Trigger Warning: Paedophilia

Min HeeJin, who cites exploited child actress Brooke Shields as her muse for f(x)s Krystal and stresses the innocence of NewJeans, leaves fans uneasy

NewJeans, a rookie K-pop girl group to debut under HYBE already have a great fan following: playful concepts and funny performance teasers. Creative Director Min HeeJin was another catalyst in her rise to fame, as she was responsible for several famous comebacks by SHINee, Red Velvet and NCT Dream while working with SM Entertainment. However, since the youngest of the NewJeans members is 14, HeeJin’s comments have made fans feel that she had pedophilic undertones and the sexualization of minors in her concepts left fans enraged.

Min HeeJin manages NewJeans under HYBE’s subsidiary label ADOR. They became the fourth-generation girl group with the highest pre-orders on day one at 81,000 copies, surpassing Aespa and Itzy. 

But since Min HeeJin’s muse was a 15-year-old Brooke Shields for f(x)’s Krystal when she just turned 18 and worked with idols when they were minors like SHINee’s Taemin, NCT’s Jisung and Red Velvet’s Yeri, fans are asking for her removal as NewJeans creative director.

Many fans have taken to Twitter, explaining their discomfort with her continuing to be the group’s CREATIVE DIRECTOR.

One of the users that goes by the username A donut said that Min HeeJin’s office was filled with photos of a young Brooke Shields exploited as a minor. SHINee fans brought back the time she sexualised Taemin when he was underage and during his solo debut, which made him uncomfortable. They had communicated that HeeJin didn’t want Taemin to work out so his chest would look like a little boy’s. How she described hanging out with recent NewJeans member Hyein, who commented on her “innocence” and wanted to “bathe in her refreshing energy,” led fans to label her a paedophile.

Min Heejin and NewJeans are trending on Twitter, with fans posting tweets like “I need Min Heejin in JAIL”. Another found her concept for Taemin’s solo debut strange: “This is so disturbingly strange.” One fan remarked, “When Min Heejin left, sm stopped debuting minors. By the way, it seems like a coincidence I don’t think so.” Another shared, “This is Min Heejin (43 years old) talking about Hyein (13).” One fan wrote, “Underage people shouldn’t be in such a toxic industry, especially where child exploitation and paedophilia are fairly common and Min Heejin is a complete freak who needs to stay away from kids.” Additionally, Hybe is also receiving loads of negative comments for not taking any action. 

“Min Heejin is creepy and paedophile as damn and I need her to stay away from these kids. There’s a fine line between art and projection and she literally projects every weird imagination she has onto these kids. Need her so bad.” One commented, “I don’t think it’s appropriate to support her like people need to cancel their orders and Min Heejin needs to be removed from her position.” One of the fans said. 

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