South Korean actress Kim Sae Ron was reportedly married in early 2025, with new allegations suggesting she faced coercion, emotional control, and an abortion prior to her death. Notorious journalist Lee Jin Ho released a video on March 19 detailing claims of a hidden marriage and exposing voice recordings between Kim and a former agency staff member that shed light on her private struggles.
In the video, Lee Jin Ho referenced a now-deleted social media post from January 2025, where Kim uploaded photos resembling a wedding shoot alongside a mystery man. She captioned the post "Marry" before removing it within minutes. Her representatives at the time dismissed the post, claiming the images were casual shots with a close friend. However, Lee alleges these were not staged photos, but a reflection of Kim's actual marital status.
Lee claimed, "The bereaved family has been raising major issues about her ex-boyfriend Kim Soo Hyun from four years ago. But in reality, Kim Sae Ron was married to another man and living her newlywed life. Fact-checking confirmed that [around the time my videos were released about her,] Kim Sae Ron was in the U.S. at the time, with her husband."
Accompanying Lee's video were voice recordings purportedly between Kim and an agency staff member, revealing how the wedding photos surfaced and confirming Kim's relationship status. In the exchange, Kim said, "I didn't upload them. My boyfriend did." When the staff asked if her boyfriend was "crazy," Kim replied quietly, "I know..."
Throughout the conversation, the staff repeatedly pressed for clarity. "Reporters are asking if he's your boyfriend, if you guys are married. I've been telling them he's not," the staff member said. Kim responded, "Okay."
Later in the recording, Kim admitted that she and the man had already married overseas. "Yes, we already did it," she stated when asked if the ceremony had taken place.
The voice recordings suggest that Kim's marriage was not one of her choosing. She disclosed that while dating her then-boyfriend, she briefly reconnected with her ex due to company issues. She explained, "I was also not going to marry my current boyfriend, and was actually about to break up with him. But then, I suddenly got pregnant." Kim confirmed she underwent an abortion but felt pressured to proceed with the marriage. "He kept subtly threatening me about it. He's kinda insane," she said.
Kim described how her husband, whom she met through acquaintances in New York, exercised control over her communications. "I even deleted my KakaoTalk, right? My boyfriend has access to my KakaoTalk and my Instagram. So he manages everything," Kim explained. She added that he uploaded the wedding photos after a fight, despite her opposition. "I told him to delete it just now, so he did. Anyway, that's my situation."
The staff member, increasingly alarmed, remarked, "God... You can't back out of the marriage even." Kim replied, "Yeah, I can't. Anyway, I changed my Instagram and deleted my KakaoTalk. Sigh. When he drinks, he suddenly gets insane."
Lee Jin Ho also addressed speculation tying Kim's death to past relationships, including allegations that actor Kim Soo Hyun forced her to switch communication apps. Lee rejected these claims, stating that her switch from KakaoTalk to Telegram was at her new husband's insistence.
Business Times cannot independently verify these claims.
