Bullying is a serious matter in South Korea. Even years after the incident has taken place, many continue to be haunted by their past actions. The latest celebrity to be involved in this controversy is Kim Hieora.
You may remember Kim Hieora as Gelly, one of the villains in the recently concluded The Uncanny Counter Season 2. She also starred in The Glory as one of Song Hye-kyo's bullies.
Table of Contents
- What Is Kim Hieora Controversy About?
- Has Kim Hieora Responded?
- Kim Hieora Releases Statement on Instagram
- People Step Up to Defend Kim Hieora
- Dispatch Releases Second Article and Phone Call Transcript
- Kim Hieora's Management Decides to Pursue Legal Action
- Dispatch Releases New Article Addressing the Controversy
- How This Controversy Harms Kim Hieora's Career
Could Hieora's acting in The Glory be inspired by her past? We explain the series of events in the Kim Hieora controversy.
What Is Kim Hieora Controversy About?
On September 6th, Dispatch reported Kim Hieora's involvement in a bullying incident when she was in middle school. The publication alleged that Hieora was part of a schoolyard gang called Big Sangji.
The group was alleged to be involved in extortion, verbal abuse, and physical violence in a school based in Wonju, Gangwon Province. The publication also shared that Hieora actively posted messages on the Big Sangji cafe.
Prior to reporting on the bullying issue, Dispatch did their investigation into the case. The first time they received a tip about the incident was in May 2023. Allegedly, the tipster came forward after hearing the same insults from Hieora's gang in a drama.
After hearing this, Dispatch started its investigation. The publication had to make sure to gather concrete evidence to support the school violence allegations against the rising celebrity.
They went on to meet over 10 previous classmates of Hieora between the months of May and June. Most of these women were said to have experienced direct and indirect harm. Out of the number of testimonials, the publication chose the cases with enough evidence.
Even though Dispatch finished its investigation two months ago, they decided to push back the report due to the release of The Uncanny Counter Season 2. Hieora played a key role in the series.
The publication finished investigating the matter in June. But Hieora was allegedly concerned about how the controversy would affect the K-drama. At that time, the show was still waiting for an official release date from Netflix.
To not cause any concerns about the show's production, Dispatch decided to postpone releasing the report for three months.
Has Kim Hieora Responded?
After the original report came out, Hieora admitted that she was part of the gang Big Sangji. The actress, however, denied having any involvement in the physical violence claims.
“I was terrifying just because of my presence? I looked back on that time. I never hit anyone… Of course, it doesn’t mean I’m not responsible. I feel like I was more of a bystander.”
She also disputed her involvement in the activities of the gang.
“Yes, I didn’t live as a model student. We had fun, that’s true. But Big Sangji wasn’t just a gang of bullies. At that time, it was trendy for close friends to create online cafes. Big Sangji is the name of the cafe. It’s not a secret cafe only for bullies.”
Gram Entertainment, the label handling Hieora's career, has responded to the allegations:
"We apologize for causing concern to so many people because of the sudden news. We're preparing an official statement, so we kindly ask that you wait. We once again apologize with heavy hearts."
After the news blew up, Hieora's appearance on SNL Korea was canceled.
The informant who gave the statement to the publication had clarified her statements (via Jazminemedia) and apologized to the actress.
Kim Hieora Releases Statement on Instagram
Hieora has released a statement on her Instagram account:
"I would like to first apologize for any inconvenience caused by an exclusive article about me published by a media outlet. I am so sorry to those who must have been very surprised.. and who had faith in me and supported me. I am worried that this article may cause another misunderstanding or hurt, but many speculative articles are being published and I am sure you have many questions about them, so I am writing this personally first. I was and still am an immature person.
I was not a student who studied hard and listened to my parents and teachers. I was so ignorant that I did not know that my mere presence could make someone uncomfortable, regardless of my intentions. However, as stated in the article, he did not harass the weak maliciously, continuously, deliberately, or lived a cowardly life.
I heard a rumor about me a few months ago, but I didn't think much of it because it wasn't true at all.
However, a media outlet contacted me saying they were planning to publish an article, and I was very surprised when I heard the contents. It's not true, but once the article is published, it will take a long time to tell you the truth again, and I didn't want to hurt everyone. And I believed that if I sincerely told the truth, my sincerity would be heard. So, it is true that I went to the office of a media company, met with reporters, and faithfully conveyed my position.
Even now that I am in my 30s, I still believe that I am not perfect, so I listened to the reporter's story and tried to remember the events related to it, thinking that my memories from when I was 15, when I was immature and imperfect, might not be everything.
