Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Despite previously saying they would take a week to respond to the ongoing scandal involving Kim Soo Hyun allegedly grooming and mistreating Kim Sae Ron, the backlash has apparently been making GOLDMEDALIST feel the heat and they’ve released a statement today instead.
In it, they state the change in plans was due to Kim Soo Hyun’s mental state, basically.
We are issuing a statement on behalf of Kim Soo Hyun regarding the recent reports by HoverLab Inc. (hereafter referred to as HoverLab). Previously, GOLDMEDALIST announced that we would release a statement next week based on verifiable evidence to refute the claims made by HoverLab.
However, early this morning, Kim Soo Hyun exhibited signs of severe psychological instability, and we have taken measures to ensure that he can achieve absolute stability. Following HoverLab’s report, Kim Soo Hyun has been experiencing extreme confusion due to claims that the cause of the sudden death of the deceased is attributed to him. Additionally, on the night of March 12, after HoverLab’s broadcast, a vehicle with individuals holding cameras was stationed across from the company’s main entrance and in the parking lot until dawn. On March 13, around lunchtime, individuals with cameras were seen loitering around the building, continuing the psychological pressure on Kim Soo Hyun.
Given these circumstances, we kindly ask for your understanding as we urgently release a statement to clarify the key issues. Although this deviates from our original plan, nothing takes precedence over this matter, and we felt it necessary to communicate even if there are shortcomings.
Relevantly, they confirm that the two were in a relationship, but claim it was only from 2019 to 2020 when she was an adult.
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. The photos shared by Kim Sae Ron on her Instagram Stories on March 24, 2024 and those shown in HoverLab’s broadcast on March 11, 2025 depict private moments of the two during their relationship in the winter of 2020. The outfit worn by Kim Sae Ron in those photos was released by a brand in June 2019, making HoverLab’s claim that the photos were taken in 2016, when Kim Sae Ron was a minor, impossible.
Furthermore, another photo released by HoverLab on March 12, 2025 was taken on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2019, and we have secured the metadata for this photo. The photo released on March 13 can also be confirmed to have been taken on the same day, as evidenced by the matching outfits. 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.
So what about the apparent love letters and her using the nickname dating back to 2016 on her official Twitter that he also used for her? Well, he says they were just close acquaintances then.
The letters Kim Soo Hyun sent to Kim Sae Ron during his military service were among the letters sent to close acquaintances. As can be seen from the content, Kim Soo Hyun was adapting to military life and often wrote in detail about his daily life to his friends. Expressions of missing someone are common among soldiers and their close friends. However, HoverLab has claimed that the two were dating since 2015, distorting photos taken after Kim Sae Ron became an adult as if they were from her minor years and juxtaposing postcards sent after their relationship with letters from his military service to make ordinary letters appear as love letters. The nickname Kim Sae Ron publicly used on social media since 2016 has been misrepresented as a private term used only between the two.
They also say that the aunt is actually just a friend of Kim Sae Ron’s mother (who also spoke up recently backing her, so I don’t see the point of this angle).
GOLDMEDALIST also dispute that they applied financial pressure on her.
GOLDMEDALIST worked with Kim Sae Ron to resolve various penalties related to her acting activities and compensation for merchants affected by the drunk driving incident after the accident. The total penalty amount due to the incident was approximately 1.014 billion won. During the process of determining the compensation amount, we made efforts to minimize Kim Sae Ron’s burden. Through her various efforts to repay the debt, the remaining compensation amount was reduced to about 700 million won. This process included repairing and selling Kim Sae Ron’s vehicle, which was severely damaged in the drunk driving accident, to compensate for some of the damages. This was done at Kim Sae Ron’s request, where GOLDMEDALIST repaired and sold the non-operational accident vehicle, compensating for part of the damages. The claim made by the informant who appeared on HoverLab that we seized Kim Sae Ron’s vehicle is a distortion of this situation.
They also reiterate what they told Dispatch, which is that their legal notice to her was a formality, and add that Kim Soo Hyun was completely uninvolved.
