Lee Jung-jae is having an eventful year-end and New Year‘s holiday season, caught up in various ’noises‘ that seem to be proportional to his rising global status.

These include the management rights conflict that arose during the acquisition of the production company Ramengrain ahead of the release of Season 2 of ‘Squid Game’ on the 26th of last month, and the controversy surrounding ‘close friends’ Han Dong-hoon, former People Power Party representative, and actor Jung Woo-sung.

The management rights conflict between Ramengrain arose during the acquisition of the management rights of Artist United, founded by Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung. Former CEO of Ramonrae, Kim Dong-rae, accused Lee Jung-jae and others of fraud, claiming, “They initially approached me with the purpose of corporate hunting and tried to take away management rights,” and Lee Jung-jae and others countersued CEO Kim for fraud and false accusation.

In this situation, Lee Jung-jae and others were appointed to the board of directors at the shareholders’ meeting held in October of last year, and the management rights dispute ended with Lee Jung-jae’s victory. Ramonrae’s company name was also changed to ‘Artist Studio.’

Regarding this, Lee Jung-jae said, “I felt very wronged that bad news came out due to the other party’s sudden actions of not fulfilling the contract during the company purchase process,” and “Now, what I need to do is create good content such as movies and dramas. He explained, “Company management is done by professional managers and I have no intention of managing a company.”
On the other hand, regarding his friendship with former People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon, who has drawn public attention, Lee Jung-jae explained, “We are high school classmates (from Seoul Hyundai).” Last year, a photo taken of Lee Jung-jae and former leader Han in front of a restaurant went viral online under the title “Galbi Hoedong,” and in connection with this, Artist United, of which Lee Jung-jae is a major shareholder, was categorized as a “Han Dong-hoon theme stock.”

“I didn’t know that having a meal with a classmate would become such an issue,” Lee Jung-jae said. The restaurant owner gave him kimchi as a gift, and “I took a photo with the kimchi out of gratitude, and that’s how it went viral. He explained, “I have absolutely no relation to that person’s (Han Dong-hoon’s) actions.”

He also mentioned his colleague and close friend Jung Woo-sung’s ‘illegitimate child controversy.’ The public even gave them the nickname ‘Cheongdam Couple’ in reference to their special friendship. Jung Woo-sung recently made a stir in the entertainment industry by confessing that he had an illegitimate child with model Moon Ga-bi.

Lee Jung-jae cautiously said, “I believe (Jung Woo-sung) will do well in the future. He’s not a bad person, so I think he’ll think more and discuss things and move in a good direction.”


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com