Actor Kim Soo-hyun expressed his position regarding the allegations that emerged following the death of late Kim Sae-ron.
On the 31st, Kim Soo-hyun held a press conference at the Stanford Hotel in Sangam-dong, Mapo District, Seoul, regarding allegations of a romantic relationship with minors related to the death of late Kim Sae-ron.
On that day, Kim Soo-hyun cried as he said, "I apologize to everyone who has cared for me. I am worried and anxious even at this moment. I wonder what the consequences of my words will be. However, I thought I had to speak because I am that kind of person. There were also those who advised me, 'Let's handle this well,' and 'To manage the risk, you should show a little acceptance; that way, people will lose interest and later you can prepare to come back.' If I had listened to that, my private life with the deceased might not have been exposed to this extent. I could have avoided receiving threats every day about what photos would be posted tomorrow, or I wouldn't have been humiliated by the leak of photos from my private life."
He continued, "But I could not do that. I cannot accept a demand to acknowledge a lie as fact while being threatened. I will address the most asked question. I did not date the deceased when she was a minor. And it is also not true that the deceased made a tragic choice due to pressure from my agency over her debt. Apart from both being actors, the deceased and I were ordinary lovers like anyone else. We had good feelings toward each other, met, and eventually broke up after some time. After that, I hardly kept in contact with the deceased."
Kim Soo-hyun said, "Like most couples, it was a sensitive matter for us to contact each other after breaking up. Both of us were actors known to many, and when the deceased was at the same agency, I somewhat knew how she was doing, which made it even more complicated. So when the drunk driving incident occurred, I couldn't easily reach out to her. I heard from a YouTube channel representing the deceased's family that the last agency representative of the deceased said she was having a hard time because of me during the drunk driving incident. However, at that time, I understood the deceased was dating someone else. Therefore, it was delicate for me to contact her in that situation. We were already living our own lives, and I didn’t know what to say or if I should say anything at all."
Meanwhile, since the death of late Kim Sae-ron on Feb. 16, Kim Soo-hyun has been embroiled in various allegations, including a romantic relationship with a minor and pressure for debt repayment. The deceased's family claimed through the YouTube channel "Garosero Research Institute" that Kim Sae-ron dated Kim Soo-hyun for about six years when she was a minor. Previously, Kim Soo-hyun's side, which stated that the allegations of a romantic relationship with late Kim Sae-ron were "groundless," clarified that their relationship occurred after she turned adult, from the summer of 2019 to the fall of 2020, and also asserted that the claims regarding ignoring the deceased's financial issues are untrue.
In response to Kim Soo-hyun's claims, the family of late Kim Sae-ron revealed the contents of mobile messages exchanged between late Kim Sae-ron and Kim Soo-hyun from 2016, DM conversations late Kim Sae-ron had with acquaintances in 2024, and letters written by late Kim Sae-ron that could not be delivered to Kim Soo-hyun. The family stated, "We intend to put an end to the controversy by presenting evidence."
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