SEOUL, March 14 — South Korean actor Kim Soo-hyun’s agency, GoldMedalist, has jumped the gun and dropped an official statement ahead of schedule, tackling head-on the controversy surrounding his past relationship with the actress Kim Sae-ron who was found dead at home in Seoul on February 16.
The agency had initially planned to wait until next week to present a detailed response with evidence.
However, due to concerns over Kim Soo-hyun’s mental state, the agency said it decided to release their side of the story today.
According to GoldMedalist, the Queen of Tears actor and Kim Sae-ron were indeed in a relationship, but only between summer 2019 and autumn 2020 — well after she had reached adulthood.
Shutting down speculation that the romance began when she was underage, the agency stated: “It is not true that Kim Soo-hyun dated Kim Sae-ron when she was a minor.”
The controversy took off after YouTube channel HoverLab shared photos that allegedly showed the two together when Kim Sae-ron was just 15.
The agency, however, refuted these claims, saying metadata confirms the pictures were actually taken on December 24, 2019, when she was legally an adult.
The discussion intensified when Kim Sae-ron herself posted old snapshots of their time together on Instagram Stories on March 24, 2024, with HoverLab later resurfacing them in a March 11, 2025 broadcast.
On top of clarifying the timeline of their relationship, GoldMedalist addressed allegations regarding a financial dispute.
Rumours had been swirling that the agency pressured Kim Sae-ron to repay 700 million won (RM2.1 million) for damages related to her drunk driving incident.
But the agency insists that’s not the case. Instead, it claim it covered the outstanding debt and even helped ease her financial burden.
Backing this up, it pointed to a letter from Kim Sae-ron’s legal representative dated March 26, 2024, which acknowledged the agency’s support.
“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,” it read.
The statement added that after this exchange, GoldMedalist wrote off the debt as an “uncollectible accounts expense” and never once demanded repayment.
From Kim Sae-ron’s perspective, it noted, “she understood she was completely free from her debt to GoldMedalist.”
As for speculation that these financial matters played a role in her passing, the agency called such claims “an unreasonable claim and excessively malicious speculation.”
It maintained it had always been supportive of Kim Sae-ron during her struggles.
Meanwhile, Kim Soo-hyun is said to be in a fragile state, with the agency revealing he is experiencing “severe psychological instability” after being wrongly painted as “the devil who drove Kim Sae-ron to her death.”
The pressure has reportedly intensified, with individuals even camping outside GoldMedalist’s offices, adding to the actor’s distress.
