Singer Rain wins suit against Australian agency over unpaid concert fees

A Seoul court has ordered an Australian entertainment firm to give unpaid 2007 concert fees to South Korean K-pop star Rain, court officials said Tuesday.

The Australian entertainment firm that managed the 30-year-old singer's Australian concert six years ago, filed a compensation suit against Rain in March of last year, claiming that he has not fulfilled his end of a contract with the company for the concert.

The firm also sued Rain's agency at the time, JYP Entertainment Corp., and Well Made Star M Co., a local concert promotion company that has taken over Rain's rights regarding his concert-related deals, officials said.

In response, the singer, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, made a counterclaim of 280 million won ($265,478) through Well Made Star M, arguing that he has not yet received part of his concert fees as promised.

The Seoul Central District Court sided with Rain, ordering that the Australian firm pay 280 million won to Well Made Star M.

"There is no clear evidence that Rain did not cooperate during the Australian concert," Judge Kang Seong-kuk said in his ruling.

The conscripted star was recently disciplined by the military after he dated a top South Korean TV actress while on official duty.

Rain was also previously mired in a separate legal dispute with a U.S.-based entertainment firm over the singer's canceled concert in Honolulu. (Yonhap News)