YouTuber Lee Jin-ho has refuted the claims made by the family of the late Kim Sae-ron who filed a lawsuit against him.
On the 17th, Lee Jin-ho stated through his YouTube channel 'Entertainment President Lee Jin-ho' that he respects the position of the bereaved family who lost a child, but he wants to correct the many factual inaccuracies in their claims.
Previously, the family's legal representative, attorney Bujiseok, claimed that "Lee Jin-ho stated that the relationship between Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Sae-ron was a fabrication, despite it being true."
In response, Lee Jin-ho said, "I have never once said that the relationship between Kim Sae-ron and Kim Soo-hyun was false or a fabrication," and added, "The bereaved family has issued a statement explaining the facts regarding the photos I posted at the time. If I had originally claimed it was a fabrication, there would be no reason to disclose such information. The positions of the legal representative and the bereaved family are contradictory."
Lee Jin-ho further stated, "The claim that I was instructed by Kim Soo-hyun's agency to cover Kim Sae-ron's video is a blatant falsehood." He asserted that the video was covered through additional research on Kim Sae-ron.
Regarding his visit to Kim Sae-ron's burial site, Lee Jin-ho explained that it was to show minimal respect, saying, "I heard from the columbarium staff that the bereaved family had moved the deceased to another location, so I had no choice but to contact her father. I wanted to pay my last respects."
He also expressed, "There is a distorted frame that I called the bereaved family to confirm the location of the columbarium, and a malicious frame suggesting that I called during mourning. This is absolutely not true."
The bereaved family filed a defamation lawsuit against Lee Jin-ho at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on the 17th, in collaboration with the YouTube channel 'Garo-Setro Research Institute.' During this event, the family stated, "If it were up to us, we would want to apply murder charges, but according to precedent, defamation does not fall under the methods of murder. Unfortunately, we hope that the fact that the deceased's death is causally related to Lee Jin-ho's dissemination of false information will be reflected as much as possible in sentencing, leading to a severe punishment."
[Ji Seung-hoon, Star Today reporter]
