Photo: Hanni at the National Assembly. Credit: Yonhap.
The biggest event of the National Assembly 국회 is the annual Audit of State Affairs 국정감사, a series of high-profile public hearings at the legislature. But this year’s legislative audit generated a different kind of buzz, as Pham Ngoc Han - better known as her stage name Hanni 하니, of the superstar K-pop group NewJeans 뉴진스 - attended the October 15 hearing of the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee 환경노동위원회.
As a witness for the hearing, Hanni testified that HYBE Entertainment 하이브 엔터테인먼트, the parent company of NewJeans’ production company ADOR 어도어, allowed bullying at the workplace. For the past several months, HYBE and ADOR have been locked in a very public dispute in which ADOR’s chief producer Min Hee-jin 민희진 accused HYBE of creating a rival girl group Illit 아일릿 designed to cannibalize NewJeans’ market share as a part of HYBE’s attempt to push Min out of ADOR. (See previous coverage, “Min Hee-jin Breaks K-pop.”) Because of this feud, according to Pham, Illit’s manager and members bullied NewJeans members by pointedly ignoring them.
Pham’s testimony is groundbreaking, as entertainers such as NewJeans do not receive the protection of the Labor Standard Act 근로기준법, as they are not considered employees but independent contractors. However, the recent rise of the gig economy, such as food delivery platforms that hire delivery workers as independent contractors, in turn raised calls that independent contractors must also receive protections that are equivalent to the Labor Standard Act.
Independently from the legal significance of her testimony, Pham’s star power caused a commotion at the National Assembly. Democratic Assembly Member Choi Min-hee 최민희, known to be a NewJeans fan, was criticized for separately meeting with Pham, although Choi did not belong to the Labor Committee. Jeong In-seop 정인섭, an executive of Hanwha Ocean 한화오션 who also testified at the same hearing to explain the deaths of five dockworkers at his shipyard, came under fire as he was seen snapping a selfie with Pham.
