ADOR Faces Criminal Report Over Alleged Leak of NewJeans Hanni's Visa Information

Around 70 articles about Hanni's visa status ran in two days. That's the number sitting at the center of a criminal complaint filed against ADOR on Tuesday morning.

Cultural critic Kim Sung-su held a press conference outside Seoul's Yongsan Police Station on the 28th and announced he had formally reported ADOR and several of its employees for violating South Korea's Personal Information Protection Act. His core allegation: staff who handled visa-related work for Hanni, the Australian-born NewJeans member, leaked what they knew to outside parties.

The complaint lays out what information ADOR would have had access to through its management duties: Hanni's visa type, expiration date, the status of her renewal application paperwork, and whether she had signed the relevant documents. Kim argues that from December 2024 through February of last year, all of that information ended up in press reports citing "multiple industry insiders."

His argument about sourcing is pointed. Visa expiration timelines and renewal application status, he says, are details that essentially only immigration authorities, the individual concerned, and the agency handling the process would know. If that information reached reporters, he contends, someone inside ADOR put it there, and investigators should find out who and how.

The parents of the NewJeans members made the same point in a public statement on February 12 of last year, which Kim attached as supporting evidence. They described a two-day stretch in which roughly 70 speculative articles appeared covering Hanni's visa type and expiration date, and they called it a breach of her personal information and rights.

Some of those articles carried specific and damaging claims: that ADOR had prepared all necessary renewal documents but Hanni had refused to sign, and that if she left the agency, she would lose the E-6 entertainment visa sponsorship required to remain legally in South Korea, potentially making her an undocumented resident. Both claims were framed as sourced from industry insiders.

Police have said they will review the complaint and verify the facts before proceeding with any investigation.