Actor Kim Soo-hyun personally revealed his position on the allegations against Kim Sae-ron.

On the afternoon of the 31st, an emergency press conference was held for Kim Soo-hyun at the Stanford Hotel Seoul in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Kim Soo-hyun and his legal representative, attorney Kim Jong-bok (LKB & Partners Law Firm), attended the press conference. Kim Soo-hyun spoke for the first time in 20 days since the controversy first broke out on the 10th.

Kim Soo-hyun said, “First of all, I‘m sorry. I think so many people are suffering because of me. I feel sorry that the deceased was not able to rest in peace. I consider myself a coward. I think I’ve always been eager to protect what I had. I was afraid of being hurt. I was busy running away and denying it. That‘s why it took me a long time to stand here,” he said, sobbing.

Kim Soo-hyun said, “I wondered what it would have been like if I had just told everything here from the beginning. If I had, the fans who love me and the company staff who worked so hard until the press conference wouldn’t have suffered this much. Every time my private life and the deceased‘s private life was exposed, I kept thinking, ’Let‘s tell everything tomorrow, let’s talk about it myself and put an end to this hellish situation.‘ But I hesitated every time. I thought, ’What kind of impact will my decision have? Will it make me and everyone else feel bad?‘”

Kim Soo-hyun said, “It was the same when the deceased posted a picture of me with her when ’Queen of Tears‘ aired. The deceased and I dated for about a year, five years before ’Queen of Tears‘ aired. However, I denied the relationship at that time. I think it’s natural to criticize my choices like this. It is understandable if you do not believe what I am saying about the things between me and the deceased. However, I only have one chance to say this here. Please listen to my story just this once, and I would really appreciate it.”

Kim Soo Hyun said, “I have received an unmerited amount of love since becoming an actor. Originally, I was a person who did not have much, but I became a person who had a lot to protect. Even when ‘Queen of Tears’ was airing, I had a lot to protect as a lead actor. At that time, I wondered what would happen if I admitted to my relationship with the person I had dated for several years. I wondered what would happen to the production company, the actors, the staff, and the company family. Whenever the choice between ‘human Kim Soo Hyun’ and ‘star Kim Soo Hyun’ diverged, I always chose ‘star Kim Soo Hyun’. That is why I was actually afraid every day. Because I am ‘star Kim Soo Hyun’, I was afraid of ‘what if everything I chose to protect turned into poison for me? Even if I were to go back to when ‘Queen of Tears’ was airing, I would make that choice again. I have no choice. I wonder, ‘Can I do whatever I want just to put my mind at ease?’. No matter how much I think about it, I don‘t think I can do that. If you criticize this choice as cowardly or selfish, I’ll accept it. And I apologize to everyone who cherished me,” he said, shedding tears.


Kim Soo-hyun said, “I have a lot of worries right now. And I‘m anxious. I wonder what kind of result the things I’m saying now will have. But because I‘m that kind of person, I thought I had to say something in the end. There were also people who gave me this advice. ‘Let’s do it positively’. ‘To manage risks, show that you‘re accepting it to some extent’. ‘You’ll lose people‘s attention, so prepare for a comeback.’ If I had heard that, my private life and the deceased’s private life might not have been exposed like this. I wouldn‘t have been threatened with “I’ll post this picture” every day or had my private life insulted. But I couldn‘t do that. I couldn’t accept the pressure to admit that the lies were true while threatening me. I‘ll tell you what you’re most curious about. I don‘t think the deceased dated minors. It’s also not true that our agency pressured the deceased to pay his debts and caused his death.“

Kim Soo-hyun said, ”Except for the fact that (the deceased and I) were both actors, the deceased and I were just like any other ordinary couple. We met with good feelings and broke up over time. We didn‘t contact the deceased much after that. Like most couples, I was careful about contacting him separately after we broke up. He was a famous actor, and I knew how he was doing when we were in the same agency. That’s why I couldn‘t contact him easily when he got into a drunk driving accident. On a YouTube channel representing the deceased’s bereaved family, the CEO of the deceased‘s last agency said that the deceased had a hard time because of Kim Soo Hyun when she was drunk driving, but at the time, the deceased was dating someone. That’s why she couldn‘t contact him,“ he explained.

