Controversy surrounding actor Kim Soo-hyun has continued without end. Following a private life controversy, the settlement structure and management transparency of his agency Gold Medalist have come under scrutiny.
On the 19th, one media outlet reported that Gold Medalist paid a total of only 670 million won in settlements to its contracted actors over the past five years since 2020. It said this figure is markedly low compared with the industry average. In particular, with the Kim Soo-hyun-led tvN weekend drama "Queen of Snow" achieving global success and the company's revenue surpassing the 20 billion won mark last year, suspicions were raised that "the distribution structure is excessively opaque compared with the performance."
In addition, reports that the largest shareholder of Gold Medalist, "Bareun No. 2 Investment Partnership," does not occupy the registered building and does not even have a signboard raised further questions that "the management structure itself might be opaque."
As the issue arose that settlement payments were negligible despite a sharp increase in revenue, the agency immediately refuted, saying "both the accounting and the address are lawful." Gold Medalist emphasized about the settlement structure that "unlisted companies apply Korean Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (K-GAAP), and actors' shares are included in cost of sales. There is no accounting problem at all," and regarding the investment partnership's address explained, "it is common for investment partnerships not to have a physical office, and the business registration was also carried out lawfully," mounting an immediate rebuttal.
They also denied any illegality, saying, "We have had an advisory contract with a law firm for several years and have subjected all management processes to legal review."
But views within the entertainment industry are divided. Some say that "considering actors' fees and the performance of works, the scale of settlement payments is excessively low" and argue that verification is necessary to protect actors' rights. On the other hand, others say that "comparing accounting treatment of an unlisted company simply with that of listed companies inflated the suspicions," drawing a line that the allegations are excessive.
The timing is the problem. Kim Soo-hyun halted activities earlier this year amid past relationship controversies with the late Kim Sae-ron. With legal disputes still ongoing and now the agency embroiled in settlement and management controversies, there are concerns that trust in the Kim Soo-hyun brand itself could be shaken. A source in the entertainment industry said, "With Kim Soo-hyun's personal controversy overlapping with suspicions about the agency, image management is not easy," and noted, "Without clear factual clarification and transparent communication, the noise could be prolonged."
[Photo] OSEN DB
[OSEN]