During the national assembly's state audit, Hanni revealed the reasons she felt that HYBE hated NewJeans and exposed the instances they were bullied at work.
On October 15, NewJeans Hanni, a 20-year-old Vietnamese-Australian, bravely attended the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee's state audit as its witness, along with ADOR's new CEO, Kim Joo Young, as the reference person.
The two were summoned to talk about the topic workplace bullying and harassment, which the idol personally raised during a live broadcast last month.
The issue started when the "Ditto" singer claimed that ILLIT's manager told the girl group to ignore Hanni, making her feel hurt.
After the livestream, the Ministry of Employment and Labor received about 100 investigation complaints and quickly rose as a social issue.
When Hanni testified, she then revealed more about the bullying incidents not only her but NewJeans had to endure.
"The incident didn't just happen one time. Ever since my debut, I’ve met high-ranking officials, and they never greeted me. From what I have learned while living in Korea was that older people were more considerate when it comes to manners; hence, I think that not greeting me was rude as a human being, regardless of my occupation."
She continued:
"There's a certain atmosphere that I felt within the company. It was ambiguous so it was difficult to tell anyone or to say anything because of that vibe. To be honest, I thought that it was just my personal thoughts and feelings or only the person who was hurt could feel.
But recently, I saw what happened with the (ILLIT) manager I mentioned earlier and not long ago, I saw employees from the company badmouthing NewJeans on an app called Blind. I also heard a recording of a manager from the company's PR team trying to downplay the results of our Japanese debut to gain a reverse viral."
With this, NewJeans Hanni accused HYBE and its staff of being against them.
"Seeing all these, I became certain that the atmosphere I felt was not just a feeling, but that the company (really) hated us.”
Read also: Hanni Faces Backlash for Sharing Frustration to HYBE Artists Avoiding NewJeans: 'You Deserve It'
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Written by Eunice Dela Cruz
