Ku Hye Sun Shares Decision To File Appeal + HB Entertainment Releases Additional Statement

Jun 20, 2023

Ku Hye Sun and her former agency HB Entertainment have released statements regarding their legal battle.

On June 19, Ku Hye Sun released an official statement through her legal representative law firm LIWU regarding the lawsuit that she previously filed to receive profits generated from YouTube videos that she filmed while at her previous agency HB Entertainment. It was reported earlier on June 18 that Ku Hye Sun lost the lawsuit and that all the charges were dismissed.

In the statement from her law firm, Ku Hye Sun’s legal representative states that the actress starred in HB Entertainment’s YouTube channel before signing an exclusive contract and that she agreed to star after being promised a share of the profits. The legal representative also announced that Ku Hye Sun will be filing to appeal the judgement made by the first trial.

Ku Hye Sun also took to Instagram to share the following message:

"I had a hard time in the past due to unpaid appearance fees of a portion of previously aired drams. As the previous agency’s YouTube appearance fees continued to be unpaid, I wondered a lot if it was proper that I bear over 300 million won (approximately $234,000) alone. I trusted my ex-spouse, so I appeared on the YouTube channel run by my ex-spouse’s agency HB Entertainment (at least 12 times) without pay (I was to receive payment later). In addition, I provided services such as content planning, location, music, and editing.

The [YouTube] content recorded over 10 million views total, but my past agency did not pay my appearance fee—not to mention, they forcibly discarded the videos of my beloved pets who are now in heaven, and they criminally prosecuted a witness who stood up to help me, bothering them for numerous years. I cannot acknowledge with common sense the judgement that I lost the lawsuit to these people, and it is a matter that I should not accept, so I will proceed with the appeal even at my expense.

The many people who worry for me gave me the advice that it would be best not to respond, but I am announcing that I am going forward with the appeal due to my personal hopes that future juniors [in the industry] do not experience what I did again, and this [decision] stems from my will to raise the alarm about the tyranny of the production system which is to not be paid even after even after starring in something first. These wrong practices should be eliminated and must be corrected, so I would like to correct this through the appeal."

In response to Ku Hye Sun’s claims, HB Entertainment released the following statement on June 20:

"Hello, this is HB Entertainment.

Due to the dispute regarding Ku Hye Sun’s exclusive contract and lawsuits based on repeated false claims, the employees and the agency’s celebrities received severe psychological damage in addition to monetary damage due to having to make continuous legal responses.

Ku Hye Sun revealed the stance that [she believed] that the stern judgements made by the judicial authority regarding the conflict she started on her own accord to be wrong, and she is distorting the court’s judgement and posing as a victim with false information. However, the judgement of the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB) and the court is that HB Entertainment has no unpaid amount due to Ku Hye Sun.

Although this case had nothing to do with unpaid appearance fees or abuse of power, Ku Hye Sun has been undermining HB Entertainment’s reputation and credibility for years with various false information. As Ku Hye Sun was our agency’s star even for a brief while, we have refrained from press reports and only carried out legal responses to the unfair claims by Ku Hye Sun that has continued for numerous years. However, we can no longer stay silent as she distorts and denies even the court’s judgement and interferes with the company’s business and severely damage its reputation, so we will proceed with legal proceedings for all false information and false reports by Ku Hye Sun.

We ask that reporters also publish only what has been clearly confirmed.

Thank you."

Ku Hye Sun signed an exclusive contract with her ex-husband Ahn Jae Hyun’s agency HB Entertainment in June 2019. During the process of their divorce, Ku Hye Sun left the agency after expressing her desire to terminate her contract.

In April 2020, HB Entertainment and Ku Hye Sun’s legal representatives released conflicting statements regarding her contract termination. At the time, Ku Hye Sun’s legal representative claimed that the majority of the 330 million won (approximately $258,000) in compensation for damages requested by HB Entertainment was dismissed, and the verdict was reached that Ku Hye Sun should pay 35 million won (approximately $27,400).

Source: Soompi