Ji Soo Admits Bullying and Sexual Assault Allegations From School Era 1-day After Scandal Breaks, Future of K-drama River Where the Moon Rises Uncertain

With so many bullying from school and idol group allegations lobbed against younger K-stars in the recent month, which I chalk up to when there is finally a crack then the dam breaks. All it takes is one brave person to speak the truth for the others who have suffered bullying and/or assault in the past the courage to speak up now knowing the media scrutiny is on it so less likely to be swept under the rug. Actor Ji Soo was accused first by one classmate of intense bullying during their middle school days, followed up with additional allegations of sexual assault that would be criminal if true and he were an adult and could be charged as such. His agency KeyEast Entertainment announced it would investigate immediately but less than a day later Ji Soo posted a handwritten letter on his Instagram page admitting his guilt and offering his apology. It’s quite raw and he doesn’t make any excuses, and in fact discussed how he’s tried to bury that past as he became an actor and felt the guilt of it in his life. His career is basically over but since he’s the male lead in currently airing K-drama River Where the Moon Rises attention now turned to what will happen. Will KBS pull the drama entirely? Pause it for recasting his male lead Ondal and re-shooting? Rewrite the second half to kill Ondal off and make Go Geun or even some new male character the love interest? I feel terrible for Ji Soo’s victims, they are first and foremost the most impacted by what happened and my hope is they can start to heal and move on having Ji Soo accept his full guilt and admit it publicly and paying his penance.

I sincerely apologize to those who suffered from my actions.
About the past misbehavior
There is no excuse.
Those were actions that could not be forgiven.

As I started acting, I covered my past
Receiving undeserved attention from the public
I think I’ve come this far.

But in the heart of the past
There was always a feeling of guilt
It’s too late to turn back regrets
It always came to me with great anxiety.
The dark past has always crushed me.

Seeing myself acting as an actor
I deeply atone for those who have suffered for a long time,
I will reflect on and regret my past, which I will not be able to wash my whole life.

Because of one individual’s great fault I apologize to
Broadcasters, production crew, actors, and drama scenes
Because of me, I sincerely hope that the drama does have any further impact

To all those who have been hurt by me
On my knees, I sincerely apologize.


Comments

Ji Soo Admits Bullying and Sexual Assault Allegations From School Era 1-day After Scandal Breaks, Future of K-drama River Where the Moon Rises Uncertain — 64 Comments

  1. Sigh. When fame comes, bigger accountability and responsibility comes.
    As the saying goes, No fist can hold a Smoke, it leaks.
    I wonder how is he going to atone for his sins? Prison, pay the victims or fade into obscurity. I hope he’s not going to end his life but use his remaining life to do good by helping the ones who are bullied. Perhaps he can create a center or hotline or provide legal assistance or protection to youngs who complains or suffers from bullying. Perhaps that can be an atonement. A forever mission to help the bullied.

    • In middle school, he was still a CHILD!!! This doesn’t excuse his behavior at the time, but he obviously did not have enough cognitive development to overcome his cognitive and moral deficiencies. You can’t blame a CHILD for this terrible behavior forever. He understands and regrets what he did wrong. There are steps he can take to overcome his unacceptable behavior, such as promoting and becoming a spokesperson for anti-bullying. Typically, children don’t belong in jail!

      • He allegedly assaulted male students and ejaculated on their faces. I don’t care if he was a teen… that is completely criminal.

        I also find his apology insincere and lacking. He gave a blanket apology without specifying what his actual actions were.

      • I think if you did a little more research on his type of behaviour you would find that he was displaying traits of anti-social personality disorder. I.e. sociopathy. Its disturbing someone so young was carrying out sexual assaults on children younger than him and his own age, producing sex tapes on minors, and in addition was bullying, violent and threatening. He also manipulated those around him to do his bidding. Its likely the only thing stopping his reign of terror into adulthood was that he became an actor. Just because someone is a child it doesn’t mean they are absolved of evil deeds. People need to know about his past because traits like his simply don’t disappear because he became an adult. Due to the depravity of his deeds he has the potential to offend as an adult and any future acquaintance of his needs to be aware of this for their own safety.

