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On January 6, 2026, actor Kim Soo-hyun's lawyer, Kho Sang-rock, spoke again on social media about his client's case, which has now been going on for almost 11 months. He wrote, «Much progress has been made in the fourth quarter of last year, and compared to the previous stalemate, the case has seen significant progress.»
He continued: «When I first took on this case, I had serious concerns about the ability of the investigating authorities to properly understand the nature of the problem, but today it seems that they have at least grasped, to a large extent, the main issues at stake in the case, the arguments of both sides, and their basis.»
He stated: «Given that the dissemination of false information by the suspects is based on numerous lies left behind by the deceased, there remains a somewhat delicate question as to their perception and intention, but I do not believe that the police will draw erroneous conclusions about the proven facts. As the legal representative, I myself have only limited knowledge of the progress of the investigation and cannot disclose it to the outside world, but we have presented our arguments based on sufficient evidence. I do not think that a decision contrary to common sense will be made.»
Earlier, he had also stated: «The police have only recently seized and begun examining a large amount of evidence, and although there are various reasons for this delay, it would not be entirely fair to place the entire blame on the current investigation team. There are underlying complexities that are not immediately apparent. As long as the final judgment is fair, my client and I will be grateful. I hope this will allow us to move forward with a positive outlook on the future.»
Regarding Garosero (Kim Se-ui), he stated: «Regardless of the case involving the actor, I understand that the 14 cases involving Kim Se-ui (including the Eun Hyeon-jang case and the case I filed) have already been largely completed and have reached a stage where they can be procedurally handled at any time.«
«Kim Sae-ron had no intention of repaying her debt.»
He also responded to questions about the late actress's debt, explaining what had led to her situation: «This debt is the result of a serious crime committed by Kim Sae-ron in her private life, and as shown by the legal precedent of the Kang Ji-hwan case, she alone is responsible for repaying it in full. Despite this, Gold Medalist agreed to a highly unusual contract, without any penalties, stipulating that the interest, including late payment interest in the event of exceeding the repayment deadline, would be 0%.»
He continued, «However, Kim Sae-ron, after committing her crime, openly told her lawyer that she had no intention of repaying the money and even sent a registered letter to that effect. Her lawyer must have wondered what he was doing when he wrote such an absurd registered letter. It is an absurd claim to say that it is not necessary to repay immediately, but Gold Medalist cannot say anything about it. This is because Kim Sae-ron's infallible threats worked. Based on the numerous pieces of evidence I have verified, Kim Sae-ron was not only an emotionally unstable and impulsive person, but also extremely immoral. This is an indisputable fact.»
See in Threads
«Everything will be revealed during the upcoming trial.»
«The contents of the registered letter sent by Kim Sae-ron via her lawyer immediately after her posts were deleted are even more scandalous. There is also a recording in which representative Go Song-a, who had warned in advance about the sending of this registered letter, tells Gold Medalits that she believes Kim Sae-ron has no intention of repaying the money and that she ultimately caused the deletion of her posts for financial reasons. I wonder if Kim Sae-ron wanted all of this to be revealed, but everything will be disclosed during the upcoming trial.«
He continues, still on Threads: «I am not willing to go along with an atmosphere that requires glorifying a person who died after committing reprehensible acts and leading a dissolute life. As I have already said, I do not find this culture of systematically glorifying the deceased to be very positive. I think it can have a significant influence on the increase in suicide rates among teenagers. It must be possible to evaluate deceased persons objectively on the basis of facts. That is why our criminal code does not consider factual defamation to be a crime against deceased persons.»
A complaint against him by Kim Sae-ron's family
Kho Sang Rock continued: «Since they filed a complaint against me with the bar association, I plan to ask my company for permission to submit all documents related to Kim Sae-ron to the bar association. After all, this happened in the course of my work. If I said things about Kim Sae-ron that did not correspond to the facts confirmed by evidence, the deceased's relatives could sue me for defamation of a deceased person. Since they cannot do that, they simply found the thread on Threads, filed a complaint with the bar association, and then released a statement to insult me and put pressure on me using the media. I consider Bu Ji-seok (the family's lawyer) to be a character of a completely different caliber [...] I sincerely hope that this man will pay the price he deserves for his actions. […] Everything I say about Kim Sae-ron is based on evidence and documents. In order to restore my reputation, it is necessary that all of Kim Sae-ron's actions during his lifetime be revealed in detail. «
As a reminder, Kim Soo-hyun has been out of the public eye since March 2025, when accusations were made against him by Kim Sae-ron's family, allied with YouTuber Kim Se-ui (Garosero channel). Complaints have since been filed by Kim Soo-hyun, who pledged at a press conference in March 2025 to prove his innocence.
