The Seoul Central Court explained why A was sentenced to 1 year in prison, “A’s crime is using secrets of his business partners to commit bad acts. However, we have considered that the victims also made the mistake of choosing fraudulent marketing, thereby giving the defendant an excuse to threaten them.”

As in the given judgment, the phrase “taking advantage of illegal marketing for blackmail” is clearly stated. It goes against Big Hit’s explanation in 2017, “A’s statement is one-sided and the illegal marketing mentioned is just a normal online viral marketing method.”

Besides, suspicions arose that HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk plagiarized concepts. B, a former magazine editor-in-chief, recently shared CEO Min’s press conference video on their account, stating, “I also feel resentment (towards Chairman Bang) for stealing my ideas all this time. The album titles, concepts, the photoshoots similar to the ones I worked on, and even the words I used in the interview, he used them exactly as they were. After I innocently provided him with ideas, there was no word from him.”

Big Hit Music stated that the allegations were false and announced their intention to take legal action against any infringements on their rights. They emphasized that the recent actions aimed to defame BTS’s reputation and amounted to malicious defamation, rumor mongering, spreading false information and excessive humiliation.

They further warned that they would not tolerate any offenders, applying a zero-tolerance principle without leniency or settlement, and would take stringent legal measures against them.