After mounting controversy and amid wild speculation on social media, South Korean actor Kim Soo-hyun publicly denied allegations that he groomed and then dated the late actress Kim Sae-ron while she was underage at a surprise press conference in Seoul on Monday.
Flanked by his lawyer, Kim Soo-hyun, the 37-year-old star of several hit K-dramas, tearfully addressed the wave of allegations about his relationship with Kim Sae-ron, reading out a statement that gave a timeline of their relationship and reiterating that it started after the actress became an adult. Kim Sae-ron, an actress known for her roles in A Brand New Life (2009) and The Man From Nowhere (2010), died Feb. 16 at 24. Her death was ruled a suicide. The date was the same date as Kim Soo-hyun’s birthday.
Rumors of Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Sae-ron dating stretch back to 2024, when a photo of them together appeared on Instagram, but were denied by Kim Soo-hyun’s agency Gold Medalist. This month, Kim Sae-ron’s family released statements and more photos as well as text messages, claiming that Kim Soo-hyun dated their daughter for six years from 2016, beginning when she was 15 and the actor was 27.
In a report published in The Korea Times, Kim Soo-hyun said at Monday’s press conference that he dated Kim Sae-ron for about a year, four years ago. In regard to the recent spate of allegations against him, the actor claimed that Kim Sae-ron’s family is framing him as a pedophile responsible for her death, and that the family is using fabricated evidence to make their case.
“I accept responsibility for what I have done and will take any criticism for it,” Kim Soo-hyun said at the press conference. “But I cannot take responsibility for something I did not do. For the people who still believe in me, I want to set the record straight.”
He added, “Her family is accusing me of driving her to her death just because I was her ex-boyfriend. They are pressuring me to confess to something I did not do.”
Kim Soo-hyun is one of South Korea‘s most acclaimed and highest paid film and TV actors, and he has starred in the globally popular K-dramas My Love from the Star (2013–2014), It’s Okay to Not Be Okay (2020), The Moon Embracing the Sun (2012), Dream High (2011), One Ordinary Day (2021), The Producers (2015) and most recently Queen of Tears (2024). His career has been in freefall since allegations around his relationship with Kim Sae-ron began to swirl on social media and YouTube, most notably losing a lucrative brand deal with Prada, and the postponement of his Disney+ show Knock-Off.