Actor Kim Soo-hyun's side strongly rebutted through legal representatives the late Kim Sae-ron's family's allegation of "dating a minor."
In May, an audio recording (claimed to be of the late Kim Sae-ron) that included remarks saying she had dated Kim Soo-hyun since middle school was released. In response, Kim Soo-hyun's side said the recording was completely forged and that Gold Medalist has determined the recording was produced using AI and other methods, and said it would take a firm stance against the false claims. Kim Soo-hyun's side later, after about five months, issued a new statement and revisited the facts.
On the 29th, Kim Soo-hyun's legal representative, lawyer Ko Sang-rok of Law Firm Feel, said on his YouTube channel Jin-gyeok's Go Byun that the claim that "the late person had been dating since middle school for six years" was "a falsehood with no factual basis."
Lawyer Ko emphasized that the "intimate photos" released by the bereaved family were all taken from late 2019 to spring 2020, when the late person was already an adult. He added that the actual relationship began in the summer of 2019 and ended the following spring, and pointed out that if they had been dating for years since middle school, photos from that period should exist, but none do.
Lawyer Ko also released records from Kim Soo-hyun's military service. He said the actor left about 150 diary-like letters exchanged with his then-real partner throughout his military life and explained that the letters sent to the late person were closer to essays about life in the military and post-discharge plans than correspondence between lovers.
He added that whenever he had time, the actor sent letters to acquaintances who were active in the industry to reaffirm his intention to return, and that the single letter sent to the late person was merely part of that continuity.
The controversy began with a draft statement in a KakaoTalk conversation the late person supposedly sent to an acquaintance in March 2024. Lawyer Ko said the draft contained numerous obvious falsehoods and specifically rebutted that it maliciously portrayed the actor by distorting the late person's actual age to write "I was 16, he was 30."
He went on to say that a photo the late person posted on social media and then deleted was also taken in February 2020, when she was a sophomore in college, and said that the claim that they dated since the third year of middle school cannot be sustained based on that.
Lawyer Ko said the harm the actor is suffering stems from organized and malicious cybercrime and noted that cyber "rekka" is as serious a social evil as organized violence in the digital age. He emphasized that fake news is not content but a crime and that society must firmly rein it in.
Earlier in February, the late Kim Sae-ron died at the age of 24. The bereaved family claimed she had dated Kim Soo-hyun since she was a minor, but Kim Soo-hyun's side acknowledged the relationship while saying the timing was from the summer of 2019 after she became an adult. Kim Soo-hyun has filed a criminal complaint for defamation and a civil damages suit against the bereaved family.
[Photo] OSEN DB
[OSEN]