Kim Seo Hyung And Her Agency Get Into Dispute About Contract Termination

Kim Seo Hyung has requested a termination of her exclusive contract with Madi Pictures.

On July 14, she released the following statement.

[Kim Seo Hyung] has filed a request to terminate her exclusive contract.

There was an acquaintance who had no managerial experience but had shown affection for the actress for a long time. She said that there was something she could do, and the actress believed those words.

It was a difficult situation because of the manager’s lack of experience and the financial circumstances, but the actress did her best to accommodate the situation.

The request to terminate the exclusive contract is not because of discord with the manager, but because the manager behaved in such a way that betrayed the trust between her and the actress. The actress heard about this from a third party and met with the manager. The manager said that she was ashamed and mentioned that she could terminate the contract.

Apart from this, [Kim Seo Hyung] discovered that there was a problem with financial credit that was related to the manager. As the relationship of trust was broken, she needed confirmation with the manager, but the manager responded that such things were not important to her managerial work and said that she could not terminate the contract as she had promised.

Through a law firm, the actress requested an explanation of the issues that had violated their relationship of trust, and the manager refused. As a result, the law firm notified Madi Pictures, who was in charge of the actress’s management, that the exclusive contract had been terminated. The law firm also applied for a provisional injunction to suspend the effectiveness of the exclusive contract.

In response, the CEO of Madi Pictures, Jeon Sung Hee, stated to Sports Chosun, “It is true that we received a notification of contract termination on July 13. There were no problems with Kim Seo Hyung’s financial accounts and no issues with her management. Despite this, we received a unilateral notice of contract termination. She has cut off contact with us and she personally requested that the portal sites remove her agency information from her public profile. We still cannot get in contact with her. We still have to finish a contract for a commercial, and Kim Seo Hyung is aware of these issues. We are hoping to reach an appropriate agreement.”

Following this, OSEN released a report in which Jeon Sung Hee claimed that Kim Seo Hyung had engaged in verbal abuse. Jeon Sung Hee stated, “She would often swear and curse at us. We worked hard to triple her pay for her commercial contract, but she asked us how much money we made on the side.”

Jeon Sung Hee continued, “We also suggested that she film a public commercial related to digital sex crimes. The copy was good and the intent was good, so we spent two days convincing her. But she sent me a message on KakaoTalk, ‘How could you bring me a public commercial about hidden cameras?’ She cursed me out.”

Regarding the financial issues, Jeon Sung Hee said, “We split the profits 7:3 on broadcasts and 8:2 on everything else. It is true that our agency suffered financial losses during our operation. We are currently in a situation in which we cannot afford a lawyer. The actress already knows that.”

In response to all this, Kim Seo Hyun’s legal representatives issued another, longer statement. Much of this statement repeats the first statement, with additional clarifications.

“After a media outlet published the first article earlier today, there have been continuous follow-up reports. It is possible that conflict and lawsuits could arise regardless of right and wrong, so we must be careful about making public statements in order to preserve the actor’s image.

“If we were to respond to each and every one-sided statement given by the other side, then it would become a mud-slinging fight, so we are refraining from releasing official responses as much as we can. However, as one-sided articles that report false content as truth keep being released, we have decided to relay Kim Seo Hyung’s official stance on the matter.

“First, we did not request a contract termination. We notified the agency that the exclusive contract had been terminated.”

The next part of the statement repeats the part in Kim Seo Hyung’s first statement where she stated that the manager had no experience but that the actress had agreed to work with her because they were friends. The new statement clarifies that some of the behavior that had created a loss of trust between manager and actor included criticizing and talking about the actress behind her back.

The statement continued, “After the above incidents, the actor and manager had a meeting. The manager, who is CEO Jeon Sung Hee, said that she was ashamed and was the first to bring up the possibility of contract termination. This was on May 20, 2020. (It is not true, as one outlet reported, that the contract dispute began after the end of her drama ‘Nobody Knows’ in April.)”

The next part of the statement repeats more of the first statement’s allegations. It continues, “After learning of the conflict between the actor and the manager, several people tried to help them achieve an amicable resolution. However, the manager claimed that the actor had unilaterally demanded contract termination and stated that the actor had to pay a penalty for canceling the contract.”

The new statement also states, “Madi Pictures’ claims that there is a contract for a commercial left to be settled, and that we have to pay a cancelation fee to the advertising company, are false. We filed for the provisional injunction on July 13, and it is not true that they could not get into contact with the actor.

“Kim Seo Hyung intends to limit her statements as much as possible. If reporters investigated the one-sided claims made by Madi Pictures before putting out reports, then they would easily be able to check that the agency’s claims are far from the truth.

“Please keep in mind that issuing reports with just one-sided claims from the agency, especially when the agency has an interest in creating problems, will cause more severe damage to the actor’s reputation and cause scars from which it will be difficult to heal.

As Kim Seo Hyung’s representatives, we ask that you verify one-sided claims before they are put into reports. Furthermore, please understand that it is difficult for the actor or her representatives to respond to every single media outlet for comment.”

Kim Seo Hyung signed an exclusive contract with Madi Pictures last October, before she starred in the SBS drama “Nobody Knows.” She worked as a free agent between the end of “SKY Castle” and last October.

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