Actor Kim Seon-ho is facing allegations of tax evasion, and moves by the advertising industry to cut ties have also begun. Five years ago, Kim Seon-ho survived a new phase of personal life rumors and avoided being dropped by brands; attention now focuses on how he will overcome this crisis.
On the 3rd, a fashion brand converted an advertisement featuring Kim Seon-ho to private. On that day the fashion brand deleted the teaser video for its 2026 spring collection that had been uploaded to its official account. The teaser video has disappeared from all official social media and YouTube, and the YouTube video was set to limited access so it can only be viewed by entering the link.
The exact reason for this action has not been disclosed, but it is presumed to be because Kim Seon-ho has recently been embroiled in allegations of tax evasion. It is alleged he set up a family corporation separate from his agency Fantagio and carried out actual tax evasion: he is said to have created and operated a separate performance planning company at his home address in Yongsan District, Seoul, and the company's internal director and auditor are reported to be Kim Seon-ho's parents.
Kim Seon-ho reportedly used the corporate bank account to pay salaries to his parents, and there are reports that the parents who received the salaries then transferred the pay back to Kim Seon-ho. His parents are said to have used the corporate card to pay for living expenses and entertainment, and because the planning company is not registered as a popular culture and arts planning business and shares the same address as Kim Seon-ho's residence, suspicions of a paper company have also arisen.
In response, Fantagio said, "The one-person corporation in the past was established for theater production and activities related to theater and was never set up with the deliberate purpose of tax avoidance or tax evasion. After transferring to Fantagio, actual business activities ceased about a year ago, and we are currently proceeding with closure procedures in accordance with relevant laws and procedures," but the incomplete explanation disappointed people.
It is also reported that when Kim Seon-ho belonged to his previous agency, settlement payments were received through that one-person corporation. Fantagio said, "After the corporation was established in January 2024, it is true that a settlement was temporarily received (from the previous agency)," and the previous agency explained, "We simply transferred the settlement to the place requested by the actor."
Kim Seon-ho experienced being dropped by advertisers in 2021, five years ago, over personal life controversies. At the time, a woman identified as A, who said she was his ex-girlfriend, alleged she became pregnant but Kim Seon-ho encouraged her to have an abortion citing projects, and he promised to marry her after the project ended but erased traces of her after the abortion. Kim Seon-ho apologized, saying, "I met that person with good feelings. In that process, my negligence and thoughtless behavior hurt that person."
After "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha," when a smooth road seemed likely for Kim Seon-ho, he had to take time in self-reflection because of personal life rumors, and the brands that had used him as their face chose to cut ties by deleting videos and posts or switching them to private. But when messages between Kim Seon-ho and A were later released, his personal controversy entered a new phase. As a result, Mimamask and Foodbucket changed ads they had made private back to public, and 11Street joined in, leading to a miraculous revival.
At the time, an e-commerce company told OSEN, "He made an official apology, and the initially mentioned other party officially accepted the apology, so we decided to resume and show Kim Seon-ho's advertising activities as an ad model. The parties reached an agreement about the issue and expressed a wish that it not become controversial anymore, so we proceeded," the company explained.
Having fallen after personal life rumors, Kim Seon-ho was able to stand back up after enduring a long time. He succeeded in a comeback after meeting the hit "Does This Love Translate?", but he is again facing a crisis after being embroiled in allegations of tax evasion. For now the matter remains an allegation, and with Kim Seon-ho actively providing explanations, attention will focus on future developments.
[OSEN]