What issues were there in the entertainment industry on April 28 several years ago? A netizen who spread fake news about Seo Yi-sook was arrested, and actor Kim Soo-hyun, embroiled in the late Kim Sae-ron's underage dating allegations, had just a year ago written a new history of romantic comedy as the 'queen of tears.' Let's take a look at the entertainment industry issues from N years ago today with the OSEN time machine.
# Netizen arrested for spreading fake news about Seo Yi-sook
On April 28, 2022, a 20-something netizen who spread false rumors about actress Seo Yi-sook's death on the internet was arrested by the police. It was an incident that caused great confusion in the entertainment industry and among the public by distributing a manipulated article as if it were a reality.
Previously, netizen Mr. A posted on an online community on September 20, 2021, with the title 'Actress Seo Yi-sook passed away from cardiac arrest today (20th)... netizens mourn.'
Mr. A created a captured image by manipulating the media name and the reporter's name, making it look like a real article. However, there was no journalist by that name at the media outlet, and it was revealed that no article of that content had ever been written. Nevertheless, the false post created by Mr. A rapidly spread online, causing significant confusion among many netizens and entertainment industry personnel.
In particular, it was confirmed that Mr. A had repeatedly engaged in similar acts before the incident. According to the police, he had previously spread rumors about Seo Yi-sook's death from cardiac arrest in July of the same year. Seo Yi-sook's agency announced a firm response policy and started legal actions, and the Mapo Police Station in Seoul, which received the complaint, began an investigation. The police have been tracking the IP address that Mr. A is believed to have used.
The arrested Mr. A was identified as a male in his twenties who is serving in the military and will be tried as a civilian after his discharge. It was reported that during the military prosecution investigation, Mr. A stated regarding the spread of false information, 'I mistook Seo Yi-sook's character in the works for her actual image.'
# Kim Soo-hyun, had enjoyed the glory of the 'queen of tears' until just a year ago...
Actor Kim Soo-hyun enjoyed the glory of the tvN drama 'The Queen of Tears' just a year ago. This drama tells the story of the romantic crisis and miraculous love of a three-year married couple, Hong Hae-in (played by Kim Ji-won), the queen of department stores and third-generation chaebol, and Baek Hyun-woo (played by Kim Soo-hyun), the son of a village head in Yongdu-ri.
In the last episode a year ago, after the death of Yoon Eun-seong (played by Park Sung-hoon), Baek Hyun-woo and Hong Hae-in confirmed their feelings again, culminating in a happy ending. After everything was resolved, the two spent happy times having a child. Notably, the two, who were together until their 80s, were reunited in a lavender flower field after death, which was heartwarming.
As a result, the last episode of 'The Queen of Tears' recorded the highest viewership rating in the history of tvN dramas. Initially, the top spot for tvN drama viewership ratings was held by 'Crash Landing on You' (21.7%), a previous work of writer Park Ji-eun starring Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin. Among these, 'The Queen of Tears' surpassed the record set by 'Crash Landing on You' after four years with an unprecedented figure of 24.9%, taking the top spot.
Although it was praised for writing a new history in the romantic comedy genre, a year later, it became embroiled in sensitive controversies that severely impacted Kim Soo-hyun's image. Allegations have been raised that Kim Soo-hyun was in a romantic relationship with the late Kim Sae-ron when she was underage. The family of the deceased claims that based on the late Kim Sae-ron's text messages and letters, they began dating when she was 15 and he was 27 in 2015, and they bolstered their claim by revealing messages exchanged in 2016 and 2018, such as 'When can I hold you and fall asleep?'
In response, Kim Soo-hyun held a press conference and stated, 'The family is framing me as a pedophile and grooming an underage person. However, I am not the one who exchanged KakaoTalk messages with the deceased in 2016 and 2018; it was someone else. To prove this fact, I submitted the KakaoTalk messages from 2016, 2018, and this year that I exchanged with acquaintances to a scientific analysis agency. That agency concluded that the person in the 2016 and 2018 messages was not me.'
However, the family and Garosero Research Institute maintain that Kim Sae-ron started dating Kim Soo-hyun from the end of 2015, which means they began dating when she was 15.
[Photo] OSEN DB
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