Documents confirm that Harin, a Japanese model whose K-pop debut fell through roughly four months before NewJeans launched, had in fact signed a trainee contract with ADOR.
For months, some commenters accused Harin of faking her story, alleging she was a Source Music trainee who never made NewJeans’ final cut under ADOR. But paperwork shows she was formally contracted to ADOR as a trainee.
On the 19th, YouTube channel 'Behind Master' posted a video titled “Shocking Exclusive! We Obtained the Trainee Contract… The Full Story Behind Harin’s Exit from NewJeans’ Debut Lineup,” revealing the trainee agreement between Harin and ADOR.
According to the video, Harin signed with ADOR on Jan. 7, 2022. The document bears Harin’s and her parents’ signatures, along with the official seal of then-ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin. The term ran through Jan. 6, 2023, but she was told the contract was being terminated just two months in.
Born in 2003, Harin passed a HYBE-affiliated Source Music audition in 2020 and began training. She later moved to ADOR and joined NewJeans’ debut lineup, only to be dropped right before launch.
In July, Harin appeared on a YouTube channel run by Japanese actor Takeda Hiromitsu, saying, “The company suddenly informed me my contract was terminated, and I had to return to Japan right away.”
She said her NewJeans debut had been set, but she was cut without explanation. Her phone and iPad were collected, access to the dorm was restricted, and she had to head back to Japan while effectively cut off from the team.
Shaken by the backlash that followed, Harin has since set her YouTube channel to private and returned to Japan to rest.
'Behind Master' added, “The one thing Harin wanted to clear up was simple: ‘I was, in fact, an ADOR trainee.’ It’s worth asking who that pile-on served. At minimum, a little respect is overdue.”
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)