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.
Gold Medalist initially planned to release a statement next week with verifiable evidence to refute the claims made by Gaseyeon.
However, early this morning, Kim Soo Hyun exhibited extreme psychological distress, and we have taken measures to ensure his absolute stability. Since Gaseyeon’s report, Kim Soo Hyun has been suffering from severe confusion due to allegations that he was responsible for the late Kim Sae Ron’s sudden passing. Furthermore, on the night of March 12, after Gaseyeon’s broadcast, a vehicle with individuals holding cameras remained stationed across from our company’s entrance and in the parking lot until dawn. On March 13, around noon, people holding cameras were seen wandering around the building, further escalating the psychological pressure on Kim Soo Hyun.
Given these circumstances, we decided to urgently release a statement clarifying the key issues.
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 to the fall of 2020, after Kim Sae Ron had reached adulthood. The claim that Kim Soo Hyun dated Kim Sae Ron while she was a minor is false.
The photos that Kim Sae Ron posted on her Instagram Story in the early hours of March 24, 2024, and the images revealed by Garo Sero Research Institute on March 11, 2025, were all taken on the same day during the winter of 2020 when the two were dating. At the time, Kim Sae Ron was wearing clothing from a brand that released the item in June 2019, making it impossible for the photos to have been taken in 2016 when she was still a minor.
Additionally, the photo released by Gaseyeon on March 12, 2025, was taken on December 24, 2019, Christmas Eve, and we have secured the metadata for this image (attached below). The photo revealed on March 13 was also taken on the same day, as evidenced by the identical outfits worn in both images.
All the photos presented by Gaseyeon as “evidence” that Kim Soo Hyun was in a relationship with Kim Sae Ron while she was a minor were, in fact, taken after she had reached adulthood. The claim that these photos date back to 2016 is impossible, as the two were not in a relationship at that time.
So what about the letters and her using the nickname they had between them dating back to 2016 on her official Twitter? Well, he says they were just close acquaintances then.
The letter Kim Soo Hyun sent to Kim Sae Ron during his military service was one of many letters he wrote to close acquaintances. As evident from its contents, Kim Soo Hyun was adjusting to military life and frequently shared details of his daily routine with friends. The phrase “I miss you” was used in a casual context, as many soldiers do when writing to close friends during their service.
However, Gaseyeon distorted the narrative by claiming that the two had been dating since 2015, misrepresenting photos taken after Kim Sae Ron became an adult as if they were from her teenage years. They also placed a postcard sent after their relationship began alongside the military letter, making an ordinary letter appear like a romantic one. Additionally, the nickname Kim Sae Ron publicly used on social media since 2016 was misrepresented as a private pet name 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).
They also dispute that GOLDMEDALIST applied financial pressure on her.
After the DUI incident, Gold Medalist worked alongside Kim Sae Ron to address various penalties related to her acting contracts and compensate the business owners who suffered damages due to the accident. The total penalties from the accident amounted to approximately 1.14 billion KRW. Throughout the settlement process, the agency made efforts to minimize her financial burden by negotiating the amount. As a result of Kim Sae Ron’s efforts to repay the debt, the remaining compensation was reduced to 700 million KRW.
They 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.
The financial issues between Kim Sae Ron and Gold Medalist were strictly between her and the company. The claim that Kim Soo Hyun personally lent money to Kim Sae Ron or demanded repayment is entirely false. Kim Soo Hyun never loaned money to Kim Sae Ron, nor did he attempt to collect any debt from her. He had no authority or involvement in such matters.
At the time, Kim Sae Ron had already left Gold Medalist and lacked sufficient legal knowledge about her financial obligations. As a result, she mistakenly contacted Kim Soo Hyun, who was not a creditor in this situation. However, Kim Soo Hyun had no knowledge of the ongoing financial matters between Kim Sae Ron and Gold Medalist.
The company explains that she had no financial obligations to the company at the time.
On March 26, 2024, Kim Sae Ron’s legal representative officially acknowledged the efforts made by Gold Medalist and expressed gratitude for the company’s support. The representative further stated that Kim Sae Ron was willing to take responsibility for the financial damages and sought to discuss a repayment plan. This marked the end of all financial disputes between Gold Medalist and Kim Sae Ron.
After this, Gold Medalist never once demanded repayment from Kim Sae Ron. As a result, it is logical to assume that Kim Sae Ron considered herself free of financial obligations to the company. Connecting her tragic passing a year later to this matter is not only unfounded but deeply malicious.
Gold Medalist acted with care and understanding, ensuring that Kim Sae Ron would not have to pay gift taxes despite the company writing off her debt. Additionally, the company set the interest and late fees at 0%, further easing her financial burden. However, these actions have now been twisted into claims of financial pressure, and even worse, they have been falsely portrayed as the cause of her tragic passing. This misrepresentation is deeply distressing.
It’s difficult to take them 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 own duress.
——
So just to get this straight, his 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 that they only that they 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 when she was 19 and 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.
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 the pictures, but rather is most similar to 2017. And that in another picture with her he’s wearing glasses he was gifted to him in 2013 by Chinese fans that he was last seen using in 2015. In another picture, he’s seen wearing a hat that he had frequently donned from 2015 to 2017. Of course, it’s possible he wore them 3-4 years later as well, but the circumstantial evidence begins to add up. They are also pointing out that the filters used for these pictures were most prevalent well before 2019.
I also agree that while litigating the evidence is fine, it’s important to not forget what she said.
