Lee Jin Ho suggested that the late Kim Sae Ron may have lied about the timeline of her relationship with Kim Soo Hyun.
In a video uploaded on April 9th, the former reporter claimed that in 2019—the year Kim Sae Ron said she was dating Kim Soo Hyun—both of them were actually seeing other people.
He stated, “Kim Soo Hyun had a girlfriend whom he dated from 2016 until the end of his military service in 2019. It was a long-term relationship that lasted nearly three years.” He also argued that the controversial “chicken stew” video from June 2018—used by the Garosero Research Institute, also known as Hover Lab Inc., to support their claims—was actually filmed during the time Kim Soo Hyun was still seeing that same girlfriend.
As for why Kim Sae Ron was seen eating chicken stew with Kim Soo Hyun, Lee explained, “During Kim Soo Hyun’s extended military leave, Kim Sae Ron visited the home he shared with his family. Their relationship was merely close enough to order takeout together. Kim Sae Ron was aware that Kim Soo Hyun was in a long-term relationship at the time.”
Lee also addressed the allegations that Kim Soo Hyun had been dating two people at the same time. He said, “Kim Soo Hyun was discharged from the military on July 1, 2019. He ended his nearly three-year relationship with his girlfriend around the end of his service. Kim Soo Hyun has claimed that he dated Kim Sae Ron from the summer of 2019 to the fall of 2020. It wasn’t a case of cheating, as Kim Sae Ron was also seeing someone else during that time.”
Lee further claimed that Kim Sae Ron had dated several people from high school through her early university years. “She was known to be proactive in her relationships, to the extent that she was sometimes seen showing public displays of affection on the streets,” he said, and supported this claim by revealing photos and videos showing Kim Sae Ron allegedly engaging in such behavior. In the footage, a woman is seen holding hands and appearing to kiss a man while walking on the street. However, the low resolution of the video made it difficult to clearly identify the woman as Kim Sae Ron.
Lee explained, “The footage was taken by someone very close to her who was shocked by what they saw. The material was later leaked to some people within her agency. The metadata on the video shows it was recorded on May 27th, 2019. This suggests that both Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Sae Ron were seeing other people at the same time.”
Previously, Kim Sae Ron’s side claimed that she had been in a relationship with Kim Soo Hyun from November 2015 to July 2021—a total of six years. Lee concluded, “Did Kim Sae Ron lie? We can’t completely rule out that possibility.”
On March 17th, the late Kim Sae Ron’s family filed a defamation lawsuit against Lee Jin Ho under the Information and Communications Network Act. Later, on March 27th, they filed an additional complaint under the Anti-Stalking Law, accusing him of exposing the private lives of Kim Sae Ron and her family.
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Kim Sae Ron’s family quickly refuted the claim.
On April 10th, Sports Kyunghyang reported that Kim Sae Ron’s family said she was with a female friend at 1 AM on May 27th, 2019 — the same time the video shown in Lee Jin Ho’s YouTube clip was filmed.
Records of this are reportedly still saved on the phone Kim Sae Ron used while she was alive. At the time, she was in contact with her mother, telling her that she was at her female friend’s house. Additionally, she used a smartphone camera app to take photos or videos that night. Both records were created around 1 AM on the same day.
The family also added that Kim Sae Ron was filming the web drama Love Playlist Season 4, which aired from June to July 2019, making it difficult for her to publicly date anyone at the time.
