Ji Soo is confirmed to be leaving his role as On Dal in the KBS drama River Where the Moon Rises. The actor becomes the center of controversy due to multiple allegations of school violence earlier this week. This leads to the cancellation of the shooting as they'll be holding a meeting to handle the issue.
On Friday, March 5, a spokesperson for KBS confirmed to Star News that Ji Soo would no longer play his part in River Where the Moon Rises. They stated that the actor stepped down from his role as On Dal and they're in the middle of a discussion with the production company about their next step.
On the same day, it was announced that Na In Woo, who leads the recently-ended Mr. Queen, is in talks to replace the actor in the series. A representative from his agency, Cube Entertainment, said that he received the offer to join River Where the Moon Rises as On Dal and he's currently reviewing the offer.
Right now, there is a lot of on-going discussion on whether the March 8 and 9 episodes of River Where the Moon Rises will air on KBS. Reportedly, the series "completed 95 percent of filming" and there'll be conversations on how to move forward with it.
The school violence allegations first emerged on Tuesday, March 2, after a post was uploaded to an online forum. The writer, which referred to as "A," accused Ji Soo of being a perpetrator of school violence the time they attended the same middle school from 2006 to 2008.
The writer said that the actor and other kids "roamed the school as a delinquent and performed all sorts of bad deeds" beginning their second year of middle school in 2007. "A" further claimed that if one of the group members experienced something unpleasant, they would beat that person up.
The day after the post, Ji Soo's agency, Keyeast, released a statement in response to the school violence allegations. The company wrote that they're reviewing the facts and will do their best to resolve the matter. In addition, they apologize for "causing concern to many people."
Ji Soo also released a handwritten apology letter, which was posted on his Instagram account. The actor apologized to the people who suffered because of him and said that there is no excuse for his past misconduct. He's hoping that River Where the Moon Rises "does not see further damage" because of him.
