NewJeans members spotted together in public for first time since hiatus announcement

After weeks of keeping a low profile following the announcement of their hiatus, the members of K-pop girl group NewJeans have been spotted together in public – albeit in two different countries.

The five members – Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein – have also started to post updates on the group's Instagram page which has been renamed from NJZ_official to mhdhh_friends – with the first letter of each of the members' first names forming "mhdhh".

On Saturday (Apr 12), Danielle – who turned 20 the day before – visited a birthday cafe in Seoul that was set up by her fans. The South Korean-Australian singer was also joined by fellow members Haerin and Hyein.

According to those present at the cafe, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein interacted with fans, signed items for them and even took a group photo.

The three were also spotted at a Danielle-themed exhibition where they took photos of each other and created their own fragrances.

Thousands of kilometres away, NewJeans members Minji and Hanni were spotted vacationing together in Italy. A few netizens also claimed to have seen them in Vatican City.

Minji and Hanni have since posted photos of their trip online, including one of the latter at the Pantheon in Rome.

In one of the photos, a member – believed to be Minji – wrote: "Bunnies [NewJeans' fandom], have you been well? I'm somewhere far away for a while. I think most of you already know haha. I just wanted to go somewhere no one will recognise me."

In another post, a member – believed to be Hanni – wrote: "If you happen to see us, just come say hi. But no [photos]."

The members of NewJeans are currently in the midst of a legal dispute with record label Ador. The group had previously announced they would terminate their contracts and leave Ador due to mistreatment. Ador, however, argues that their contracts remain valid.

In March this year, the Seoul Central District Court ordered the group to halt independent activities. NewJeans has since announced its decision to appeal the injunction and the court decision's will be announced at a later date.