37 year old South Korean actor Kim Soo Hyun needs no introduction to those well versed in South Korean dramas. One of the highest paid K-drama stars, Kim Soo Hyun found himself in the midst of irreparable damage this month, when a right wing affiliated YouTube channel named 가로세로연구소—pronounced as Garosero Yeonguso, and translates to 'Horizontal and Vertical Research Institute' aka the 'Garosero Research Institute' (@HOVERLAB2018)—made a bombshell expose of Kim Soo Hyun dating a former child actor when she was still a minor.
Late actress Kim Sae-ron, who tragically took her life at the age of 24 on February 26, 2025 was revealed to be the former child actor whom Kim Soo Hyun dated while she was still underage. A year before her suicide, Kim Sae-ron had taken to her Instagram story to post an intimate still with Kim Soo-Hyun, so Garosero confirming the relationship did not come as a shock to most. However the origin of the relationship when Sae-ron, a 2000-born was still in high school became the bone of contention leading to a huge controversy.
Actor Kim Soo Hyun is represented by his self-found firm named Gold Medalist, and Gold Medalist since the outing of Sae-ron's picture in March 2024 have denied of a relationship between the two actors. However Garosero's continual revelations of text messages, videos, letters, and pictures retrieved from the late Kim Sae-ron's phone and posession, and both South Korean and global brands including PRADA, Jo Malone dropping Kim Soo Hyun as their official ambassador, forced Gold Medalist to eventually acknowledge of a romantic relation between Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Sae Ron.
Gold Medalist also came under fire for pressurizing Kim Sae Ron with notices of 'debt repayment' when it was told to the actress by Kim Soo Hyun, that it can be paid back at regular intervals once she got her derailing career running. Gold Medalist made things worse by acknowledging that they had no intentions of collecting the debt from Kim Sae Ron, but only sent the notices as a formality which caused her to take her own life. Tensions further escalated on March 27, 2025 when the family of the late Kim Sae Ron along with their legal representation presented KakaoTalk messages (South Korean version of Whatsapp messages), exchanged between a 15 year old Kim Sae Ron, and a 28 year old Kim Soo Hyun in June 2016, as evidence of an inappropriate relationship.
The dates of the KakaoTalk messages revealed in the press conference of Kim Sae Ron's side were determined by digital forensics experts, and the data i.e. the exchanges were reconstructed to the format of the platform they were retrieved from. (The KakaoTalk messages were not screenshots is the bottomline). When things were going from bad to worse, another bombshell claim was made by the family of another late actress named Sulli, who was Kim Soo Hyun's co-star on a movie titled Real (2017), and who had also taken her life by suicide in 2019.
A former member of the K-pop group F(x), Sulli was allegedly forced into doing a nude scene with Kim Soo Hyun instead of using a body double for the said scene. Sulli's topless bed scene was apparently used for the promotions of the movie Real, which is a production venture of Gold Medalist, run by Kim Soo Hyun and half-brother. Real is directed by Kim Soo Hyun's maternal half brother Lee Sa-rang, and Sulli's family's suspicions have been corroborated by Real film's screenplay writer and former director Lee Jung-sub.
Amidst growing pressure from his own fans, Kim Soo Hyun finally held a press conference at the Stanford Hotel Sangam in Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea on March 31, 2025. A properly dressed Kim Soo Hyun appeared in full make up and hair, and broke down in front of the media denying that he dated Kim Sae Ron when she was still a minor/underage.
However for the first time, Kim Soo Hyun openly admitted that he had a "sincere loving relationship" with Kim Sae Ron, even though was notably absent from her funeral, had no messages of condolence, and had spent the previous year maligning her reputation after publicly feuding with Kim Saeron via Gold Medalist over a DUI incident's aftermath.
reporter: can you tell me when and where you first met? I think that'll be okay? please tell me when and where you first met.
— ♡ (@9131film) March 31, 2025
Kim Soohyun just walks off 💀 hats off to the reporter for asking the question even when questions were not allowed to be asked pic.twitter.com/lALTnh16PJ
Gold Medalist on behalf of Kim Soo Hyun has now also filed a lawsuit against Kim Sae Ron's family friend who was the first to go to Garosero Research Institute after all South Korean media channels refused to publish evidence of a romantic relationship between Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Sae Ron. Gold Medalist is suing this aunt, and Garosero YouTube channel in a defamation case of 12 Billion KRW.
Editor's Note: The age of consent in South Korea till 2020 was 13, which means that it was legal for a man in that country to initiate a relationship or have intercourse with a school going teenager in 2016. But the messages Kim Sae Ron's family revealed in the press conference is evidence of a 28 year old Kim Soo Hyun soliciting sex from a 15 year old Kim Sae Ron, which could be considered criminal in the South Korean court of law. Kim Soo Hyun's denial of the chat taking place in 2016 comes in lieu of this threat.
Kim Soo Hyun did not address the Sulli controversy in his press conference. Sulli's real life brother on the other hand has accused Kim Soo Hyun of contacting their mother, in an attempt at silencing them.