A Blue House petition demanding the removal of HYBE Labels as a "leading company and workplace" designated by South Korea's Ministry of Employment and Labor has surpassed 50,000 signatures as of November 9 KST.
This means that the petition has met the required number of signatures to pass on as an item for evaluation, and the issue will be dealt with by the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee.
Every year, the Ministry of Employment and Labor designates 100 companies as a "leading company and workplace" representing each labor industry in South Korea. This year, both HYBE Labels and Weverse Company were included in the list.
However, following NewJeans member Hanni's appearance at a National Assembly audit held on October 15 KST, where the idol testified on an occurrence of workplace discrimination at HYBE Labels, the matter of HYBE's removal from this year's "leading company" list was suggested by assemblyman Park Hong Bae. Yet, according to the Blue House petition, the Ministry of Employment and Labor has yet to move forward with a formal evaluation.
The Blue House petition also argued that a similar case of a company being removed from the "leading company" list occurred in April of 2022, urging the National Assembly to take action against HYBE.