Actor Kim Dong-hee acquitted over school bullying allegations, says agency
Actor Kim Dong-hee who has been embroiled in a school bullying scandal much like many other Korean entertainers over the last year and a half has finally come out with his side of the story following the accusations and subsequent investigation of the same.
Back in February of 2020, an online post was made where the ‘Itaewon Class’ actor was accused of participating in school bullying involving an alleged victim with a disability. As of December 28, the actor’s agency has made a public statement stating that Kim Dong-hee has been acquitted of all allegations upon detailed investigation. The label released a statement that stated that Kim Dong-hee participated in a series of investigations to find out whether the allegations posted online back in February were true through a judicial authority. In the statement, Kim Dong-hee said that he had submitted statements from his former classmates as well as teachers from his elementary school which ended up proving that he was not guilty of any bullying.
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Kim Dong-hee acquitted of all bullying allegations
It was reported that since it was a very long time ago that Kim Dong-hee attended elementary school, most of the evidence revealed from his former classmates as well as statements from his teachers from his elementary and secondary school revealed no clear evidence to support the claims made by the alleged victim. The statement from Kim Dong-hee also said that there is no clear evidence to prove that the allegations faced by the actor were true at all. Dong-hee himself was adamant about clearing that he hadn't bullied a classmate with a disability.
It has been revealed that Kim Dong-hee has two people with disability in his immediate family whom he lived around. He said that “Even in difficult family life, I tried to protect and comfort the pain and wounds of my family from childhood.” His label said that the actor had a hard time due to the poor environment he grew up in but even during such a time, he did not do anything that would cause a social scandal. The statement ended with his label assuring fans that, “Kim Dong-hee will continue to work hard to become a better person."
Kim Dong-hee gets caught in a bullying scandal
After rising to fame after appearing on JTBC’s ‘Sky Castle’ and ‘Itaewon Class’ in the year 2019 and 2020 respectively, actor Kim Dong-hee was last seen in the Netflix series ‘Extracurricular’ in 2020. Ahead of the release of ‘Extracurricular’, Kim Dong-hee was embroiled in the controversy where he was suspected of being a bully when an online post was made against the actor. In particular, online users blew up the controversy by claiming that Kim Dong-hee inflicted violence on his classmate who was suffering from a disability.
Kim Dong-hee's side strongly denied the online claims and filed an official complaint regarding the same issue. The online poster, however, hasn't been held accountable for the issue.