Ji Soo is in trouble as the actor along with his agency KeyEast has been sued by the production company of the drama, River Where The Moon Rises. The company Victory Contents' has filed a compensation suit demanding $2,661,771 [3 billion KRW] for damages and loss caused by the bullying scandal involving the actor.
Victory Contents has released a press release and stated that the suit has been filed at the Seoul Central District Court against KeyEast to claim damages following Ji Soo's bullying scandal. Ji Soo played the lead role [On Dal] in River Where The Moon Rises. But he was forced out of the drama when the bullying scandal broke and the actor apologized for the same in early March.
The Extent of Loss
The company had completed 90 percent of the filming and only six episodes had been aired. But due to the public cry against Ji Soo, all episodes had to be re-filmed, causing a great amount of loss to the company. Currently, Ji Soo has been replaced with Na In Woo of Mr Queen fame. Victory Contents stated: "We have filed a compensation suit against KeyEast with the Seoul Central District Court to claim our portion of damages."
Explaining the seriousness of the situation the company said: "In March 2021, River Where The Moon Rises was in the process of pre-production and when the school violence controversy surfaced, filming for the drama was almost complete. However, when the actor was replaced, we had to re-film all of Ji Soo's scenes. The production cost of this drama was huge, and the amount of additional costs we had to incur was severe due to the re-filming, but we decided to re-film first six episodes too in order to keep our promise to the viewers that we would show them a complete, finished work."
Non-Cooperation by KeyEast
The company stated that it suffered a huge loss from staff costs, location and equipment fees, appearance fees, art fees, and other expenses. It also said that other kinds of loss including decline in viewer ratings, complaints from overseas distributors, a decrease in sales, and damage to the company's image were going to affect them for a long time.
The company also said that KeyEast was not cooperating with their request. "In order to recover these damages as soon as possible and to concentrate on producing good dramas, we tried to negotiate compensation with KeyEast, but were unsuccessful due to the non-cooperation of KeyEast," the statement read.
After Ji Soo apologized for his misdeeds, his agency KeyEast announced that the actor will take a break and enlist for mandatory military service in October. However, both the actor and KeyEast have denied claims of sexual harassment. So far, neither KeyEast nor Ji Soo have issued any statement regarding legal action by Victory Contents.
River Where The Moon Rises has streamed 14 episodes out of 20 with Na In Woo and Kim So Hyun in the lead. The drama has managed to retain an average of 8.4 percent viewership in its latest [14th episode]. Next episode of the drama will be aired on March 22.
