On November 21, 2023, NewJeans’ Hanni held a live stream where she interacted with fans. As Hanni’s Korean language skills are superb, many joked that she should stop improving. After all, fans found her small mistakes in the language cute! In response, Hanni stated that she wanted to take lessons, but her company did not let her.

Hey! I have something to say. I told the company that I wanted to take Korean classes too. But they said I can’t. They said I don’t need them. So I thought like, “huh? There’s no way I don’t need them.” But fter listening [to them], they said Bunnies said I can’t, so they didn’t let me take classes. I don’t have Korean classes. My last class was 2 years ago.

— Hanni

The company then came under fire when fans found the company’s response to be inadequate. They wondered why a company would stop an artist from growing.

ADOR Under Fire For Preventing NewJeans’ Hanni From Taking Korean Lessons “For Commercial Gain”

As the issue grew bigger, Hanni responded to the matter through their interactive platform, Phoning. She typed a heartfelt message in Korean and English. According to Hanni, the matter had been a joke between her manager and herself.

| Phoning

The topic about her Korean lessons were not discussed with the company or her CEO, Min Hee Jin. It was a small moment with her manager that she just wanted to share with fans in a light-hearted moment.

As the matter grew bigger, fans grew concerned. Hanni was able to address the matter swiftly, putting an end to further criticism against ADOR.

 Hanni cleared up the misunderstanding.