Actor Lee Jang-woo has denied wrongdoing as he was embroiled in a controversy over unpaid food supply bills at a sundaeguk restaurant, releasing all transfer records to prove his innocence.
On the 17th, his agency HUNUS Entertainment said in an official statement, "We would like to address the recent reports regarding actor Lee Jang-woo and the 'Hoseokchon unpaid amount' controversy. Actor Lee Jang-woo is a shareholder in and involved in the operation of Hoseokchon. Hoseokchon has already paid the full amount for the supplies to Mujin Co., Ltd., the contractual transaction partner, and the problem arose later when Mujin failed to pay Company A."
They added, "In other words, there is no direct contractual relationship between Company A and Hoseokchon or actor Lee Jang-woo, and reports suggesting that actor Lee Jang-woo did not pay the amount are not true," and emphasized, "Also, reports that 'Mujin was the owner of Hoseokchon' are not true; Mujin has never held equity in Hoseokchon. Actor Lee Jang-woo has no connection with Mujin."
Lee Jang-woo's side added, "However, we feel a moral responsibility for not sufficiently checking whether the middleman fulfilled its obligations within this transaction structure."
They also explained about the supplier's social media contact, "Actor Lee Jang-woo's account receives dozens of messages a day, and messages from accounts he does not follow are sorted into a separate 'message requests' folder, making immediate confirmation difficult."
They said, "It is true that those messages were not checked in a timely manner, but we want to make clear that they were not intentionally avoided or ignored," and added, "We regret that misunderstandings arose from inaccurate information and will provide necessary cooperation so the matter can be resolved smoothly."
In addition, Lee Jang-woo's side disclosed payment records showing that 445,378,771 won was paid for food supplies from Jan. 2024 through Sept. 2025 to prove his innocence.
Earlier that day, Dispatch reported that the sundaeguk restaurant operated by Lee Jang-woo had not paid 40 million won for pig offal for eight months. According to the report, Mr. A, who runs a livestock product distribution company in Cheonan, said he supplied pig heads, intestines and other offal to the sundaeguk restaurant operated by Lee Jang-woo starting in Nov. 2023, but the payments were not settled on time. The unpaid amount swelled to as much as 64 million won, and he said about 40 million won remains overdue.
[Photo] OSEN DB, provided by the agency
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