NewJeans member Hanni has won a civil lawsuit against two online commenters who posted insulting remarks about her, with a Seoul court ordering each defendant to pay her 100,000 won in damages.
The Seoul Western District Court issued the ruling in July, about a year and four months after Hanni filed the lawsuit. The case involved comments posted online following her appearance at South Korea’s National Assembly in October 2024, where she testified about her alleged experience of workplace harassment.
One commenter questioned Hanni’s account of the alleged workplace incident and described her as pretending to be a victim, while another accused her of working with someone to make money. The court found that although criticism itself is not necessarily unlawful, the specific comments contained insulting and abusive language that justified compensation for emotional distress.
The court also rejected one defendant’s argument that the remarks did not violate generally accepted social norms. The ruling distinguished between expressing criticism and using language that crosses into personal insults and contemptuous remarks.
Hanni appeared before the National Assembly on Oct. 15, 2024, during a parliamentary audit. She testified about an incident in which she said a manager associated with girl group ILLIT had allegedly instructed others to ignore her.
Her workplace harassment complaint was separately closed by the western district branch of the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office in November 2024. Authorities said it was difficult to regard Hanni as an employee covered by South Korea’s Labor Standards Act.
The latest ruling is not Hanni’s first legal action over online comments. She previously reached a separate settlement with another commenter after pursuing an insult case against that individual.
The lawsuit unfolded amid the broader legal dispute between NewJeans and ADOR, which began during the conflict involving HYBE and former ADOR chief executive Min Hee-jin. The group later sought to terminate its exclusive contracts with ADOR, while the agency maintained that the contracts remained valid.
South Korean courts subsequently ruled in favor of ADOR in the contract dispute. In 2025, a Seoul court ruled that the exclusive contracts remained valid, while a later Seoul High Court decision also required the members to honor their agreements with the agency.
The case involving the online commenters is separate from the contract dispute and concerns the specific remarks directed at Hanni. The July judgment awarded damages of 100,000 won to Hanni from each of the two defendants.
The ruling adds another legal development to Hanni’s recent history, following her testimony before lawmakers and her involvement in the wider legal dispute surrounding NewJeans and ADOR.