      • Yes, he was a child. But so were his victims. They suffer trauma because of him yet he went on to gain fame and recognition for portraying “good guys.” Even if he was young when he did these things, he wasn’t young enough that he didn’t know better.

        Who knows if he’s truly apologetic or just repenting because his dirty laundry was aired. Plus, he said himself that when he gained fame, he tried to cover up his past. Anything he says now only sounds insincere and fake.
        And really, would people truly listen to a previous bully preach to them about anti-bullying? It would be “the pot calling the kettle black.”

      • …..do you even know what he just admitted to??! This isn’t a matter of one kid being mean or saying nasty things, it’s sexual assault. And minors do go to detention when they’re caught doing things like this, it’s called juvie! He hasn’t faced any legal or criminal consequences for his past, sure his career is toast but he’s still walking free.

        I was his fan ever since Sassy Go Go. Not any longer though.

  2. As i said in a previous comment, he is trending on twitter in France . It’s a premiere as the only ones who made it until now are BTS and Black Pink . It’s huge as fans are disgusted . They don’t care about the letter and his apologize . Unfortunately, he is not the only one , others are still undercovered .

  3. All I can say. This is HORRIBLE.

    First for the victims. I totally can understand how they longed for justice and even when Ji Soo got the punishment he deserves, in no way can ever fully heal those whose badly affected and suffered through his bullying. There are hardly any closure for this. Still, I hope they can find peace.

    Secondly, (IF) Ji Soo really feel sorry for and repents over his pasts, its regrettable that his mistakes cut short his career. May this serve as a reminder to all of us, no matter how young you are, there is no excuse to torment and make others lives a living hell. It does not take much effort to be a decent person. I hope he move on and tries living his life as a decent human being.

    Feel bad and sorry for the while team if RWTR.

  4. I did not give a trial before, but from the beginning the first complaint seemed to me the closest to that of a victim. I also suffered harassment, not at school but by guys from the agency where I worked in my youth and each letter of the first complaint felt lived, especially the part in which he expressed that he was not interested in a hypocritical apology. Very few who suffered violence would accept a compelling apology.
    Harassment is not the simple act of exercising violence, the consequences in the victims attack your self-esteem, your thoughts, it is horrible.
    No one who exerts physical and mental force on others should justify himself after events such as he was young, we were all young, but we do not attack others for fun.
    It’s sad, how an actor didn’t seem super terrible to me, he had charisma.
    I feel sorry for the drama staff, I do not follow the drama, but I really do not see an effective way out at this point, even if they change the story the shadow of the scandal will haunt them, it is horrible for them, no person deserves to see their work ruined by actions of third parties.
    For this man to spend his life watching his past actions ruin his future – that’s what I call justice.

    • I think the first victim who stepped out was certainly the most eloquent but I wouldn’t say he was the closest one to that of a victim. The subsequent victims that came out to reveal they were sexually assaulted and coerced and humiliated to do sexual acts were so worse to read.

  5. Woah. Just woah.

    I hope the victims now heal and find strength. They are survivors with a bright future ahead of them.

    May justice and reform come for them and other victims who were hurt by bullies.

  6. Bullying is an act of destroying of someone’s soul. School bullying is especially heinous because it is inflicted during your formative years, the most impactful period of your life. You could never undo that. I was bullied and I don’t think I ever “get over” the trauma and how much it affected my self-esteem and ability to form relationships and regulate emotions. As an adult, you learn to bury the memories with time and adjust to become a functioning adult but social movement like this really makes u realize u will likely never truly get past the trauma.

    My only concern is the bullied victims. No apology can undo the trauma they suffered but I hope it helps them on their journey to heal, knowing they had successfully let the public know what a terrible human being he was and managed to attach the title “school bully and sexual assaulter” to his name.

    • Agreed! Well said! It’s nice to read rational comments here. In other places they’re all saying how he was in middle school. He should be forgiven. “Everyone makes mistakes”. & they literally feel like “bullying is a small issue”. These people who are on Ji Soos side do not realize his actions & are unaware how severe bullying is in Korea. That or they are completely delusional.

