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Nam Joo-hyuk (Management Soop) |
Actor Nam Joo-hyuk has denied another round of bullying allegations raised against him.
Management Soop, Nam’s agency, said Wednesday that they had sought to verify the facts through various channels after the rumors were raised and found that such allegations were “not true.”
The controversy erupted on Tuesday last week when a local media outlet ran a report alleging that Nam had bullied a classmate in high school. The article was based on a tip-off from an anonymous person claiming to be a victim.
“My smartphone was taken away from me. They bought mobile games and items freely on my phone. I had to fight against another classmate in a sparring match set up by Nam,” the accuser was quoted as saying.
Nam’s agency said it would take legal action against those who continue to spread unconfirmed claims about the actor online, whether it be on social media or YouTube.
“Though the bullying allegations did not go through any fact-checking, they are being considered as confirmed information,” the agency said in a statement.
The latest round of allegations follows separate accusations that Nam had been a school bully. Local news outlet the Days alleged in a June 20 report that Nam was a perpetrator of school violence. It quoted an anonymous source who claimed they were Nam’s classmate and that they were a victim of bullying.
Nam’s agency immediately denied the allegations in a press release.
The agency asked the Press Arbitration Commission to order the Days to issue a correction. It also filed a criminal lawsuit against the reporter of the news outlet and the anonymous accuser on June 24.
The agency announced that it also plans to file another criminal lawsuit against the second accuser who brought the latest accusations against Nam.
By Lee Si-jin (
sj_lee@heraldcorp.com)