Therefore, the issue of Kim Sae Ron’s debt was entirely a matter between GOLDMEDALIST and Kim Sae Ron. The claims that Kim Soo Hyun personally lent money to Kim Sae Ron or suddenly sought to get it back are unfounded. Kim Soo Hyun has never lent money to Kim Sae Ron, nor has he urged repayment, nor was he in a position to do so.
At the time, Kim Sae Ron, who had left our company, lacked sufficient legal knowledge regarding her debt. Thus, she sent a message to Kim Soo Hyun and not her creditor. However, Kim Soo Hyun was completely unaware of the situation between our company and Kim Sae Ron. At that time, it had been about four years since the two broke up. Kim Soo Hyun inquired about the content of Kim Sae Ron’s message to our company, and we responded to him, “It seems there is a misunderstanding as the other party lacks accurate legal knowledge, so it would not be appropriate to respond to such matters without confirmation from an expert. The company will contact Kim Sae Ron’s agency with legal experts to resolve this amicably without misunderstandings.” We also explained the purpose of the notice we sent to Kim Sae Ron.
The company explained that she had no financial obligations to the company at the time of her death.
Subsequently, on March 26, 2024, Kim Sae Ron’s side expressed through her legal representative, “We would like to express our gratitude for the sincerity your company has shown to our client over the past period, and along with this, we wish to convey our intention to take responsibility for the damages your company has incurred. With the determination of the amount of damages the client is liable for, we hope to coordinate and adjust the future repayment plan through mutual agreement.” This brought the creditor-debtor relationship between GOLDMEDALIST and Kim Sae Ron to a conclusion, and after processing the entire claim against Kim Sae Ron as an uncollectible accounts expense, we have not demanded repayment even once.
Therefore, from Kim Sae Ron’s perspective, it can be seen that she understood she was completely free from her debt to GOLDMEDALIST. To link the cause of her death, which occurred a year later, to this is an unreasonable claim and excessively malicious speculation. GOLDMEDALIST understood the difficult circumstances of our former actress Kim Sae Ron and, while not seeking repayment of the loan, took care to prevent her from incurring gift tax as much as possible according to the law. Additionally, in the process of paying her penalties, we treated it as a loan with 0 percent interest and also set the late payment damages to 0 percent. It is only heartbreaking that this has been distorted as if we pressured her for repayment and that it has been maliciously portrayed as the cause of the deceased’s unfortunate decision a year later.
It’s difficult to take GOLDMEDALIST at their word considering they had lied about it at the time, and the mention of a repayment plan existing sorta makes it seem like they had just agreed on something privately instead, which would obviously still put her under duress.
——
So just to get this straight, Kim Soo Hyun’s agency claimed all of this was made up and that they had no idea about any of it, dating back to when Kim Sae Ron made the initial social media post. But now, after enough evidence has emerged, they basically admit they lied all along. Despite this, we should believe they only dated when she was already an adult and that all the letters to her from when she was a minor were done as a friend. Regarding the financial burden on her, they say the legal steps taken were necessary and gloss over whatever repayment plan they agreed on.
The most relevant thing is their best defense for their relationship is basically that they coincidentally started dating basically the moment she was 19 while he was 31. Look man, this letter was from 2018 when he was in the military, and his own company doesn’t dispute that he wrote it.
2018.6.9
Today, the weather has been quite unpredictable. Like the weather, I’ve been tossing here and there, making it a perfect Saturday for writing or just thinking. This morning, the cloudy fog made me think, “What kind of day is today going to be?” Right in that mood, I went to a karaoke and sang Shin Seunghoon Ahjussi’s song and cursed…ㅇㅅㅇ
Had it been an hour? That piercing sunlight that made my skin like this, suddenly appeared and shone brightly, just like a lie. “Wow, this feels like something.” I grabbed my oil and went to the helipad, tanning my front and back. An hour passed. It got too hot, I couldn’t continue.