  7. With an ok rating and terrible writing, the drama will not be able to survive the critical eye of netizens in Korea, due to this confession. It is bullying and sexual assault for goodness sake. And if they insist on keeping him or the drama, KBS will definitely suffer, rating and reputation wise.

    • @Lai Pei Yee You’re really talking about ratings now, huh? And using this to talk sh*t about the drama? You’re disgusting. I thought you couldn’t stoop any lower, but here you are..

      • and so you think a drama is more important than the network..WHAT A CRAZY FANATIC!

      • @Lai Pei Yee You’re dumb as hell. Nowhere did I say that Ji Soo shouldn’t be punished, I’m not even a fan of the guy lmao
        My take here is that KBS should replace Ji Soo and continue with the drama because Ji Soo is the only one at fault here, not the cast and crew who worked hard for the drama. How does it make me a fanatic? You’re literally crazy, everyone in this site knows that. The fact that you’re making this about ratings and stuff says a lot about you, you disgusting waste of space lmao

      • Wow this Lai Pei Yee is utterly disgusting. Imagine taking a serious issue and using it to hate on the drama. Pathetic, really.
        @LMAO Don’t bother with her. Some people just want attention, doesn’t matter if they have to use a serious thing like this to get it. I doubt she even cares about the victims, she just sees this as an opportunity to hate on the drama and bring in her ratings obsession. Her comment says it all.

      • @Lai Pei Yee

        How can you use this serious issue just to hate on a drama? You’re beyond helpless.

        I feel sorry for the victims of bullying, I’ve been one myself. I feel sorry for all the cast and crew of RWTMR.

        I hope users like Lai Pei Yee will be removed in this blog. They’re toxicity is just too disrespectful. This is a sensitive issue, please be mindful of your words.

      • Woah Lai Pai Yee suddenly being concerned with the reputation of the network. At first she is talking about ok ratings, terrible writing, and now she is deeply terrified with the impact of the issue on KBS. Can’t you set aside your selfish intentions and sympathize with the victims? The purpose of your comment smells hypocrisy

  8. Never been a fan of him, so I really don’t mind if they replace him. I feel so bad not just for the victims but for the whole cast and staff of RWTMR who worked really hard on the drama.
    I’m really curious now how KBS will handle this. I hope they don’t cancel the drama, at least for the sake of the cast and staff.
    Just curious, can anyone give me an example of a case in a KDrama where the production replaced one of the main actors of an ongoing drama?

    And I wish the victims peace and healing. Bullying is truly horrible.
    I hope commenters on here won’t use this very serious issue for petty comments about the drama—Oh never mind, I see Lai Pei Yee above is already doing it. Sigh, some people are just hopeless, I guess…

    • I forgot the title, but the one with Kang Ji Hwan in it. He had a scandal in 2019, he was replaced in the middle of shooting. 20 episodes became 16.

  9. Now, he has two options: go to the jail or go to the army. Idk how Korean laws work? It’s better be to put someone like him behind bars.
    I have a feeling he will go to the army soon.

  10. The fact that he just apologized without clarifying tells me there are probably way worse things coming out.
    His fans protecting him in ig, are sick. It’s embarrassing.
    He only apologized because he has been caught.

    • Imagine if the victim is your child or a family member. Cancelling him is not enough justice. The simple verbal bullying is already hard to forgive. These actions caused traumas and sexual harassment. Think before you write anything.

  11. I for one think all this is over reaction by netizens. The incidents happened years ago when he was young. At that age, one is easily influenced, especially when there are no good family guidance. Most celebrities/idols started out young, I think those that behaved badly probably are those without strong family ties.

    I would feel strongly disgusted too, if the incidents happened in real-time (as in JYJ Yoo Chun’s case), but not over something high-schoolers did years ago.

    He should apologize, even go to jail if that is the law, but to pull him out immediately from a drama, because of netizens reaction, is really not fair to the drama production team. I stopped watching this drama after Ep 2, but I hope the drama stays as it is, rather than a half-baked altered drama.

