The drama surrounding Ku Hye Sun and HB Entertainment continues to escalate.
Actress Ku Hye Sun (39) has expressed her intention to appeal after losing the lawsuit against her former agency, HB Entertainment, over unpaid fees. In response, HB Entertainment stated that there is no outstanding amount to be paid and vowed to take legal action against Ku Hye Sun for portraying herself as a victim, indicating a prolonged conflict.
On the 20th of June, HB Entertainment stated, “Ku Hye Sun is distorting the court’s judgment and falsely portraying herself as a victim regarding the serious judgments of the judicial authorities related to the disputes she initiated of her own accord. The Korean Commercial Arbitration Board and the court have determined that HB Entertainment has not failed to pay any amount to Ku Hye Sun.”
Previously, on the 18th, the Seoul Central District Court’s Civil Conciliation Division 63 (Presiding Judge Park Chan-seok) ruled against Ku Hye Sun in a compensation lawsuit where she demanded 170 million won in damages from her former agency, HB Entertainment. HB Entertainment appealed, stating, “Despite this case having no relation to unpaid fees or abusive behavior, Ku Hye Sun has damaged the honor and credibility of HB Entertainment with various false facts over the years.”
Ku Hye Sun notified HB Entertainment of the termination of her exclusive contract in August 2019 after her divorce from her former husband, Ahn Jae Hyun. This was due to her dissatisfaction with the agency handling only Ahn Jae Hyun’s affairs before and after their marital conflict. The two parties resolved the matter through mediation at the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board. The mediation condition was for Ku Hye Sun to pay 35 million won to HB Entertainment in lieu of terminating the exclusive contract signed in June 2019.
Later, Ku Hye Sun claimed that the verbal agreement regarding receiving 50% of the net profit from YouTube videos had retroactively expired and become void, and she filed the current lawsuit demanding compensation of over 170 million won, which she believed to be the property benefit gained by HB Entertainment through the agreement. When the court rejected her claims, Ku Hye Sun stated, “The judgment of being ‘defeated’ is illogical and unacceptable, so despite accepting the damages, I will proceed with an appeal.”
She also mentioned her former husband, Ahn Jae Hyun, saying, “Because I trusted my ex-spouse, I willingly appeared (more than 12 times) on HB Entertainment’s YouTube channel without compensation and provided services such as content planning, location, music, and editing. Despite the videos accumulating over 10 million views in total, my former agency not only failed to pay the fees but also forcibly discarded the videos containing the beloved memories of my pets who have now passed away. They have subjected me to harassment by filing criminal complaints against witnesses who came forward to support me for years.”
Ku Hye Sun expressed her reason for appealing, stating, “I hope future juniors will not experience the same things as I have, and at the same time, I want to raise an alarm about the exploitative and oppressive production system of non-payment after filming. Such wrongful practices should be eliminated and rectified, so I am appealing to correct them.”
In response, HB Entertainment announced, “Since Ku Hye Sun was a briefly affiliated actress, we have refrained from media coverage and have only responded legally to her continued unfair claims. However, we can no longer tolerate her distortion and denial of even the court’s judgment, which seriously hinders the company’s operations and damages its reputation. Therefore, we will pursue legal procedures against all false facts and false reports by Ku Hye Sun.”
The conflict between the two parties continues to escalate without reaching a resolution, resembling a mudslinging battle.
Source: (A)