After lunch, I watched the re-run of ‘Heart Signal 2’. I cheered hard, felt a bid sad. Outside, the dark clouds gathered and all my emotions spilled out. “Wow, thank goodness I didn’t had any operation/mission today.” An hour passed. Unlike my expectations, the rain stopped. The clouds were dark, but the sunlight peeked through, creating this image where it looked like the sun was bursting out from the cloud. It was quite the sight, but I didn’t have a camera with me.
Earlier, I recalled a lonely scene from a November morning when snow fell onto an empty playground. When I first went on a mission at 4 AM, the whole sky was filled with dust until everything was covered in white. “Wow, I didn’t know our country could look like this,” I thought. On a day with 99% moonlight during an ambush, there were so many stars in the sky but the sky was so bright with stars that you could see the landscape clearly. As the weather got warmer, I noticed a shift in the scent of the season. It was tough from all the training, but suddenly, I could smell the scent of sunlight filling the air all day, making me feel sentimental.
Ah, how should I put it… I’m just trying to figure out what’s a good standard, what kind of day it is, and what I’m seeing. I wanted to share this thought, even though it’s hard to see each other. I don’t want to put pressure on anyone, but the most I can say is ‘I miss you.’ Anyway, it was a good weekend. I was able to write. I thought about making a comeback as soon as I’m discharged. I thought about traveling to Japan or far-off Europe. Here, I get swept up in these thoughts and wonder if I should go back to school. Ah, are we going together?! But when is my discharge? I looked back, and it’s already been 8 months since I enlisted. If I look ahead, there’s still more than a year left. Ahaha. So, moving forward, I’ll keep going. I’ll do my best. Thank you. Loyalty. From Private Kim who is far away.
You tell me whether it seems like grooming or not even if they’re telling the truth.
Update
Netizens are currently questioning the legitimacy of the agency’s claims, as they have found that her hairstyle in 2019 was not the same as in the pictures, but rather is most similar to back in 2017. In another picture with her, he’s wearing glasses that were gifted to him in 2013 by Chinese fans that he was last seen using in 2015. In yet another picture, he’s seen wearing a hat that he had frequently donned from 2015 to 2017. They are also pointing out that the filters used for these pictures were most prevalent well before 2019. Of course, it’s circumstantial — like it’s possible he wore those items 3-4 years later as well — but things begin to add up after a certain point.
Additionally, a lawyer has also called the financial reasoning of GOLDMEDALIST into question.
That said, while trying to litigate the evidence is fine, it’s important to not forget what she herself wrote.
“Hello, this is Kim Sae Ron.
First, I sincerely apologize to everyone who has been hurt or confused by my mistakes, as well as to those in the media industry.
Regarding the dating rumors spreading in the news, I want to clarify some inaccuracies.
The photo I posted on my story was from 2016. We started dating on November 19, 2015, and ended on July 7, 2021. At the time, I was 16 years old, and he was 30 (in Korean age). Our relationship lasted six years.
As an actress, when it was time to renew my management contract, I explored other agencies. During that process, I discussed a contract with my ex-boyfriend’s company and ultimately signed with Gold Medalist without finalizing the terms. I worked hard, scouting new actors and directing visuals, yet never received proper compensation for my efforts.
Unlike my previous management contract, this time, I signed a renewal agreement under financial loan conditions. When the time came to extend it, I reached out to my agency and Kim Soo Hyun, but both cut off contact. Later, they sent me a threatening legal notice stating that the contract would not be renewed.
In May 2022, my exclusive contract with Gold Medalist officially ended.
I sincerely apologize to the film crew, senior actors, writers, directors, and everyone who contributed to the projects that were affected by this situation.
However, Gold Medalist claiming that they had no idea what my intentions were contradicts their own actions.
I hope they recognize their wrongdoing and offer a proper apology for the harm I endured while under my previous agency.
As an actress, I feel it is my responsibility to clarify the truth for those who have been misled by false portrayals. That is why I have decided to share this post.”
No ambiguity about that.