    • This right here is the mentality society is tryung to make us convert to by not having us hold the fire to disgusting sexual predator and abusers in the world. Abuse in any form such as bullying should not be taken lightly even if you were a kid. The parents who didnt properly raise them is as fault for them losing any success in their current future. Everyone actions has some type of accountability.

      • I know ppl are gonna argue the broken enviroment or how they some kids don’t have parents but these arguments are getting old. We see so many example of kids who suffer but grew up properly without doing these disgusting acts. Kids being kids is not an excuse anymore we have been pushing antibullying for how long now in society?

    • Imagine if the victim is your child or a family member. Cancelling him is not enough justice. The simple verbal bullying is already hard to forgive. These actions caused traumas and sexual harassment. Think before you write anything.

    • I agree. ultimately a deliquent child does not necessarily grow into a deliquent adult. He needs to be held accountable for his actions but he should be allowed to move forwards once he has done so. Many adult actors have done worse as adults and gotten away with it, I think that is much worse.
      As an aside I wonder where his parents and teachers were? I think factors such as home life and the school also need to be considered when it’s a child acting out. He could have just been a terrible teenager cos it’s easy for teenagers to go wild, but it’s especially so once they know they can get away with it

      • Someone that enjoys abusing other people can change behaviour in order to be a successful adult and not be punished. But this doesn’t change the fact that this person has a psycho/sociopathic core and would do bad things to others if they could. In high school you’re not a baby anymore, you already can tell good from evil.

      • He’s had sexual assault allegations in 2018 from an ex-girlfriend that were quickly buried, so I think yes, teenaged sexual assault offenders do become adult sexual assault offenders. There’s also another allegation on pann right now of a husband saying Ji Soo r*ped his wife when she was in first year of high school and he was a senior (18 years old). This is not a child acting out, this is a sociopath who has no remorse for his victims and didn’t apologize to anyone until he was caught. His apology even addresses the drama production team more than the actual victims.

  12. Dang. This post is about a bully and here we have so many posts calling each other names like stupid and disgusting. Lol even after JiSoo’s apology and ongoing investigations into school violence made by other celebrities, we still haven’t learn anything from this and how harmful bullying is, including cyber bullying.

  13. Maybe they should just pull the drama. Even before this scandal, it wasn’t that great. There were people who liked it, of course, but there were also people who dropped it for being boring or inconsistent. And the ratings were nothing brag-worthy. Not sure if some of those who liked it then will be able to keep watching now, even if they somehow removed the ML. But holy smokes, all the money, time and effort put in by all those involved in the project? Sigh. F#$% you, Jisoo.

  14. And suddenly, Kim So-hyun also got herself into a trainwreck of a drama… Give Kim Yoo-jung and her a break…

      • I wonder too LOL. @???? Ignore this commenter @adyjunjihyun. She sounds like she’s just trolling here. Everyone’s talking about JiSoo’s action and she suddenly brought up the two Kims. Some people just really want attention. Too many pathetic losers in the world.

  15. Ji Soo … why? I like him as an actor but I guess it’s also not completely shocking as he does have the bad boy vibes. I don’t condone the actions one bit, middle school though is probably below legal age so it’s unlikely he will be criminally liable as an adult. Although it’s no excuse but it’s human to make mistakes in youth and ignorance or whatever the reason. But you have to be responsible for it, pay the cost and rebuild your life. Just like the victims have to live with the trauma and rebuild their lives. It’s incredibly sad for those who work hard on the production but in the end it’s a good movement – you can be young and reckless but the things you do catch up with you. Never hurt people as these also come back in time. So think twice, be good and kind.