Nevertheless, no matter how much I thought about it, it was difficult to agree with the idea that the reporter was talking about school violence or that just being a member of a cafe called Big Sanji was an act of outrage, and since I had never experienced such a thing, I answered honestly that I had never done anything like that. Still, if someone was hurt because of me, I wanted to talk and apologize, and if it was a misunderstanding, I was willing to resolve the misunderstanding.
The reporter helped me contact the informant, so I contacted him. During the conversation, the reporter apologized to me for misunderstanding and I understand that he also told the reporter that the report was not true. I thought everything had been resolved because I had explained that it was not true and had resolved a long-standing misunderstanding with the person who had reported it to the press.
However, after reading the article posted today, I thought that it had not been resolved and that many of the words in the article could cause even greater misunderstanding among people.
From the time I was 15 until now, 20 years later, I have made mistakes, acknowledged them, and tried not to repeat them. Despite my shortcomings, at least I have never caused malicious harm to others.
Once again, I apologize to those who were hurt by me at this very moment. I also sincerely apologize if you were hurt by me at any moment that I cannot remember.
And in the future, we will be more careful and reflect with interest in the lives and suffering of others."
People Step Up to Defend Kim Hieora
When the report first blew up, Kim Hieora's former classmates spoke up in defense of the actress.
An informant (called L) has stepped up to defend Kim Hieora. The informant spoke to StarNews (via KoreaBoo) and claimed that the actress was also a victim.
"If Hieora actually did all that, then she does deserve the criticism. But when I heard about the victim who stepped up [with the phone call records], I wondered if she would also be able to stand proud [with what she did also]. She’s someone with bad rumors about her."
The informant also downplayed Hieora's delinquent status. While she has been accused of being a first-tier bully (or iljin), the informant classified her as a sixth-tier bully.
"Kim Hieora was honestly around a 6th-tier. She wasn’t even significant in our group. I’m not proud to have also been an iljin, but I’m not a celebrity so I can say it publicly. Kim Hieora didn’t have much to her other than being pretty and pale. Actually, there were people in our group that bullied her for being pretty."
Hieora's co-star in The Glory, Lim Ji-yeon, trended online for publicly showing her support for the actress. Although she did not say anything, she "liked" Hieora's apology on Instagram.
The two have remained friends after the show ended.
Another co-star, Jung Sung Il, also "liked" the actress' apology post. He was not bashed online.
Dispatch Releases Second Article and Phone Call Transcript
On September 9th, the publication released a three-part report on the issue involving Kim Hieora.
The report included the transcript of a phone call that the actress had with one of her alleged victims.
The alleged victim (hidden as H) accused the actress of hitting her and her other friends (named F and G).
The victim also alleged that Hieora repeatedly tormented H. She also said that Hieora "hit F until her nose bled."
The lengthy report also shared that Hieora tried to track down the victims of the alleged school violence. Although Dispatch was able to speak to 11 informants, the actress was said to have met seven of the eight individuals she got in touch with.
One of the people that the actress met with got in touch with Dispatch to not publish the evidence she had against Hieora since they were able to resolve their misunderstandings.
Unfortunately, Hieora was unable to meet with the last person. The publication has also brought in three other informants, who shared their own experiences with Hieora.
One of the informants shared how Hieora's cursing in The Glory brought back the bullying memories from her childhood.
Shortly after this, Hieora's agency refuted the transcript and said these were heavily edited. They planned to release their own transcript of the phone call, which was not edited.
Gram Entertainment claimed that the misunderstanding between Hieora and H was a personal matter. The agency maintained that it no "repeated bullying or assaulting" was involved.
“The incident between Kim Hieora and ‘H’ is an extremely personal matter, and our agency does not admit to or agree with the claims made by ‘H,’ As mentioned in the phone call, ‘H’ and Kim Hieora used to be friends. However, Kim Hieora repeatedly suffered damage due to H’s behavior, and because of this, the two grew apart and wound up fighting. We are informing you that it was not repeated bullying or assault, as H claims.”
You can read a copy of the transcript from both camps on Soompi.
Kim Hieora's Management Decides to Pursue Legal Action
On September 11, Hieora's agency announced that they would take legal action against the media outlet:
The official statement that Gram Entertainment released read:
"Hello. This is Gram Entertainment.
We apologize to all the people who have been concerned about the controversy surrounding our artist, Kim Hieora. We would like to apologize to those who have been disappointed and harmed by this incident.
