Actor Kang Ji-hwan, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a drama staff member, has been ruled to pay 3.4 billion won to his former agency.
On the 6th, the Seoul High Court's Civil Affairs Department 6-1 (Chief Judge Kim Je-wook, Kang Kyung-pyo, and Lee Kyung-hoon) ruled that "the defendant should pay the plaintiff 3.483 billion won" in a lawsuit filed against Kang by Jellyfish Entertainment, Kang's former agency.
Earlier in July 2019, Kang Ji-hwan was put on trial on charges of sexually assaulting one person and molesting the other after drinking with two outsourced staff members at home while filming the TV Chosun drama "Joseon Survival." In this case, Kang Ji-hwan was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and suspended for three years.
At that time, Kang Ji-hwan got off the "Joseon Survival Period," which finished filming the 12th part, and Seo Ji-seok was put in as a successor to finish filming. The 20-episode "Joseon Survival Period" was also reduced to 16 episodes.
Then, the drama production company filed a lawsuit against Kang and his former agency to return a total of 6.38 billion won, including the already paid performance fee and the contractual penalty, saying, "Kang Ji-hwan's crime made it impossible to fulfill his obligations under the contract."
In November last year, the first trial considered that it was responsible for only KRW 600 million of the total amount, but the appeals court ruled to jointly pay KRW 5.38 billion. In response, the former agency filed a lawsuit again against Kang Ji-hwan for 4.2 billion won in default damages.
Reporter Lee Yu Na from Digital News Team.
[Copyright holder (c) YTN Unauthorized reproduction, redistribution and use of AI data prohibited]