Agency admits Kim Soo-hyun dated late actress Kim Sae-ron but not during her minor years

Entertainment company Gold Medalist on Friday, March 14, confirmed the relationship — a contradiction to its earlier statement that the two were never together — as it tried to clear up issues connecting Soo-hyun to Sae-ron and her recent death.

“Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Sae-ron were in a relationship from the summer of 2019, after Kim Sae-ron became a legal adult, until the fall of 2020. It is not true that Kim Soo-hyun dated Kim Sae-ron when she was a minor,” Gold Medalist wrote in a lengthy statement, as reported by Soompi.

After saying it would address the allegations “next week,” Gold Medalist released a statement earlier than expected after Soo-hyun showed “signs of severe psychological instability.”

Soo-hyun has lost over 500,000 followers on Instagram and reportedly faces brand endorsement penalties of up to 20 billion won (nearly $14 million) since YouTube channel Hoverlab released a video on March 10 that claimed that the 37-year-old began dating Sae-ron when she was just 15.

The video included a photo allegedly taken in 2016 showing Soo-hyun kissing Sae-ron, who was born in 2000. Sae-ron also posted a similar photo in March 2024, at a time when Soo-hyun was starring in the Korean hit drama Queen of Tears, but immediately took it down.

Sae-ron was found dead after an apparent suicide on February 16, which fans noticed coincided with Soo-hyun’s birthday.

In its latest statement, Gold Medalist said the outfit worn by Sae-ron in one of the photos posted by Hoverlab was only made available in the market in 2019, while another photo was taken on Christmas Eve 2019, based on the metadata.

“All the photos presented by HoverLab as evidence that Kim Soo-hyun dated Kim Sae-ron since her minor years were taken when she was an adult. The repeated claim by HoverLab that there are ‘photos taken in 2016’ is unfounded, as the two were not in a relationship at that time,” said Gold Medalist.

Gold Medalist also denied allegations that Soo-hyun ignored Sae-ron, whom the agency previously managed, when she reached out to him in March 2024 for help to settle her debt for penalties incurred following her drunk-driving incident in 2022.

According to the agency, Soo-hyun brought the matter to Gold Medalist, which shouldered the remaining 700 million won of the original 1.1 billion won debt that included brand endorsement penalties and damage to property that Sae-ron sustained.

“To link the cause of her death, which occurred a year later, to this is an unreasonable claim and excessively malicious speculation,” said Gold Medalist.

Gold Medalist blasted Hoverlab for implying that Soo-hyun was the reason why Sae-ron took her own life.

“In this process, Kim Soo-hyun has been dragged into being the scapegoat for the tragedy faced by the deceased. Context is removed, and a single distorted piece of evidence turns someone into a criminal, and because they are a criminal, everything becomes a target for condemnation,” said Gold Medalist.

“It is nearly impossible for the party being condemned to refute all of this, and even if they attempt to, it requires an enormous amount of time and effort to organize the vast amount of evidence and materials. In the meantime, the party suffers irreparable damage.”

While Gold Medalist said it understood that Soo-hyun is inherently subject to public opinion as a public figure, it drew the line on “falsehoods and personal attacks.”

“The reactions to Kim Soo-hyun’s private life that have been disclosed so far, or may be disclosed in the future, are something he must endure. However, we want to ask whether it is acceptable for the private matters of two adults to be disclosed without consent and whether he should have to endure all of this due to the non-consensual disclosure of private lives,” the agency said.

According to Tatler Asia, Soo-hyun — who also appeared in hit series Dream High (2011) and It’s Okay To Not Be Okay (2020) — was the highest-paid Korean actor of 2024. He is set to star in the upcoming Disney+ series Knock-Off.

Sae-ron, meanwhile, starred in films A Brand New Life (2009) and The Man from Nowhere (2010) as a child actress and featured in the series Secret Healer (2016). – Rappler.com