As Mark Twain said, truth is stranger than fiction.
I saw news about “Mr. Queen” actor Kim JungHyun and his ex-girlfriend, “Psycho But It’s Okay” actress Seo SeJin. I couldn’t make head or tail of it because it also involved other female costars of Kim Jung Hyun, namely Seohyun from “Time” and the “other” Seo, Seo JiHye, from “Crash Landing on You.”
“It’s complicated.”
So, I asked our in-house reporter and sleuth, @nrllee, what she knew about it. Thanks, nrllee!
Here’s what @nrllee posted:
KJH was in a legal battle with his existing agency. His contract is supposed to end May. He was in talks to join his CLOY costar’s agency. Dispatch releases the photos of the 2 of them together and claims that they are dating. Which is why he is heading to her agency. Both parties deny it of course and claim the pics of them together were times when they met to talk about the change in agency. 🤔🙄. Which begs the question why did they have to do it in his apartment? Why not in a public space? And why not just over the phone? And on so many multiple occasions? But I digress. Anyway his old agency was NOT impressed. They claimed that he owed them time in lieu because he took 11 months off after his breakdown in the drama Time (mental and eating disorder issues) before he came back in CLOY. So he can’t leave just yet. He was not in a great head space during his previous drama Time. He was acting all strange and forced script rewrites about skinship with the actress. In the end he dropped out of that drama mid way.
soompi/kim-jung-hyun-in-talks-to-join-seo-ji-hyes-agency
And this is when Dispatch suddenly drops the bombshell that his behavior during the drama Time was because of his then gf Seo YeJi. And they released a host of text messages between the 2 of them where YeJi was the one asking him to halt skinship etc.
soompi/seo-ye-jis-agency-responds
Question I have is – how did Dispatch get a hold of these private texts? It’s heavily spliced to paint her as a manipulative controlling gf. Yet when you read the statement her agency came forward with, whilst the texts were true, KJH had also done the same by asking her not to kiss her costar (at that time she was filming Lawless Lawyer and she had no problems there? So she obviously could separate private and professional life?). It was clearly a lover’s tiff? And they were sparring in private? Yet his part asking her NOT to do skinship in the whole conversation had been removed? I suspect he released these private texts to send the media spotlight her way? And he succeeded. He is now a victim. Social media is full of hate towards YeJi. They have gone back to dig up her past and suddenly she’s this horrible pathological liar who sleeps with everyone to get her way. 🙄. It’s turned into a witch hunt. Meanwhile, KJH is coming out a martyr and is no longer the subject of scorn for his behavior in the drama Time. It’s all YeJi’s fault. And that’s the story so far.
I’ve nothing to add except these three things:
one, these two actors, Kim JungHyun and Seo SeJin, take the “’No Touch’ rule” and the word “Psycho” to a whole other level. lol.
two, did the writers and the directors know about these two actors’ complicated dating styles when they cast them for their respective roles?
three, truth is indeed stranger than fiction. What happens in real life is so much more bizarre than any storyteller can dream up. Let’s keep the drama solidly confined to Viki and Netflix.
From “Mr. Queen,” Ep 2 at 52:00.
From “Psycho But It’s Okay,” Ep 1 at 34:53.
Reposting John_L’s comment here. -pm3
______________________________
@nrllee @PM Ko Moon-young vs King Cheoljong – To me it seems like KJH current agency is trying to damage his career because he does not want to renew his contract. Everyone else seems to be collateral damage–Seo Ji-Hye & Seo Ye-ji. I just noticed he must have a thing for Seo’s and intimidating women is his type. But these scandals seem to shed some light regarding what happen on Time (character killed off early). Nothing is worse than arguing w/ your partner while at your workplace.
I find it odd that the current agency wants to keep KJH for another year to make up for the year he had to take off for his mental health/eating disorder issues but refused to release any comment on his behalf regarding the current situation. KJH released a handwritten apology but he had to do that through another PR agency?! I know that the current agency is disputing the end date of KJH’s contract but they still technically represent KJH and it doesn’t look good to leave him hanging high and dry on his own like that. I can’t imagine other celebrities would want to choose an agency that would handle things like this plus this just builds more conflict and animosity between KJH and the agency for another year if the contract end date does get moved.
