Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Following Kim Soo Hyun’s teary press conference where he again denied grooming and mistreating Kim Sae Ron, further evidence emerged of Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Sae Ron’s relationship while she was at most 17, plus GOLDMEDALIST released an official response to Sulli‘s brother about her participation in Real.
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Bit of a catchup here as I fell behind on the latest news due to … life, but shortly after the press conference, Garo Sero Institute released a video of Kim Soo Hyun eating braised chicken that Kim Sae Ron had prepared (with a soju bottle in the frame). They provided metadata showing it was filmed on June 20, 2018 at 11:20 PM when Kim Sae Ron was 17.
실시간으로 공개된 김수현이 미성년자 시절 김새론과 닭볶음탕 먹는 영상
— 맛스터 (@masterofjgp) March 31, 2025
인터뷰 날짜와 완전히 일치하고 테이블에 술도 올라와 있음
대체 기자회견은 왜 한거임? pic.twitter.com/7eSPtaqRo0
Later that night he was recorded by Kim Sae Ron singing karaoke at 12:58 AM.
Garosero❗️Video of Kim Soo Hyun singing karaoke late at night on June 21, 2018. (video in kim sae ron's phone)#KimSaeron #KimSooHuyn pic.twitter.com/5zCwQR9e5r
— Bee🐝 (@Beevl__) March 31, 2025
While disputing other pics, Kim Soo Hyun’s side acknowledged the picture from that get together was legitimate, but denied they were dating at that time.
In response, Kim Soo Hyun’s side acknowledged that the 2018 soju photo is authentic but clarified the context, stating, “Kim Sae Ron was on break and visited Kim Soo Hyun at his family home in Seongsu-dong. Kim’s family was present. At that time, the two were not in a romantic relationship.”
I honestly don’t know what people are debating at this point with regards to the morality of what Kim Soo Hyun did. His agency has confirmed at absolute bare minimum that he was writing totally-not-love-letters to a 17-year-old from the military and that she was over at his home late at night when she was also 17.
Again, nobody with a brain can deny these were romantic in nature, but even if they weren’t, that’s pretty clearly sketchy to have that tight of a relationship with an underage girl and then immediately start dating her the moment she becomes legal. That’s just what grooming is, so I don’t get some of the back-and-forth I still see at this point.
Regardless, Garo Sero also revealed call records from 2018 to prove the relationship, as well as multiple screenshots of messages where they’re chatting like a couple back when she was 17.
Kim Se Ui then revealed call records of Kim Sae Ron calling and FaceTiming Kim Soo Hyun in 2018, both as a 17 and 18-year-old. Kim Sae Ron was born on July 31, 2000, which means the call on June 20, 2018 was when she was 17, and the FaceTimes were when she was 18. He emphasized that they have access to five of Kim Sae Ron’s cell phones and four of her laptops, and are working with some of Korea’s best digital forensics company to uncover this situation.
In particular, she sent him this at 2:30 AM.
Kim Sae Ron: Oppa, when you miss me and need me, you keep in touch with me without a problem, but when I need you, you’re always MIA (missing). It bothers me that I can’t get in contact with you and it’s inconvenient. If you don’t put in the effort, then I’m not seeing you anymore.
Garo Sero also released an alleged photo of them at a cafe, and a selfie he took for her with metadata showing they happened in 2017.
Finally, pushing back on the speculations that the texts from the family’s press conference were manipulated, they showed a side-by-side comparison of the screenshots Kim Soo Hyun’s side cast doubt on with the messages directly from Kim Sae Ron’s phone, as they scrolled through them to prove their authenticity.
❗️ GaroSero: video sent by Kim Sae Ron's family, proving that the "message" is real, not edited as Kim Soo Hyun's side said. #KimSooHyun #KimSaeRon pic.twitter.com/r5HVwWRV4k
— Bee🐝 (@Beevl__) April 2, 2025
Again though, the notion that moral wrongdoing by him is even a debate at this point is rather laughable. I suppose the degree of immoral behavior is worth pursuing for her sake, but every denial by him is basically only a further humiliation at this point.
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On a different scandal, Kim Soo Hyun and GOLDMEDALIST were notably quiet about Sulli’s family’s demand for answers about her Real role at the press conference. Now they’ve released a statement addressing the concerns.
They start by explaining that nudity was a clear condition for the role at the time of casting, the bedroom scene and what it entailed was explained clearly in the script, and in her contract she had a clause specifying the level of nudity to ensure her consent. Regarding the body double, they explain there was no body double but rather a stand-in actor who was used for preparations and was never intended to act.
They also provided the witness confirmation of those in charge, as well as the testimony of staff, making sure to tell people Kim Soo Hyun had nothing to do with these aspects of the film.
We are attaching a confirmation of these facts by assistant director Kim Joong Ok and script supervisor Lee Joon Hyun, who oversaw filming for all of the scenes in the movie, including the bedroom scene. Also, we are informing you that all work on the screenplay, storyboard, and filming was the domain of the production team and therefore had nothing to do with Kim Soo Hyun, who appeared in the film as an actor.
In accordance with the testimony of the film’s main staff, the late actress Choi Jin Ri and her agency at the time were sufficiently familiar with the role of Song Yoo Hwa. In any production, it is impossible to persuade and force an actor into doing a bedroom scene or nude scene on set.
While it’s true that’s it’s difficult to believe anything they have to say, I did see the audition sheet saying that the roles would require nudity (granted, that came along with testimony that the process felt unprofessional and skeevy). So at least that part appears to be true, though obviously there’s no way to confirm Sulli indeed saw all of this beforehand and was on board throughout the process. Admittedly, to some extent, one hopes that GOLDMEDALIST are telling the truth and Sulli’s situation wasn’t even worse than we knew at the time.
