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A legal battle has arisen between KBS’s “River Where the Moon Rises” and KeyEast Entertainment, actor Ji Soo’s agency.
In March, Ji Soo was accused of having been a perpetrator of school violence. Ji Soo apologized, and KeyEast Entertainment released a statement on the matter. At the time of the controversy, Ji Soo was starring in “River Where the Moon Rises,” which had already aired several episodes up to that point. KBS decided to remove him from the drama and replace him with actor Na In Woo.
Na In Woo began appearing in the drama in episode 7. The drama also re-recorded episodes 1-6 to replace the footage of Ji Soo with Na In Woo in the role of On Dal.
On April 2, Victory Contents, the production company behind “River Where the Moon Rises,” announced that they had filed a lawsuit for damages against KeyEast in the Seoul Central District Court the day before.
In their statement, Victory Contents said that the drama had suffered damage due to Ji Soo’s allegations of school violence, which included physical assault, mugging, cheating on exams, and sexual violence. (Note: Neither KeyEast nor Ji Soo have admitted to specific allegations, and in the case of the sexual violence allegations, KeyEast has issued a firm denial.)
Victory Contents said that 90 percent of filming had been completed at the time of the allegations, and that all scenes with Ji Soo had to be re-filmed when the role was recast. The drama had been on a large budget to begin with, but additional new shoots had caused the company significant financial damage in the form of additional staff salaries, props and editing costs, actor appearance fees, and art production costs. Despite this, the drama decided to re-film episodes 1-6 to give viewers a full production.
The company also said the controversy had resulted in ratings downgrades, claims filed by foreign audiences, a reduction in earnings compared to initial expectations and damage to the company’s image.
Victory Contents concluded: “We reached out to KeyEast to discuss because we expected to quietly resolve the damages and move on to our next project, but due to KeyEast’s lack of cooperation, we were forced to file a lawsuit.”
In its response, KeyEast denied that they had not cooperated in the discussions with Victory Contents. “After the allegations of school violence against actor Ji Soo surfaced, we engaged in close discussions with Victory Contents and KBS,” KeyEast said. “Ji Soo was quick to apologize without preamble, and although nothing had been proven regarding the allegations, he wanted to avoid causing further damage to the drama.”
KeyEast said it had commiserated with the difficulties of the production staff and expressed its intention to take responsibility for the reasonable costs associated with the new footage. However, Victory Contents had not provided concrete evidence of the costs they had calculated, so KeyEast requested that the company provide them with a detailed agreement. As this would take a long time, considering that the drama was still filming, the agency offered an upfront payment to help them.
KeyEast reiterated that they had faithfully cooperated in all discussions with Victory Contents and KBS by requesting objective arbitration.
In response to KeyEast’s response, Victory Contents issued another statement. Victory Contents said that while KeyEast had promised to take “moral responsibility” for “reasonable costs,” the agency continued to cite “lack of concrete evidence” and the “restrictions of being a publicly traded company” in its negotiations.
Victory Contents said their damages had been severe because they had to re-film 18 episodes without being able to release the first six episodes either in Korea or abroad. The company said KeyEast had been self-centered and pushy in promising “moral responsibility” for “reasonable costs” in light of “hard evidence.” Even though the drama was still filming and some of the contracts with other actors and agencies were to remain private, Victory Contents agreed to share whatever details they could about their costs. However, KeyEast continued to request a detailed settlement, and Victory Contents eventually accused them of trying to buy time. “It is enough to make us suspicious if the agency really recognizes the seriousness of the problem,” the company said.
The company concluded: “If KeyEast, who has to take full responsibility for this situation, has a sincere desire to solve the problem, it must clearly state its intention to take full responsibility and participate in the negotiations from that position.”
Finally, KeyEast issued another response saying that they would no longer make press statements in benefit of the drama. The agency stated, “We believe that the drama, which airs thanks to the hard work of the cast and crew and through the strong support of the viewers, could suffer further damage from the multiple press releases between us and Victory Contents. Therefore, we have decided to refrain as much as possible from further statements in the media on this subject until the drama has finished airing. We intend to continue discussions with Victory Contents from a position of responsibility to reach an amicable agreement. “
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