He already apologized in the past for his actions against Seolhyun and the other cast and crew on “Time” and he apologized again. It looked like he had gotten past whatever his personal issues were back then with his comeback in CLOY and Mr. Queen. If the cast/crew from “Time” have already moved on and forgiven him, isn’t it a dead issue now?
I shake my head reading all of the comments on SYJ and digging up everything from her past. Someone on the internet dug up footage of SYJ saying she watched the horror/thriller movie “Orphan” 28 times and then tried to spin it like she really must be a psycho because that’s her favorite movie. I love horror/supernatural/thriller themed movies. By their standards, I must have some sort of personality disorder… Some of these people on the internet really go too far.
Sometimes people have bad relationships. Sometimes people act really badly in relationships. They’re not together anymore and I just hope that if they were toxic to each other, they don’t carry that to their current/future relationships and become better partners. I’m not trying to say that physical/verbal/emotional/mental abuse against a partner (or anyone for that matter) is okay because it is not. I just hope that if either of them treated the other like that while they were together, that they learn their lesson and not treat anyone like that. And these knets dragging everyone involved through the mud is terrible and just perpetuates toxic behavior/culture.
I have a crazy anecdote to tell. Be ready. 😉
It’s about the actress Seo Ye Ji.
I quickly saw this news, but I don’t care about tabloids and this kind of buzz. There are often hidden conflicts into these scandals, like a conflict Agency Vs Actor. And anyway, I’m not interested in celebrities life.
It’s just that the situation was quite funny, because true or false, it looked like an absurd drama scenario, as much as a dominance-submission relationship. (Although as nrllee points out, the situation may go both ways.)
In this kind of relationship, both parties are consenting. It’s really not my trip, but I imagined quickly that if I met her, I would make her my slave rather than the other way around. 😈
The problem is that I went to sleep afterwards… 😞
And then I had a dream. And unfortunately, you can’t really control your dreams. And in my dream, I met the actress. At first she was a little hesitant, but I warmed her up to me. 🔥
As a result, I had sex with Seo Ye Ji! 🤩🥳
The worst thing is that she is the opposite of my ideal type. 😨
And that I never met more pleasant actresses in my dreams…
Psycho but it’s okay. 🤪
My take on this both are at faults, KJH and SYJ, KJH was clearly unprofessional and act horribly on set, on the text message there’s an exchanged between them where YJ asked JH to take video of his surrounding as proof that he’s nowhere near female staff and costar.
Seo Ye Ji: How did you greet [the staff]?
Kim Jung Hyun: I didn’t greet them all. (sends a video taken on set)
Seo Ye Ji: It’s right for you to not greet [the staff].
Seo Ye Ji: If they greet you first, you just have to respond stiffly.
Seo Ye Ji: I’m in a bad mood right now. Send me a video of the current situation.
Kim Jung Hyun: (sends a video taken on set)
Seo Ye Ji: It seems that the video you sent me was not taken on set?
Kim Jung Hyun: It is on set. It is inside the studio.
https://www.soompi.com/article/1463963wpp/seo-ye-jis-agency-releases-statement-addressing-reports-that-she-manipulated-kim-jung-hyuns-behavior-during-his-drama-time
Knetz create a petition to the blue house to remove KJH from ent industry and SYJ dropped her drama with Kim Nam Gil and her brands start pulling off her ads.
SYJ- she really does seem pretty cold and manipulative. I don’t agree with people’s past being held against them after they’ve come clean, apologized and changed. However, bullying (stylists, schoolmates etc..)claims were made public years ago but never gained traction until this. Clearly from the texts she isn’t friendly with staff (not that that’s required but sheesh) either
For me, her agency’s statement made things worse. First by confirming the veracity of the things she said in the text messages and second, using free will of the other person to avoid blame. Her PR person is not doing their job properly.