Kim Soo Hyun said, ”My words may sound like excuses. I wanted to stay quiet no matter what people in the world say. I’ve always received so much love that I‘ve been misunderstood a lot. Things that aren’t true are passed around as if they were true. I thought that was something I had to deal with. However, the deceased‘s bereaved family claims that I drove the deceased to death because I was the deceased’s ex-boyfriend. They‘re forcing me to confess to something I didn’t do,“ he said, sobbing.

In the process, she revealed a recording file containing the CEO of Kim Sae Ron‘s last agency saying something different from before. She also refuted some of the evidence presented by the bereaved family by comparing mobile messenger conversations.

Kim Soo Hyun said, ”I don’t know why the CEO of the deceased‘s last agency is lying. I think it’s natural to take responsibility if there‘s something I have to take responsibility for. However, you can’t say that I did something I didn’t do,” he said. “It’s hard to see the conversations claimed by the bereaved family as having been written by the deceased. There’s no way I could have mistaken the age difference between us, and it’s impossible for me to not know the contract period for the company I worked for for four years. I never cast new actors or did any visual directing. The bereaved family is framing me as a ‘pedophile’ and a ‘groomer of minors.’ However, the people talking in 2018 and 2016 are different people. The results of a scientific analysis of the conversations through a verified organization show that the people in 2016 and 2018 were different people. If we present rebuttal evidence, the bereaved family will create new evidence and release it. Edited evidence. They are threatening me with fake evidence under the pretext that I dated the deceased.”

Kim Soo Hyun said, “I will happily accept what I chose. However, that doesn’t mean that I know everything that isn’t true. “Just as I went through the verification process, I hope that the bereaved family will now submit the materials they have disclosed to the investigative authorities and go through the verification process,” he said.

Kim Soo-hyun said, “Even at this moment, there are people I need to take responsibility for who are only looking at me. I see those people suffering and collapsing every day. I’m afraid of what they will reveal and distort today to drive me into being a murderer. After this press conference is over, I don’t know what fake evidence they will use to defame my reputation and harass those around me. However, if I can’t resist pressure and call lies the truth, I will be betraying everyone who gave their trust and love to ‘human Kim Soo-hyun’, ‘star Kim Soo-hyun’. I will be causing those people pain by saying, ‘They liked human trash’ and ‘They were deceived by Kim Soo-hyun.’ Even though I am Kim Soo Hyun who lives wearing a mask as a celebrity, I cannot do that,” he cried.


Kim Soo Hyun said, “What I did is what I did. I can receive all kinds of criticism for that. But what I didn’t do is what I didn’t do. I want to reveal that for everyone who still believes in me. I won’t ask you to believe me. I will definitely prove it. Thank you.” He expressed his will to prove his innocence.

Attorney Kim Jong Bok also gave additional updates on the situation. Attorney Kim Jong Bok said, “We will proceed with civil and criminal legal procedures against Kim Sae Ron’s surviving family, the person claiming to be her aunt, and the operator of ‘Ga Se Yeon’ for defamation, etc. We filed a complaint today. We have also filed a lawsuit for damages worth 12 billion won against them. We plan to proceed with this matter through legal procedures with the investigative authorities in the future.”

The YouTube channel ‘Garosero Research Institute’ (abbreviated as ‘Ga Se Yeon’), which represented the bereaved family of Kim Sae Ron, stated on the 10th in a broadcast that Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Sae Ron had dated for 6 years. However, Kim Soo Hyun and his agency Gold Medalist completely denied the allegations in their first statement. Rather, they foreshadowed legal action.

However, when ‘Ga Se Yeon’ paid no attention and released additional revelations and evidence suggesting that they were dating, Kim Soo Hyun and Gold Medalist admitted to the relationship in their second statement, but emphasized that ‘they met when they were adults, not minors.’.

‘Ga Se Yeon’ did not stop their revelations. The repercussions grew as they revealed messages that Kim Soo Hyun allegedly sent to Kim Sae Ron. Public opinion also rapidly deteriorated. So, Kim Soo-hyun and the gold medalist decided to hold a press conference instead of making an additional official statement.

And the content is a claim of innocence. Now, the ball is in the investigative agency’s court. Is Kim Soo-hyun‘s innocence, who repeatedly emphasizes that he did not do what he did while sobbing, true? Attention is focused on the future legal procedures.

Hong Se-young, Donga.com reporter projecthong@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.