  16. I suspected it was true given the victim’s statement but I’m not happy to be proven right. There are certain behaviors that are excusable when one is a kid and in development stage, such as lying because you’re late or haven’t finished your homework, having a fight with your friends, or saying the wrong thing at the wrong time and place. All these can be excused because one’s a kid who is still developing and haven’t fully learned societal norms and consequences. Even experimenting with pot, smoking, dressing rebellious can be chalked up to teenagers pushing the boundaries and testing their limits. Ejaculating in someone’s face after asking them to perform lewd acts can never be excused as ‘oh he was young’, repeated targeted bullying of one’s classmates cannot be excused because one was young. Ji Soo’s finished as an actor. What, he did… the lengths he went to, are very, very scary, and actions of a disturbed person. I’ve been repeatedly asking a question which no one has answered: where the h3l were the adults when all this was happening? This is middle school for heaven’s sake! Not college! Which means there should have been responsible adults and parents somewhere along the line. How come no one dealt with this before now? Not teachers, not the victim’s parents, or the school administrators, not Ji Soo’s parents? Why has it been swept under the rug for so long? Why is no one holding the adults accountable as well? What about the victims of abusers who are ordinary citizens and have never become celebrities? Will those victims also get their due someday? This new ‘Me Too’ movement shouldn’t just involve celebrities. It should be an opportunity to clean up the whole system so that kids today don’t have to suffer what thief predecessors went through.

    • Exactly. SK should really take a closer look at the bullying culture in their society. Yes, bullying happens everywhere but the scale and severity in SK seem one of the extremes. I suppose it’s surprising for me because I mostly watch kdramas that for the most part, paint SK culture as warm, rosy and bright, so that’s my fault in my choice of escapist dramas – I only see the pretty side and forget that there is a not-so-pretty side to any culture. The adults in the society need to take better care of the children and stop normalizing bullying and violence.

    • South Korean laws are not built to protect the middle schoolers from physical and psychological bullying. As a result of this weakness in the court system, middle schoolers take advantage of it. In my own observation, teachers can’t do much if they are not supported by the principal & justice system. Influential parents that donate lots of money to school boards also play a role in teachers & administrators turning a blind eye or sweep it under the carpet. No principal want a bad rep for their school saving face is important. Not much importance is attached to psychological bullying. The attitude is to tough it out,it’s part of life. Rrefer to article in Korea Herald dated Feb 23,2021 entitled “Claims of Past School Violence Sweep Sports, Showbiz” by journalist Shin Ji-Hye. ALso refer to a 2004 study/research conducted by Dr Young Shin Kim, Dr. Yoon-Joo Koh & Dr. Bennet L. Levanthal entitled Prevalence Of School Bullying In Korean Middle School Students at jarnanetwork.com/journals/jarnapediatrics/fullarticle/485789

    • The journalist stated ” Under the current laws children under the age of 14 cannot be punished FOR ANY CRIMES in SK.” Thanks KA for the Korea Herald article. No wonder the middle schoolers go on rampage then when they get caught as adults said I was just a kid. I bet a lot of them know this law so they take full advantage of the loophole. Disgusting law this one.

      • Aquarius, as a former teacher who taught in private schools for the rich people, I had seen enough to quit private school teaching. It’s common knowledge boys mature physically and cognitiveky faster even 20 years ago. Some of my own former male pupils started watching pornographic materials as young as 11 years old and started displaying disrespectful attitudes and language towards girls, adult females and even towards their mums. Using the f words towards teachers are nothing in schools. The only thing I could do was counselling sessions with them, informed the parents, refer them to the discipline teacher, school counsellor and then the whole matter was forgotten or not followed up. There were other bad stuff going on but I won’t go into details. The mentality of victim shaming using time lapse as an excuse, kids will be kids,downplaying sexual offences are some factors making school bullying worse. The percentage has gone up year by year.

  17. Why are you attacking Jisoo like he’s the only one evil in this situation. He had friends with him hen he was doing those acts and at that time he is still very young. If he does act like it now then I would understand that he deserves to be punished or imprisoned but that was in the past already and he already made an apology. Bullying is just a part of high school life, even you Koreans make movies and dramas on bullying and at the end the main character changes, then why can’t it happen to Jisoo? His acts in the past were terrible but now if you would judge him as a person, don’t you think it’s too much. It’s maybe because he is infact being very successful in his career that the ones he bullied got jealous. Can’t a person change??? The fact that Jisoo does not have issues right now on his behavior proves that he already changed his habits in order to protect his career. I think you’re just being too concerned of pulling someone down just because of his current success.