KJH-certainly not blameless. Seems like SYJ saw someone who was easily manipulated and was vulnerable to her. Even without the texts they say are there of him also requesting her refrain from skinship, his actions were deplorable and I truly hope he’s made (will make) amends with every single single person involved in the Times production.
However, if after he dropped out of the show he exited the relationship and got the help that he needed and is now on the correct path—Maybe not in choosing roles-mr queen- but in behavior and professionally and in his personal relationship, I hate this is having such an effect on his career in a time while he’s trying to negotiate a new contract etc.. (not sure of public opinion on him right now)
Hopefully he’ll stay mentally strong and if he actually in a relationship with CLOY girl I hope it’s healthy and not affected by his past being plastered everywhere.
My main question: who released the texts???
Had he shown them to his agency years ago as reason for leaving show and they decided to release them now to try and hang on to him? Did he release them hoping the public would feel sorry for him? How does dispatch get their hands on these things?!
No-touching rule.
It’s spread from reality to Mr queen.
PM3 : well done about to spot the correlation!!!
SO, is it fate or is it destiny ? 🙂 🙂 🙂
@packmule3 and @nrllee, this is a great analysis of the KJH controversy. It seems to me that the Korean entertainment industry is dominated by conglomerates p, where agencies are used to control talents’ lives. This parallels the old Hollywood studio system where once you signed a contract, your life was not yourbiwn-from how they contolled how you looked, spoke, ate, dressed, dated,etc. It is and was all about the image one presented and heaven forbid, if you chose/choose to live your iwn life as you please. So here we have some retaliation at a time when our actir is becoming a heartthrob. This is the undrrbelly. And the message leaker my be our actor trying to do damage control. If you look at the careers of Bette Davis, Rock Hudson and ithers you’ll see American examples of similar control. And sthdio and agencynpunishment is not pretty. Ultimately fans/netuzens are manipulated and in many cases, particularly in present day Korea, we see actor/pop star suicide. We generally don’t sed much about the private life of Korean celebrities unless its on yhe controlled variety shows. It’s all about creating mystique. But it does not come free. And from this western pointnof view, I’m still undecided about whether an open or closed system is better. Either way, theyboth come with a cost.
It is hard to determine fact from fiction now. Allegations of bullying staff and fellow students have been rebuffed by her current staff and other past students from her school. So I doubt the veracity of the claims. The texts however are damning. It had to be KJH who released them to Dispatch. It would make no sense for SYJ to do that. And yes I don’t understand why KJH’s current agency would want to keep him? Because his last 2 dramas were big successes? And they feel that he owes them for the negative press in Time?
Apparently when KJH dropped out of “Time”, the production company wanted to sue him for damages. The current agency negotiated with the production company so they wouldn’t sue. KJH requested time off and the agency agreed and according to them, that time he took off would push out his contract expiry date to next year instead of May this year. I guess then they found out he was negotiating with that other agency and apparently KJH cut off all contact with the current agency. Okay, if this is all true then KJH didn’t handle this the right way. There are other ways (legal ways) to try and get out of the contract. If he leaked those text messages, then he’s pretty dumb. He took the risk that there would be backlash against him and there is plenty of that right now. You can’t predict how knetz will react. But he had to have known that SYJ would get pulled into it and receive negative attention and plus there are two sides to every story so she could refute his version if he exaggerated it to make people feel sorry for him. Whatever the truth is though, all sides are getting dragged through the mud now and it’s pretty sad. Who needs to watch a makjang drama when craziness is unfolding in front of our eyes in real life?!?!
,@aquarius77, True that.Be should get a good lawyer. The dispute seems cut and dried. The parties could probably come to a monetary settlement. I don’t think we know who leaked the texts yet. Maybe all of this is part of a settlement negotiation. But for us bystanders, a makjang it is!
