BTS member V and his agency HYBE have responded after private KakaoTalk messages between the singer and former ADOR chief executive Min Hee Jin were submitted as evidence in an ongoing legal dispute.

On February 12, the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favour of Min Hee Jin in her lawsuit against HYBE regarding the exercise of a put option valued at approximately 25.5 billion won (around $17.7 million). The case centred on a shareholder agreement between the two parties.

According to a report published on February 20, the first-trial judgment document stated that Min Hee Jin’s suspicions alleging that ILLIT had copied NewJeans constituted a legitimate expression of opinion. During proceedings, KakaoTalk conversations exchanged between V and Min Hee Jin were included as part of the evidence.

In one message cited in the report, V wrote, “(About how plagiarism accusations always come up and are never absent) Yeah… I know, right. I also looked at it and thought, ‘Ah, this is similar…’”

Following publication of the report, V addressed the issue directly via Instagram Stories. Sharing a screenshot of the article, he wrote, “This was part of a private, everyday conversation I shared out of empathy because she was an acquaintance of mine. I had absolutely no intention of taking either side. However, I feel very taken aback that this conversation was submitted as evidence without my consent.”

Photo: Instagram

HYBE also issued a statement to OSEN on February 20, saying, “Since it was a private conversation with an acquaintance, it was intended to express empathy, not to agree with any specific remarks from the other party.”

The agency added, “The artist also wanted to express dissatisfaction about the private conversation being submitted as court evidence without consent.”