Actor Kim Soo-hyun has been sued for damages by an advertiser, and a sharp conflict continues over claims of "violation of duty to maintain dignity."
On the morning of the 21st, the 22nd Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court held the first hearing in the damages lawsuit filed by cosmetics brand A against Kim Soo-hyun and his agency for about 2.8 billion won.
Previously, A had a model contract with Kim Soo-hyun until August of this year. However, after Kim Soo-hyun was embroiled in allegations that he had dated the late Kim Sae-ron since her minor years, A announced in March that it had terminated its advertising model contract with Kim Soo-hyun.
At that time, many brands besides A terminated advertising contracts with Kim Soo-hyun or decided not to renew them, and quickly drew a line by deleting existing advertising photos and videos.
Afterward, some companies that had advertising contracts with Kim Soo-hyun filed lawsuits against Kim Soo-hyun and his agency Gold Medalist seeking return of model fees and damages. Kim Soo-hyun was sued for damages of 850 million won by Cuckoo Electronics, 2.02986 billion won by Cuckoo Electronics, CUCKOO Homesys, CUCKOO Homesys Malaysia and other Cuckoo affiliates, 501 million won by Trend Maker, and 3.96 billion won by FromBIO, bringing the total litigation amount to 7.33986 billion won.
In addition, CLASSYS requested a provisional seizure of about 3 billion won on Kim Soo-hyun's apartment at Galleria Foret in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, and news that the court had granted it caused a stir.
A also filed a damages suit in the 500 million won range against Kim Soo-hyun and Gold Medalist. However, at the first hearing held that day, A increased the claimed damages it had presented as 500 million won to 2.86 billion won. A's representative said, "If the contract is violated, double the model fee must be paid, and we calculated it by adding the actual damages suffered by us."
He also said, "Before the late Kim Sae-ron died, she posted on social media that she had dated (Kim Soo-hyun). At that time Kim Soo-hyun did not admit the relationship itself, and after her death, when the relationship came to light, he changed his position," and argued, "It is a violation of the duty to maintain dignity for a superstar like Kim Soo-hyun to have dated an underage person."
However, Kim Soo-hyun's side has flatly denied it, saying he started dating the late Kim Sae-ron after she became an adult. A's representative pointed out, "If they dated after she became an adult, it means there was a bond since she was a minor, and that could constitute a violation of the duty to maintain dignity."
Meanwhile, Kim Soo-hyun's side reiterated that "the claim that they dated since she was a minor is completely untrue," and emphasized that he dated the late Kim Sae-ron after she became a college student. They added, "The initial denial of the dating rumor occurred before the contract period with A, and it is hard to understand how remarks made when there was no contract could be a violation of the duty to maintain dignity. The 'public disturbance' clause itself requires specific violations to be specified for it to take effect, and it does not apply in this case. The precedents cited by the plaintiff as grounds do not fall under cases where contract termination is possible," they rebutted.
They also raised the issue that "the announcement of contract termination was in March, but until June A's Korean and Japanese official websites and Japanese offline stores still displayed photos of Kim Soo-hyun. Even now, his images are used in online and offline store advertisements in Japan," and A responded, "From the time of contract termination, images and materials related to Kim Soo-hyun have been removed from the website," adding, "We requested withdrawal of those used in Japanese online and offline stores through the local headquarters or agencies."
Meanwhile, Kim Soo-hyun's legal representative has recently been refuting the bereaved family's claim on YouTube channels and elsewhere that the late Kim Sae-ron dated Kim Soo-hyun when she was a minor. Kim Soo-hyun has filed a criminal complaint for defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection and has filed a damages lawsuit seeking about 12 billion won. On the other hand, the bereaved family of the late Kim Sae-ron said they also filed a criminal complaint against Kim Soo-hyun for violating the Child Welfare Act and for false accusation.
The next hearing in the damages lawsuit filed by A against Kim Soo-hyun is scheduled for March 13 next year.<
[Photo] OSEN DB
[OSEN]