There could only be 2 parties that had access to those private texts? Unless Dispatch hacked KJH’s phone? Which I thought would be illegal in South Korea? For anyone on YJ’s camp to leak it would be career suicide? It had to be from KJH. To shift blame on what happened in the drama Time to his crazy mind controlling gf. His behavior was woeful at the PressCon of Time. It was rude and disrespectful to his FL costar. If you watch the footage, it is as bad as it gets. She was obviously trying so hard to accommodate his taciturn state. His actions humiliated her publicly? Reporters were asking them to link arms (as per usual fare?) but he looked at her in disgust? He was like that in the whole PressCon. I gave him a pass when it first happened because he didn’t look particularly well mentally. And when it was explained that he was anorexic and depressed at the time,
https://youtu.be/XlKizYtxPZU
@aquarius77 I would say presently the vitriol is directed purely at SYJ. KJH has been “forgiven”. The vast majority of the negativity has been directed at SYJ. He’s succeeded in clever misdirection. She’s lost a whole lot of sponsorship contracts as a result. And rumours say she’s dropped out of her next drama (to be filmed).
The whole situation and the spectrum of reactions from people are just mind-boggling.
I’ve seen comments against him (like he’s a grown man and shouldn’t have let a woman control him or it’s absurd that a woman could manipulate him to act this way or he’s such a weak man, etc) to the other end of the spectrum where they defend him no matter what.
Same goes for SYJ. On one end, people are calling her evil, manipulative and a b*tch and they say no wonder she did so well in her role in Psycho But It’s Okay because that role fits her personality to the other end where people are defending her and saying this is all a smear campaign. I do agree though that SYJ is taking the brunt of the backlash.
No matter what his personal situation was, his behavior towards Seolhyun in Time is unacceptable and unprofessional. There’s no doubt about that.
The whole thing is just a big mess.
I’m more alarmed at the comments on the internet that imply that men are masculine and can’t be the abused in a relationship or if a woman is outspoken or has a hint of a strong personality, then she’s just a b*tch.
We don’t know the whole context of those text conversations and whatever the truth may be, I hope both sides can get through this. I read that KJH checked into a hospital because he was suffering from depression again because of all this.
Sorry, I made a mistake. KJH didn’t check into any hospital as I said in my previous post.
All they said was that he’s receiving treatment for depression.
Just wanted to correct and clarify that…
@nrllee
I don’t think KJH has been “forgiven”, as I said there’s a petition in the Blue House for him to leave the entertainment industry. What might work in his favor is his apology letter, because people responded to it more positively in comparison to the statement issued by SYJ’s agency.
Also another reason why SYJ news is more publicized because accusation on her keep coming out, from bullying allegation during school days (her agency said she was defending the victim), staff abuse (no statement from her agency yet), her lying about going to college in Spain (her agency said she received an offer but didn’t go).
Another news that came out recently was she refused to go to her movie press conference because the production house cannot guarantee that the reporter won’t ask questions about her personal matter, and she’s using an excuse that she’s currently filming her new drama (which hasn’t started filming and after she dropped out of it)
we don’t know whether all these allegations are true or not, but her agency is not handling it well, their official statement get so much flak from deflecting and not properly explain things.
@Ella. Thanks for the updates. When I said “forgiven” I was inferring to the reception he’s received for his response Vs hers. I didn’t know about the petition. But then there was the petition about Snow Drop as well? And that has since died down I think? I think one of her existing staff came out swinging for her when the staff abuse allegations came out (past staff who has since left). I agree her agency is not managing it well. It’s a small agency. Run by Kim SooHyun’s cousin? I believe there are only 3 artists being managed? Last I looked anyway. I am not sure what to believe anymore because what’s fake and what’s real is just being added higgledy piggledy to the whole furore. I have stopped reading the articles. Personally I believe both she and KJH aren’t particularly resilient mentally. I hope they are both getting the professional help they need to weather this storm.
And who keeps texts from an old boyfriend/girlfriend from like years ago??? Especially if they were abusive towards you, why would you keep those reminders? It is just all very odd.
@aquarius77, keeping proof of abuse even after years is not a bad idea at all, I see nothing odd there
I’ll just add that all this mess is a bit sad to me, hope they can recover emotionally and professionally and become better people