K-pop group NewJeans’s contract omitted rights to ‘sleep and free choice’ – report

New report finds that record label Ador stripped child protections from group’s contracts when they were minors

The superstar K-pop group NewJeans signed restrictive record label contracts that waived their right to “sleep, rest and free choice”.

A new report from the New York Times found that the contracts were signed when the members of the record-breaking girl group were aged 14 to 17.

The contracts banned the performers from having an “insincere attitude” and engaging in “inappropriate romantic relationships”. They also struck standard child protection language which protected “basic human rights” including the group members’ right to education.

The contracts from record label Ador (a subsidiary of Hybe, home of popular groups BTS and Katseye) additionally excluded portions of the Korean government’s K-pop contract template stipulating that the label…