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The latest twist in the Kim Soo-hyun / Kim Sae-ron case. While the family of the deceased keeps making statements in the media with material they claim to be true or at least with "what the victim said," "only they know"; we learn today, via an official statement from Kim Soo-hyun's legal representative that none of the elements ("a KakaoTalk exchange from June 2016, a message from April 2018, and several photos claiming to be from this period. These items had been publicly circulated as irrefutable.") were in fact submitted by the family as evidence in the child abuse investigation. What does this mean? If it hadn't been for the media, this affair wouldn't have taken on the magnitude it did. complaints are based on nothing more than hearsay and rumours (or paper documents rather than digital). How, 9 months later, can the Korean police and the South Korean justice system let a man who has carried this country for so long and helped put it on the map be dragged through the mud like this, without reacting?
Just as lawyer Kho Sang-rock published "his last message before the results of the investigation are made public". on December 8, here's our analysis from the point of view of a Western media that can't understand (and we don't think we're the only ones) how South Korea could be so deficient in its legal system and fail one of its "greatest jewels".
9 months later, Kim Sae-ron's family still hasn't submitted "evidence" to the police (!)
In this latest Youtube post dated December 8, Kho Sang Rock reveals a detail that is far from being one, and reduces all accusations to "they say" on the basis of this alone:
"During the follow-up investigation, with the entire legal team, we discovered new elements, information that made us all uncomfortable. In March, the plaintiffs had presented 3 pieces of evidence purporting to demonstrate a minor-adult relationship: a KakaoTalk exchange from June 2016, a message from April 2018, and several photos purporting to be from this period. These items had been publicly circulated as irrefutable. To date, however, none of these elements have been introduced as evidence in the investigation into the abuse of a minor. In other words evidence considered "decisive" in accusing the actor of reprehensible crimes was never passed on to investigators.
Worse still, in order to defend himself, it is now up to the victim of this whole affair to submit these "proofs" himself to defend his case: "Consequently, it is now up to us to ask the police to examine them, an absurd situation in which the accusers have submitted nothing, and it's the defenders who are forced to provide the incriminating evidence. This means that the plaintiffs knew from the outset that their "evidence" didn't hold water, but continued to publicly accuse. What's more, if we add the fact that they combined the accusations of abuse of a minor and false accusations into a single act, but that the "false accusation" part was formally withdrawn by the plaintiffs, this confirms to me that the initial spirit of accusation had already been abandoned. They preferred to keep the false claim of abuse, despite the risk of prosecution for slanderous denunciation."
So what is the police doing? Why has the investigation stalled?
That's what the whole world seems to be wondering. How, 9 months after the first accusations, can there be no public results on the investigation? Why is the analysis of the AI audio still not published? What is so obstructive that this case is stalling so long? From the point of view of many, all this makes no sense and generates nothing but frustration and anger.
Meanwhile, the accusers remain free, both the Youtubeur Garosero and the family (at least, Kim Sae-Ron's mother and fake aunt). continuing to maintain the hell the actor is going through. Kho Sang-rock states: "Until recently, I assumed that the plaintiffs sincerely believed what they were saying, that they had been duped by the deceased. But new evidence shows instead that they are orchestrating an escalation of accusations, repeatedly rewriting their story. The deceased's mother, in particular, has revived contradictory allegations, such as an alleged "kiss by the Han River in 2014 with the 'My Love From the Star' actor", or an absurd offer of a promise of wealth and marriage. How can we believe these stories when we know that the actor, at the time, was being hounded by paparazzi and international stalkers, and was living under protection, making any public outing impossible? And yet, the rumors keep coming. The actor must once again defend himself against totally disproportionate accusations, at a time when he had barely recovered from a public scandal."
But lately, public opinion, which is now largely in favor of the actor, is tired and bored. (Internet users are notably tired of waiting for thousands of photos and evidence from the family, tired of the manipulations and Excel documents served up as "forensics evidence"). The family knows this and seems to be using all this noise, along with Garosero, to drown out the investigation.
"Accusation overload, media manipulation and psychological exhaustion We are now in a period where truth and lies are shamelessly mixed up. Complainants, to avoid being accused of false testimony, continue to add unverifiable elements, "what the victim said", "only they know", "evidence collected after the fact"... Vague formulations, impossible to verify. Despite this, these allegations continue to be relayed, causing enormous damage to the actor and his reputation. I believe this strategy is aimed at drowning the truth in a flood of contradictory statements, just to make the investigation interminable and the accusation plausible in the public eye."
Here again, anyone in their right mind would ask, "What are the police doing?" Why is South Korea leaving one of its biggest players in such a vacuum, trampled underfoot by his detractors? Are the police capable of handling this case properly? This is what everyone is still wondering, even lawyer Kho Sang-rock: "I must confess that I doubt the authorities' commitment to treating this case with the rigor it deserves. Despite the total absence of tangible evidence, no photos, no verified exchanges, no tangible elements, the accusations continue to be publicized. We have urged the police to take a serious look at phone records, messaging histories, photographs, anything that might help decide between truth and slander. But to date, nothing has been made public."
The Kim Soo-hyun affair: the shame of an entire country
Let's face it: 9 months on, this affair raises a lot of questions: is South Korea capable of defending its celebrities in the face of cancel culture? Is South Korea capable of defending its celebrities in the face of cancel culture? Is it, as its kdramas often portray it, polluted with malicious people within the police and the justice system, so that such a case (where Internet users seem to solve and piece together evidence faster than the authorities who should be in charge), takes so long?
Why not make the progress of the investigation public once and for all? In any case, from a Western point of view, all eyes will have been on the country for weeks, and all that's resulted to date is a great deal of incomprehension (and anger for fans). The Kim Soo-hyun case will go down in history (at least for the time being, as long as the police let it go on that way) as the disgrace of an entire system in this country: the inability to solve a case and defend those who contribute so much to the country.
Kho Sang-rock's full press release can be found on his YouTube post and translated into French via the Kim Soo Hyun France account.
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