Today, our agency has decided to take legal action against a media outlet that treated the unilateral claims of a whistleblower regarding Kim Hieora as proven facts, causing damage to the reputation of our artist and even causing pain to those unrelated to the situation.
We would like to address the actions taken by the media outlet during the reporting process and state that we will respond with strong legal measures to refute the baseless claims made by the outlet.
Once again, we express our strong intention to take strong legal action against any malicious acts towards our artist, and we will do our best to protect our artists.
The following is our position and the sequence of events regarding the initial reporting and coverage of the suspicions surrounding Kim Hieora.
1. The initial media outlet distorted the whistleblower’s statement maliciously by editing it, and added the claim that the agency and the artist tried to cover up the allegations, giving the impression of a “concealment crime” to justify the reporting.
For example, in the exclusive article published on September 9th, phrases such as “On September 8th, 2023, Kim Hieora called Mr. H,” and ” Kim Hieora released a statement. Mr. H is evidence of school violence. That’s why she made a desperate call on the 8th,” are clearly distorted facts. After the agency’s statement was released, H sent a text message to Kim Hieora first, expressing the desire to talk on the phone, and the phone call was made after a miscommunication. Furthermore, the media outlet pressured Kim Hieora by listing unfounded claims for the purpose of whistleblowing, and Kim Hieora realized later that the phone call was maliciously intended, feeling guilt for not protecting her friend during the argument mentioned.
2. The media visited Kim Hieora without any prior notice on May 17th and coerced and persuaded her by saying, “If you admit it, we will adjust the level of the article. Then you can return because we don’t want another Kim OO incident to happen.”
For example, despite Kim Hieora’s claim of never having smoked cigarettes, they repeatedly asked the same question and used different answers, saying, “There are so many informants who claim to have seen you smoking.” They pressured Kim Hieora, who claimed innocence, by saying, “It’s not important, let’s move on,” and despite claiming to only publish articles that can be verified, they subtly mentioned the suspicion of “running errands for cigarettes” in an exclusive report, leading to public misunderstanding.
3. The media claimed that they delayed the article to consider Kim Hieora, who is preparing for a drama broadcast in May. However, even though the initial informants and Kim Hieora clarified the misunderstanding and conveyed it to the media, they still turned the suspicion into an article. In the process, our company learned belatedly that the media had informed the agency about the informants’ testimonies, met with the informants secretly, and collected evidence to write the article. When the informants realized the misunderstanding and tried to change their minds, the media clearly stated, “If that happens, we won’t publish the article.” Furthermore, they deceived our company with lies and false actions, including indicating that they had no contact with the informants or did not meet them.
Many individuals’ rights are being violated by the allegations against Kim Hieora. Due to the standard and generalization errors of “having conflicts results in becoming a bully or committing school violence,” even unrelated individuals are being suspected of being bullies or engaging in school violence just because they are members of a certain online community. We desperately hope that no more victims will emerge due to indiscriminate reporting behavior.
The truth of this case must be determined through legal means, and we also hope to clarify the right and wrong of the evidence referred to by the media and the misunderstandings with the informants in court.
We apologize once again for causing concerns to many people with this unfortunate incident."
Dispatch Releases New Article Addressing the Controversy
On September 11th, Dispatch released a new article entitled How Did They Change Their Words. The publication claimed that the alleged victims have refuted their statements.
Dispatch also shared the statement of the victims from earlier this year.
The publication also received a lot of scrutiny after the actress' former classmates spoke up in defense of her.
At the end of the article, the publication clarified that they were simply "messengers" and should not be accountable for the lies of the alleged victims. The publication also shared that the actress was attacking the messenger and maintained the fact that Hieora was a bully when she was still in school.
On September 13, Dispatch (via AllKPop) said that the actress apologized to three of the alleged bullying victims via phone call a total of seven times. She also personally met with two of these victims to apologize.
Responding to this development, the actress' label said:
"We have nothing to say further. As we already stated, we're preparing a legal response. We'll let you know when we're ready."
How This Controversy Harms Kim Hieora's Career
Despite the report that came out on September 6th, Hieora continued to perform at the FRIDA musical at Shinhan Card Artium in COEX, Samsung-dong in Seoul.
This was the actress' first appearance since the allegations came out.
KDramaStars reported that many of the audiences who purchased their tickets for the musical did not cancel. The actress' scheduled performance was nearly sold out at 1,000 tickets for that morning.
The controversy did not seem to affect ticket sales. However, many are worried whether or not the issue will affect the actress' budding career as she is reportedly going on a break.
We'll continue to monitor the developments of the allegations against Kim Hieora.
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