Actor Kim Seon-ho issued an official statement and apologized over tax evasion allegations, and the advertising industry once again turned its back.
On the 5th, OSEN reported that skincare brand La Roche-Posay set to private the advertisement video of Kim Seon-ho that it had released in 2021.
La Roche-Posay had selected Kim Seon-ho as a model in February 2021 and switched the ad to private when allegations related to his private life surfaced. The controversy over his private life reached a new phase and the ad was revived, but five years later tax evasion allegations emerged, and the ad was once again set to private. The exact reason for the ad's privatization has not been disclosed, but speculation that it was due to the fallout from the tax evasion allegations is dominant.
The severing of advertising ties with Kim Seon-ho began on the 3rd. That day, fashion brand Beanpole deleted the teaser video for its 2026 spring collection that it had uploaded to its official account. The teaser video has disappeared from official SNS and YouTube, and the YouTube video was set so it can only be viewed by entering a link with limited public access.
Kim Seon-ho was accused of effectively evading taxes by creating a family corporation operated separately from his agency Fantagio. He reportedly created and operated a separate performance planning company at his home address in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and the company's inside director and auditor are said to be Kim Seon-ho's parents.
It was reported that Kim Seon-ho used the corporate bank account to pay salaries to his parents, and that the parents who received the salaries then transferred the money back to Kim Seon-ho. Kim Seon-ho's parents used the corporate card to pay living and entertainment expenses, 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 arose. The controversy grew when it was reported that Kim Seon-ho received settlements through that single-person corporation while he was with his previous agency.
Fantagio said that Kim Seon-ho established the corporation in January 2024 for acting activities and theater production, and that the settlements for activities carried out through that corporation until he signed a new exclusive contract with Fantagio in February 2025 were paid through the corporation.
Fantagio said the company recognized that the operation of the corporation itself could be misleading, and after that Kim Seon-ho stopped operating the corporation. They said that no substantial activities were conducted through the corporation for more than a year recently, and bowed, saying they deeply regret establishing and maintaining the corporation for about a year without fully understanding corporate operations.
Meanwhile, Kim Seon-ho is scheduled to appear in TVING "In the Net," Disney+ "Portraits of Delusion," and tvN "Euiwon-nim i bouhasa" ahead of their releases. With a red light now on his next projects due to the tax evasion allegations, "In the Net" side said, "It was discussed as a TVING original drama but scheduling fell through early on, separate from this matter." "Euiwon-nim i bouhasa" is understood to be in the pre-crank-in stage.
[OSEN]