Kim Jung-hyun's battle over contract with agency makes fans wonder if scandal with Seo Ye-ji is a smear campaign
Kim Jung-hyun's private messages that were exchanged with his alleged ex-girlfriend Seo Ye-ji have revealed that the actor had received instruction from Ye-ji to not have any contact with Seohyun while shooting for 'Time'. She had also stipulated that he gets the script altered to ensure that there were no intimate scenes of him and Seohyun.
Jung-hyun stepped back from the show and following it, the actor went on an 11-month hiatus due to mental illness and eating disorder. Now, fans and followers of Korean dramas are criticizing the actor. While some say that his relationship with Ye-ji seems abusive, others are confused about how Dispatch, the news agency which published the private messages between Ye-ji and Jung-hyun, even got access to the same.
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The conversation goes as follows...
Seo Ye Ji: Stiff Kim, refrain from all physical contact.
Kim Jung Hyun: Yes, ma'am.
Seo: Why don't you report what you did today?
Kim: I didn't even say hello to female staff. Totally acted uninterested to everyone else.
Kim: Only you can touch my hand.
Seo: Do everything without passion. No physical contacts.
Kim: Yes, ma'am. I'm Stiff Kim!
Seo: Are you behaving yourself?
Seo: How did you greet people?
Kim: (sent a video) I didn't even say hi.
Seo: You don't have to say hello to them (staffs) anyway. If they do it first then you can respond gruffly.
Kim: I keep on reading my script. Without doing anything else.
Seo: Adjust the script so it won't have any romantic scenes.
Kim: Yeah I'm reading the script.
Seo: Okay, do your best. No romance or physical contact.
Now, fans wonder if this could be similar to what had allegedly happened to Kang Daniel who had also suffered from a smear campaign orchestrated by his agency over contract termination. One fan wrote on Reddit, "The actor is currently in a contract dispute with his agency. As a Kang Daniel fan, I know firsthand the extent to which former companies can go to smear their artists’ character in order to make sure they resign. Kim Jung-hyun got super popular last year because of CLOY (where he was clearly the fan fave character) and Mr. Queen. His agency won’t want to let him go so easily." Kang Daniel is currently represented by Konnect, which the artist founded in 2019, but before that he had been represented by company LM Entertainment. There was an onslaught of negative commentary on media, followed by which Kang Daniel had to seek legal aid to help settle his dispute with LM and terminate his contract with the company.
This fan also claimed, "Dispatch is known for taking bribes from agencies in order to push a narrative (again, Kang Daniel fan here) so I don’t trust this 100%. But, Seo Yeji’s behavior and personality has been controversial for a while now, just that it didn’t reach fans," and added, "She’s been accused of school violence 4 separate times over the past 3 years. Afaik, her company, hasn’t responded properly and things keep getting buried. This isn’t the only attitude controversy she’s had over the years (sic)."
Another fan questioned how Dispatch got access to the texts and asked, "First of all, too many things to process, they were in relationship?? Ok! I did not know. How did they get access to the texts?? That hasn't been mentioned. Regardless, if I were to trust these texts, then seo yeji,I don't like you. Kjh was controlled like a servant where any partner is supposed to be cherished and respected equally. I did not like the tone of her texts. So she was being herself during "it's on not to be ok"? Is it safe to say that?"
Another fan explained the dispute between Jung-hyun and his agency and said, "Jung Hyun took an 11 month hiatus (risking his career and image) in the middle of his drama "Time" due to mental health + eating disorders. Now that his contract is up, he wants to leave his agency, O& ent, but O& ent claims that his contract actually isn't up because he still "owes" them the 11 months he was on hiatus."
Speaking about the scandal, Jung-hyun's current agency O& Entertainment said, "We came across their past conversation via the article. We are currently going through a contractual dispute so we have nothing to say about the issue. Kim Jung Hyun wants to leave us and announced he is in talks with Culture Depot. We are unable to issue a statement at the moment."
Ye-ji's agency has however not responded to the scandal. Instead, it has been reported that she is expected to appear at the test screening of her upcoming movie 'Recalled' as planned.