Bullying is a serious matter in South Korea. Even years after the incident has taken place, many continue to be haunted by their past actions. The latest celebrity to be involved in this controversy is Kim Hieora.
You may remember Kim Hieora as Gelly, one of the villains in the recently concluded The Uncanny Counter Season 2. She also starred in The Glory as one of Song Hye-kyo's bullies.
Could Hieora's acting in The Glory be inspired by her past? We explain the series of events in the Kim Hieora controversy.
What Is Kim Hieora Controversy About?
On September 6th, Dispatch reported Kim Hieora's involvement in a bullying incident when she was in middle school. The publication alleged that Hieora was part of a schoolyard gang called Big Sangji.
The group was alleged to be involved in extortion, verbal abuse, and physical violence in a school based in Wonju, Gangwon Province. The publication also shared that Hieora actively posted messages on the Big Sangji cafe.
Prior to reporting on the bullying issue, Dispatch did their investigation into the case. The first time they received a tip about the incident was in May 2023. Allegedly, the tipster came forward after hearing the same insults from Hieora's gang in a drama.
After hearing this, Dispatch started its investigation. The publication had to make sure to gather concrete evidence to support the school violence allegations against the rising celebrity.
They went on to meet over 10 previous classmates of Hieora between the months of May and June. Most of these women were said to have experienced direct and indirect harm. Out of the number of testimonials, the publication chose the cases with enough evidence.
Even though Dispatch finished its investigation two months ago, they decided to push back the report due to the release of The Uncanny Counter Season 2. Hieora played a key role in the series.
The publication finished investigating the matter in June. But Hieora was allegedly concerned about how the controversy would affect the K-drama. At that time, the show was still waiting for an official release date from Netflix.
To not cause any concerns about the show's production, Dispatch decided to postpone releasing the report for three months.
Has Kim Hieora Responded?
After the original report came out, Hieora admitted that she was part of the gang Big Sangji. The actress, however, denied having any involvement in the physical violence claims.
She also disputed her involvement in the activities of the gang.
Gram Entertainment, the label handling Hieora's career, has responded to the allegations:
After the news blew up, Hieora's appearance on SNL Korea was canceled.
The informant who gave the statement to the publication had clarified her statements (via Jazminemedia) and apologized to the actress.
Kim Hieora Releases Statement on Instagram
Hieora has released a statement on her Instagram account:
People Step Up to Defend Kim Hieora
When the report first blew up, Kim Hieora's former classmates spoke up in defense of the actress.
An informant (called L) has stepped up to defend Kim Hieora. The informant spoke to StarNews (via KoreaBoo) and claimed that the actress was also a victim.
The informant also downplayed Hieora's delinquent status. While she has been accused of being a first-tier bully (or iljin), the informant classified her as a sixth-tier bully.
Hieora's co-star in The Glory, Lim Ji-yeon, trended online for publicly showing her support for the actress. Although she did not say anything, she "liked" Hieora's apology on Instagram.
The two have remained friends after the show ended.
Another co-star, Jung Sung Il, also "liked" the actress' apology post. He was not bashed online.
Dispatch Releases Second Article and Phone Call Transcript
On September 9th, the publication released a three-part report on the issue involving Kim Hieora.
The report included the transcript of a phone call that the actress had with one of her alleged victims.
The alleged victim (hidden as H) accused the actress of hitting her and her other friends (named F and G).
The victim also alleged that Hieora repeatedly tormented H. She also said that Hieora "hit F until her nose bled."
The lengthy report also shared that Hieora tried to track down the victims of the alleged school violence. Although Dispatch was able to speak to 11 informants, the actress was said to have met seven of the eight individuals she got in touch with.
One of the people that the actress met with got in touch with Dispatch to not publish the evidence she had against Hieora since they were able to resolve their misunderstandings.
Unfortunately, Hieora was unable to meet with the last person. The publication has also brought in three other informants, who shared their own experiences with Hieora.
One of the informants shared how Hieora's cursing in The Glory brought back the bullying memories from her childhood.
Shortly after this, Hieora's agency refuted the transcript and said these were heavily edited. They planned to release their own transcript of the phone call, which was not edited.
Gram Entertainment claimed that the misunderstanding between Hieora and H was a personal matter. The agency maintained that it no "repeated bullying or assaulting" was involved.
You can read a copy of the transcript from both camps on Soompi.
Kim Hieora's Management Decides to Pursue Legal Action
On September 11, Hieora's agency announced that they would take legal action against the media outlet:
The official statement that Gram Entertainment released read:
Dispatch Releases New Article Addressing the Controversy
On September 11th, Dispatch released a new article entitled How Did They Change Their Words. The publication claimed that the alleged victims have refuted their statements.
Dispatch also shared the statement of the victims from earlier this year.
The publication also received a lot of scrutiny after the actress' former classmates spoke up in defense of her.
At the end of the article, the publication clarified that they were simply "messengers" and should not be accountable for the lies of the alleged victims. The publication also shared that the actress was attacking the messenger and maintained the fact that Hieora was a bully when she was still in school.
On September 13, Dispatch (via AllKPop) said that the actress apologized to three of the alleged bullying victims via phone call a total of seven times. She also personally met with two of these victims to apologize.
Responding to this development, the actress' label said:
How This Controversy Harms Kim Hieora's Career
Despite the report that came out on September 6th, Hieora continued to perform at the FRIDA musical at Shinhan Card Artium in COEX, Samsung-dong in Seoul.
This was the actress' first appearance since the allegations came out.
KDramaStars reported that many of the audiences who purchased their tickets for the musical did not cancel. The actress' scheduled performance was nearly sold out at 1,000 tickets for that morning.
The controversy did not seem to affect ticket sales. However, many are worried whether or not the issue will affect the actress' budding career as she is reportedly going on a break.
We'll continue to monitor the developments of the allegations against Kim Hieora.