    • he ejaculated on his victim’s faces, u sicko fan. He deserves jail time and be tried as an adult. I can’t believe I’m reading this. Because he is successful now he should be forgiven… you are as fucked up as him.

    • It doesn’t matter if his the same or not what matters is that he have done these bad things and he have to take responsibility for these things that he have done and i read that a staff in the drama that’s airing now said that he’s a rude person and people with this mentality rarely change because they’re blind with momentarily power that they have and as reminder most of the sociopaths that we have in the world they started thier sociopathic behaviors en an early age when they were children not untel they became adults cause when you become adult your personality is already formed.

      • what you read is what you believe seriously??? How do you even know that the person is telling you the truth or just adding up stories to make the real situation seem worse that what really happened. Being rude does not make someone a sociopath, and he is taking reposibility now for what he’s done, and still being adult does not mean that someone can’t change his personality, their is always growth upon someone who is willing to admit their behavior back then was not right. Just the fact that he apologized and admitted his ill behavior means that he is already repenting for what he did. If you believe what you read about that staff saying that he is rude, then I will also believe on his written apology. Do you need to see him cry or suffer just so you would accept his apology, what does he need to do, kneel in front and kiss your feet? And only 18 older are diagnosed with an ASPD behavior, and it happened before that, and still you do not have the proof of him being a sociopath now that he is an adult and a successful artist.

    • He had sexual assault allegations against him in 2018 from an ex-girlfriend that was quickly buried, so he’s clearly still the same. Also, sexual assault is not a part of high school life at all. He filmed a middle school girl while having s*x with her, and showed the videos to his friends and laughed about it. That’s literally textbook definition of child p****graphy possession and distribution, even if both parties were minors. These are not things to ever be forgiven, and the victims aren’t looking for an apology. He should never appear on television ever again as the bare minimum.

  18. This just means that you school system does not really care for its students because they were the ones who should have stopped a teen like Ji Soo back then from continuously committing the act. Where were your teachers back then, your parents who should protect you. This is just a bullying situation where no adults care about because they thinks bullying in kids is just normal or they just does not care for their students. And now that the kid is an adult, they attack him for the things he’s done wrong many years ago and they do not even have proof that Ji Soo is still like that now.

    • Regardless of whether or not he’s changed, he still needs to be held accountable for his past behavior because, for the victims of his bullying, their pain doesn’t go away simply because they’re no longer kids. For some of them the pain will follow them for life. Especially for any sexual harassment/assault, which he did not deny. Simply posting an apology after he has been called out publicly by his victims and has no recourse but to publicly apologize may mean little or nothing to the victims, though fans of his may be satisfied by that. This is not about the fans or the public, though. This is about him and the victims of his bullying who may or may not choose to move past it and forgive him.

  19. Oh my god been scarier nowadays
    Whose his parents?geez did the older did this too?why there is no person caught in the first place,its everywhere in that country,so many celeb blamed for this harash,who else after this man?i guest many
    Pray for all the victims!dont give up,you’re not alone

  20. He got the courage to admits his fault. I know it’s hard but everything is too late for now. Ripe what you sow.

  21. This is fake news, his agency said the bullying allegations were true but they denied the sexual assault, saying that they investigated and only victims of bullying were true, the rest was lies. And I’m not minimizing bullying, it’s scarrying as well but sexual assault, well there’s no coming back from that and as the accusations are fake I can’t imagine the pain a person would experience to be accused of that. Ji Soo needs to apologize to the victims of his bullying and strive to do everything in his power to help make their life easier, in my opinion. make amends so both parties can move forward. Please stop bullying Ji Soo and let them deal with their issues on their own, sorry netizens but they don’t need you to work things out.

  22. And sexual assault needs to be brought up to police, netizens aren’t any help. The victims of such horrible acts need the help of the police and support of their family members. Why are netizens so really to condemn when there’s accusation of an anonymous source? The investigation was made regarding those allegations and they were discovered to be false. The real people were the ones that were bullied and thats what the public and private apology was directed to. Stop bullying starts, isn’t it enough with all the celebrities we have lost due to bullying? Be human, have a heart.

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