After laying out demands for Kim Soo Hyun and Lee Jin Ho in connection to the alleged grooming and mistreatment of Kim Sae Ron, the family of late actress have announced a lawsuit against the cyberwrecker, likening what he did to her to murder. As for Kim Soo Hyun, in addition to reiterating their wish for an apology, they also state that following Kim Sae Ron’s plea for help after the first legal notice, the agency sent her a second one that was previously unknown.
Instead, through his agency, he sent a second certification of contents to the deceased. To briefly explain the contents of the second certification of contents, contrary to the recent statements made by Kim Soo Hyun’s side, it mentioned that the certification of contents was sent due to acts of embezzlement and other issues. However, in essence, it demanded that the deceased repay her debts within a given period. Additionally, it included instructions not to contact Kim Soo Hyun or other actors from his agency directly and threatened legal action regarding the photo she uploaded.
Even after the second certification of contents, there was not a single instance of contact from Kim Soo Hyun nor was there any communication with other actors from his agency.
That second notice was sent on March 25, the day after Kim Sae Ron posted the picture of the two.
At the time, Queen Of Tears was blowing up, and GOLDMEDALIST mentioned that drama in the notice.
In particular, the letter stated that “if you upload such photos to social media or contact anyone from the agency, you will have to compensate the ‘Queen of Tears’ for any damages caused by such photos.”
Garo Sero Institute have also claimed there’s evidence of GOLDMEDALIST working with Lee Jin Ho on videos to defame Kim Sae Ron, so that’s one aspect to look out for in the upcoming case.
Other than that, her family say they are reviewing potential legal action against Kim Soo Hyun still.
Kim Sae Ron’s father also came forward and denied that the legal notices from GOLDMEDALIST were framed as a formality to her.
Has GOLD MEDALIST filed a lawsuit or report for embezzlement against Kim Soo Hyun or the CEO Lee Sa Rang? Is that why the agency sent Sae Ron a legal notice demanding the ₩700 million KRW (about $482,000 USD) be paid back in 13 months, threatening to sue if not paid?
Bringing up an absurd ’embezzlement’ talk does that make those actions right. So, please stop playing these childish games. At no point did anyone from GOLD MEDALIST reach out to Sae Ron and tell her not to be surprised. No one told her that the legal notice was part of a legal process that the agency was following.
Call logs from GOLDMEDALIST to Kim Sae Ron’s father were also revealed, showing they started on March 13 (day before they released their long statement) and tried to schedule a convo with him many times.
Additionally, as I speculated in the last article, the reason the family choose to turn to Garo Sero is because there was an attempt to submit all this to mainstream news outlets, but they were turned away.
I reached out to major TV networks and cable news channels via calls and emails, but they politely declined, saying, “Give the exclusive to another media outlet, and we’ll report on it afterward.” One outlet said, “There’s no way we can publish this.” So when people ask why this information came out through Garo Sero, the answer is simple: I tried the mainstream media, but they all refused. In the meantime, Garo Sero was already aware that Kim Soohyun and Kim Saeron had dated but hadn’t been able to publish it. By chance, I ended up communicating with them.
Don’t get it twisted, Garo Sero have always sucked and will continue to suck, they’re shamelessly milking this in a completely unethical way, and are using it to promote their own propaganda, but the other option for the family appears to have been letting Kim Soo Hyun bury this.
Update
GOLDMEDALIST has responded, saying that despite the second legal notice being revealed, that these were still just formalities and not threats or demands. They reiterate that the debt issue was settled and that the request to not contact Kim Soo Hyun was for legal reasons. Additionally, they basically reframe the Queen Of Tears mention as not pressuring her.
When Kim Sae Ron posted the photo on social media on March 24, it was during the airing of ‘Queen of Tears’. At least 50 articles poured out from 2:14 AM to 11 AM, when our company revealed our official position. We informed Kim Sae Ron that impulsive actions could affect all parties involved, including the drama production company, actors, broadcasting station, and more. We never pressured her to pay for damages.
Just a warning out of the goodness of their hearts, I guess.
GOLDMEDALIST also outright deny any connection with Lee Jin Ho’s videos.
Kim Sae Ron’s contract with Gold Medalist expired in November 2022. Afterward, she was working with a different entertainment company. The manager whom Garo Sero Research Institute claimed to be connected to YouTuber Lee Jin Ho is actually affiliated with that other company and is not an employee of GOLD MEDALIST. Despite this, Garo Sero Research Institute is distorting the facts by making carefully worded statements at press conferences—such as “We are at the stage of identifying the manager from Kim Soo Hyun’s agency, whom Lee Jin Ho called a close friend“—which are designed to avoid legal responsibility while misleading the public.
Additionally, they deny colluding with media outlets to defame Seo Yea Ji, which I wasn’t even aware was something being spread, and then they request that Kim Sae Ron’s family stop spreading false information. Specifically, they explain reps visited her funeral twice and left condolence money, they then haggled over the semantics of who is an “aunt”, and then tried to make Kim Soo Hyun a victim similar to Kim Sae Ron.
The bereaved family has cited the media coverage of the deceased’s private life as one of the reasons behind her passing. If that is the case, we must ask, what exactly are the bereaved family and Garo Sero Institute doing to Kim Soo Hyun now then?
The core problem with this logic is that getting called out for allegedly grooming a minor is not really something where “it’s their private life” works as a defense, while stuff being bombarded with hate and speculation over whether you’re employed part-time and/or if you’re ever captured having fun quite clearly does.
Anyway, GOLDMEDALIST conclude by once again denying that Kim Soo Hyun dated Kim Sae Ron as a minor.
To me, the discourse about which pictures and times are legit or not distract from the main issue of Kim Sae Ron’s own words on when the relationship started and Kim Soo Hyun writing her totally-not-love (according to the agency) letters from the military while she was a minor (17), neither of which the agency has been able to dispute. It’s definitely one of the downsides about having to turn to an outlet like Garo Sero, as they end up partially controlling the narrative and they don’t care about anything but themselves, nor do they really know how to deal with something of this magnitude effectively.
