Actor Kim Soo-hyun attended a press conference directly after 21 days of controversy, denying allegations of dating a minor, but public opinion remains cold. Additionally, experts such as lawyers and profilers continue to raise points regarding Kim Soo-hyun's press conference.

On the 31st of last month, Kim Soo-hyun held an emergency press conference at a hotel in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul. The press conference, which was held 21 days after allegations surfaced that he had been dating the late Kim Sae-ron since her minor years, featured Kim Soo-hyun speaking directly.

On that day, Kim Soo-hyun said, “I did not date the deceased when she was a minor. It is also not true that she made a tragic choice because of my rejection or because my agency pressured her regarding her debt.”

He further pointed out a KakaoTalk message allegedly written by the late Kim Sae-ron, stating, “There are too many factual inaccuracies for this KakaoTalk to have been written by the deceased. The date of 2016 is also a photo from 2019. Also, the age difference between us cannot be wrong. Furthermore, the name of the agency I was with for four years and the duration of the contract cannot be wrong. The deceased only worked as an affiliated actor at our company. There is no fact that I was involved in casting new talent or visual directing.”

Kim Soo-hyun emphasized, “The bereaved family recently revealed KakaoTalk conversations that I supposedly had with the deceased during a press conference. Additionally, on that YouTube channel, they used statements from the 2016 KakaoTalk as evidence to label me a pedophile and accuse me of grooming minors.”

He added, “However, the individuals conversing with the deceased in the 2016 and 2018 KakaoTalk messages are different people. To prove this, I submitted the KakaoTalk messages from 2016, 2018, and this year with my acquaintances to a verification agency for scientific analysis. The result showed that the agency concluded that the individuals from 2016 and 2018 were not the same person.”

Additionally, Kim Soo-hyun's legal representative stated, “Our law firm has just filed a complaint with the Gangnam Police Station against the bereaved family, a person who claims to be a relative, and the operator of Gaseyeon for defamation due to the dissemination of false information using information communication networks, attaching the emotional documents mentioned by Kim Soo-hyun as evidence. Moreover, we filed a lawsuit at the Seoul Central District Court seeking damages of 12 billion won for the financial losses inflicted on Kim Soo-hyun and his agency.”

While Kim Soo-hyun's press conference, during which he actively denied the allegations, has concluded, public opinion remains cold. In fact, the materials Kim Soo-hyun disclosed have led to renewed amplification of suspicions.

Notably, Kim Soo-hyun revealed some results from a writer identification analysis requested from a testimony analysis center, highlighting a part of the content that states, "It can be interpreted that it was not written by the same person at a 92% confidence level." However, after the analysis results were made public, it raised concerns that the reported figure was too low to be trustworthy.

Furthermore, the center stated regarding the materials, “Due to the limited size of the sample being analyzed (text volume limit), there are limitations in interpretation. Results may differ if analyzed with a larger set of data, and this analysis result is disclosed as being based only on the provided materials,” concluding that it is highly likely that the messages from 2018 and 2025 were written by the same person.

In 2018, the late Kim Sae-ron was 17 years old and a minor, which contradicts Kim Soo-hyun's claim that he dated her starting in 2019.

Amid this, some claims have emerged that the institution analyzing the KakaoTalk contents lacks credibility. This is due to the testimony analyst who analyzed Kim Soo-hyun's messages previously predicting that a 20-something young adult was a “mid-40s intellectual” while analyzing messages from Jo Joo-bin, the operator of the 'Nth room.' Moreover, as it is a private firm rather than a national institution, public responses suggest that it is difficult to consider the KakaoTalk analysis results presented by Kim Soo-hyun as “fake evidence” against the KakaoTalk messages disclosed by the bereaved family of the late Kim Sae-ron.

In relation to this, experts have also begun to criticize. In particular, Bae Sang-hoon noted that the ‘KakaoTalk author identification analysis’ presented by Kim Soo-hyun’s side lacks credible verification.

Bae Sang-hoon stated, “Kim Sae-ron had a KakaoTalk conversation with someone, but it seems that the two messages were from different people. Four testimony analysts are said to have analyzed the authenticity of the two messages. This involved Kim Mi-young, who was a testimony analyst at the Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office,” adding that it was “ridiculed by Gaseyeon.”

He further expressed, “I also find it laughable. How poorly must the analysis have been conducted? But to be precise, it is not a public institution. It is not from the National Forensic Service or such. In fact, I do not trust the National Forensic Service either,” stating, “They were entrusted with the analysis, and these so-called testimony analysts supposedly worked at the Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office for a few years. Consequently, they formed a private testimony analysis center. They received the analysis by paying a fee. It is worthless. It is sloppy and worth nothing. An entirely different analysis could emerge.”

Bae Sang-hoon said, “In reality, there are various variables when analyzing the two KakaoTalk messages. The claim that 92% is wrong and only 8% is correct seems difficult to interpret. It could be intentionally expressed differently, and there are numerous variables. Presenting it as if it is highly scientific while using a private testimony analysis center is attention-grabbing.”

Additionally, lawyer Lee Don-ho, who watched the press conference, pointed out on his personal channel, “What we are curious about is whether Kim Sae-ron dated a minor or had a fling and we are interested in the contents of those KakaoTalk messages. If they weren’t dating, why were such KakaoTalk messages sent? He needs to clarify the disclosed KakaoTalk messages.”

The lawyer mentioned that as Kim Soo-hyun denied allegations of dating the deceased when she was a minor and stated that it is also not true that she made a tragic choice due to debt, he criticized, “He shouldn’t conjecture about the deceased making such a choice. If he does, it will lead to continuous questioning. Then, the public will ask, ‘What about that KakaoTalk message?’ If they dated for a year four years ago, he needs to explain what those earlier records were. It seems worse than not holding a press conference at all. Did he come out just for this?”

He continued, “The public cannot ascertain whether Kim Sae-ron felt pressure or not. Moreover, asserting falsely against oneself and being attacked on this issue strays far from the main point.”

Finally, this lawyer emphasized, “If they intend to present a judgment or trial result later, it seems there could be one of two options. They should either clarify that everything will be revealed in court or present a counterargument that the public could accept regarding the core evidence. If one cries out, ‘It’s all lies!’ will 90% of the audience empathize with that? In my view, there is no core. There is nothing of substance. If this were my client, I would not have handled it this way.”

Meanwhile, Kim Soo-hyun has filed a lawsuit for damages of 12 billion won against the bereaved family of Kim Sae-ron, a YouTube operator, and an unidentified person referred to as an aunt. With the filing of the complaint, this controversy has shifted from a battle of public opinion to a legal confrontation. As both parties hold sharply divergent positions, attention is focused on how this case will conclude.

[Photo] OSEN DB, provided by the gold medalist, YouTube capture.

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