Nam Joo Hyuk faces another bullying accusation from a third anonymous accuser. As the actor's agency, Management SOOP, looked into the issue, it released an official statement to disprove the claims.
Nam Joo Hyuk and his friends allegedly "cyberbullied" the third accuser on a KakaoTalk chat room in 2012. However, YouTube reporter Lee Jin Hoo also reportedly investigated the matter and attested that the "Twenty-Five, Twenty-One" star had nothing to do with the "supposed bullying," though he was part of the chat room.
The latest statement from Management SOOP, via AllKpop, said the published KakaoTalk conversation only revealed excerpts of the discussion and didn't explain the situation or context of the full account.
It stressed that the reports claiming ita talent tried to offer an apology to the accuser late wasn't true at all. It also revealed that the chat involved many individuals and had "complex and personal situations."
As some media outlets purported that the issue was already resolved, the company believed it wasn't right to publicize the situation at this time. With that said, it promised to reveal the truth about the matter through "additional measures of legal action."
For context, the first accuser gave an interview to a news outlet to talk about Nam Joo Hyuk's alleged bullying. Management SOOP quickly denied the allegations and announced it would take legal action against the report's writer, the first accuser and the publication itself.
After a week, a second accuser emerged, claiming to have suffered school violence from the 28-year-old model and his friends during high school. This accuser allegedly decided to step forward after seeing his agency had sued the first accuser and refuted the accusations.
Management SOOP also denied the second accuser's claims. However, the bullying complaints didn't just stop there.
On Wednesday, July 6, a third accuser came to light and a news outlet allegedly obtained evidence from the complainant, who happened to be a woman this time, per Soompi. The petitioner alleged Nam Joo Hyuk and his friends bullied and sexually harassed her during their high school senior year.
The woman brought to light text messages from a KakaoTalk group chat from May 2012 and claimed she was added there against her will and bullied because the model's friends didn't like her. In the so-called KakaoTalk prison, a form of cyberbullying in Korea, the "Start-Up" star and his friends allegedly took turns sending her hateful messages ranging from sexual harassment to negative comments about her looks and sexual insults.
Though the news outlet cleared that Nam Joo Hyuk didn't create the group chat personally, the text messages seemed to prove he insulted the third accuser and joined in the conversation.
