Actor Kim Soo-hyun's side again denied allegations that he dated the late actor Kim Sae-ron when she was a minor. It also argued that the allegation of dating a minor raised by the bereaved family of the deceased and Kim Se-eui, head of the Garosero Research Institute (hereinafter Gaseyeon), is a "cybercrime based on a false broadcast," and claimed "the essence of this case is a nationwide fraud crime."
On the 27th, Kim Soo-hyun's legal representative, attorney Ko Sang-rok, said on a blog that the case began when Kim asserted false facts based on a false statement left by the deceased, and pointed out, "Only after Sept. 30, when we officially demanded that they disclose the evidence they claimed to have, have they finally shut their mouths and remained silent for nearly a month."
He went on, "The photo of the deceased and Kim Soo-hyun cheek to cheek that the deceased posted on social media and then immediately deleted was taken in Feb. 2020, when the deceased was becoming a sophomore in college," and claimed, "(Kim Se-eui) did not correct the record through fact-checking when specific counterarguments were raised; from that point, he began fabricating and forging materials altogether."
The YouTube channel Garosero Research Institute has, since March, cited the position of the bereaved family to claim that Kim Sae-ron had been dating Kim Soo-hyun for six years starting at age 15. Kim Soo-hyun acknowledged dating the deceased but countered that they did not date when she was a minor.
Attorney Ko said, "Actor Kim Soo-hyun not only never engaged in sexual exploitation of a middle school child, but did not date the deceased for even a single day before the deceased became an adult as a college student," and added, "All the genuine, unmanipulated materials consistently show that the two began dating after the deceased became a college student in the summer of 2019 and ended in the spring of the following year, less than a year later."
He continued, "Kim Se-eui dressed up photos from their adult dating period as if they were evidence of dating when she was a minor," and added, "Since the last presidential election, Kim Se-eui has claimed on broadcasts nearly every day that 'thousands of photos will be released,' but not a single one has been produced to this day. None can be produced going forward either, because such photos (from dating when she was a minor) never existed in the first place."
Attorney Ko then also raised the question of whether the audio of the deceased that Kim Se-eui and attorney Bu Ji-seok released at a press conference on May 7 was "truly the deceased's voice."
He stressed, "After she passed away, the perpetrators colluded for their respective interests and revived lies the deceased could not carry out during her lifetime under the guise of the deceased's voice. Backed by the bereaved family, Kim Se-eui piled up fabricated evidence and distorted the narrative and amplified and reinforced falsehoods by using the dead as a shield. This case is a vicious crime that exploits the fact that it is difficult for anyone to easily refute words spoken by the deceased during her lifetime."
Attorney Ko said, "The essence of this case is evidence fabrication. This case is an unprecedented nationwide fraud crime that socially commits character assassination against an innocent victim through evidence fabrication," and added that not only the YouTuber side but also the deceased's bereaved family and the family's attorney would not be able to avoid legal responsibility.