Twenty Five, Twenty One star Nam Joo Hyuk is facing school bullying allegations.
On June 20, Korean media site The Days News published an exclusive story about an informant who claimed that he's been a school bullying victim for six years, and it allegedly happened in middle school and high school. The informant revealed that Joo Hyuk is reportedly one of the school bullies.
As proof of his claims, the informant sent a photo of Suil High School's yearbook. He also added that the actor reportedly "bullied other classmates by shoving, swearing, hitting, and cutting in line during lunchtime," and asked other students to run errands for him. The informant further stated that there are victims who are receiving psychiatric treatment because of what allegedly happened.
In response to the bullying reports, Joo Hyuk's agency, Management SOOP, has denied the allegations and they've announced that they're taking legal action. Read their full statement here as translated by Soompi:
"Hello. This is Management SOOP.
We are informing you of our official stance regarding the article on actor Nam Joo Hyuk.
First, we ask for your understanding of the delay in announcing our position in order to confirm the facts. After checking the truth with the actor regarding the initial report, we have confirmed that all the relevant information is not true in the slightest. We also express our regret at the one-sided report from the media that did not check the truth even once with the agency or the actor before publishing the article.
The agency will promptly request a correction report from the Press Arbitration Commission (PAC) against the media outlet responsible for seriously damaging the actor’s reputation through false reports. Furthermore, we will file criminal charges against the reporter of the media outlet that first reported [the claims] as well as the anonymous source. The agency has requested this case to our legal advisor today in order to proceed with legal actions, and we are in the process of carrying them out.
The actor and his family are the ones who experienced the greatest pain due to the vague gossip and rumors that are thoughtless and not confirmed in the slightest. No matter how the agency or actor reveals an official statement denying the reckless articles that take on an attitude of “whatever if it is false” and do not even check the truth and only rely on groundless rumors online, the current state leads to [the actor] being branded with a scarlet letter, which the agency really cannot help but feel distressed and regrettable about.
After this time, the agency will take severe legal action against publishing one-sided claims without checking the truth online (via social media and YouTube). We will also respond strongly through punishment without leniency against malicious over-analyzations and interpretations, actions that encourage this, and malicious posts and comments that go beyond the mere expression of opinions. We will also take legal action with the reference materials we have already collected through our monitoring.
We earnestly request that you please refrain from spreading groundless rumors or making speculative reports. With continuous monitoring, we will respond sternly from various angles. Thank you."