The petition regarding actor Kim Soo-hyun, who denies the allegations of dating the late Kim Sae-ron during her minor years, is heading to the National Assembly.

On the 31st of last month, the petition titled 'A petition regarding the so-called 'Kim Soo-hyun Prevention Act' to raise the age of statutory rape against minors and enhance penalties was posted on the National Public Consent petition website. The petitioner A explained the purpose of the petition, saying, "I hope that the age applicable to the statutory rape against minors, which currently only protects children aged 13 and older but younger than 16, will be raised to between 13 and 19 and that the penalties will be enhanced.

A noted, "Recently, the grooming sexual crimes committed by Hallyu star Kim Soo-hyun against the child actress Kim Sae-ron, who was a minor at the time, have been revealed, causing public outrage. However, unfortunately, the reality is that the statutory rape against minors only protects children aged 13 and older but younger than 16, so Kim Soo-hyun cannot be punished legally."

A continued, "Although South Korean law clearly defines minors as individuals under 18 years old, the age limitation of the statutory rape against minors, which only protects those aged 13 and older but younger than 16, allows pedophiles to escape legal consequences after luring and deceiving promising young actresses from their childhood to lead them to death."

A therefore petitions for the amendment of the statutory rape against minors under the name 'Kim Soo-hyun Prevention Act' to prevent such incidents from happening again, stating, "The applicable age of the current statutory rape against minors must be raised from 13 to 19. The current penalties for statutory rape against minors, which are for molestation a fine, and for rape a prison term of more than 2 years, should be changed to molestation a prison term of more than 2 years and rape a prison term of more than 5 years."

As of 4 p.m. on the 9th, more than 54,000 people have agreed to this petition. If it receives more than 50,000 signatures, it will be officially submitted to the relevant Commissioner and committees of the National Assembly, surpassing the required number of signatures before the deadline of the 30th.

Kim Soo-hyun held an emergency press conference at the Stanford Hotel in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on the 31st of last month, standing before reporters with a haggard face. Kim Soo-hyun's side filed a lawsuit seeking 12 billion won in damages for defamation against the late Kim Sae-ron's family, an unidentified person claiming to be an aunt, and the operator of the YouTube channel "Garosero Research Institute" (hereinafter referred to as Gaseyeon) for violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.

At this event, Kim Soo-hyun read a prepared statement while shedding tears. He spent a significant portion of the press conference explaining and expressing his feelings about the disparity between human Kim Soo-hyun and star Kim Soo-hyun. He said, "When 'Queen of Tears' was airing, there were so many things I had to uphold as the lead actor. If I were to acknowledge my relationship with someone I dated years ago, what would happen? Every time my choices as human Kim Soo-hyun and star Kim Soo-hyun diverged, I always chose to be star Kim Soo-hyun, so I feel I am a coward."

In particular, he strongly denied the allegations of dating the late Kim Sae-ron during her minor years, emphasizing that the individuals conversing with the late Kim in the KakaoTalk messages released by the family in 2016 and 2018 were different people. He stated that this KakaoTalk was submitted to a verifying agency (Statement Analysis Center Trubaum) for scientific analysis and raised his voice, saying, "If the evidence the family has is truly the truth, I request them to submit all materials to the investigative agency and verify it through legal procedures."

Kim Soo-hyun's claim is that he dated Kim Sae-ron for about a year before they broke up five years ago, four years before 'Queen of Tears' aired. Kim Soo-hyun said, "I will accept any criticism regarding the choices I made. However, that does not mean that everything that is not true becomes true. What I did not do is something I did not do. I won't ask you to believe me. I will ensure to prove it," he sobbed.

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