Actor Bae Yong Joon has been accused of fraud as the result of a five-year-old contract dispute over the distribution of health supplements.
The case involved a company called Gorilla Life Way, which the actor is a majority shareholder in. Gorilla Life Way had a contract with a health food manufacturing company known as Koje.
Five years ago the companies signed a contract in which Koje gave Gorilla Life Way the exclusive right to sell their product, a ginseng health supplement, in Japan.
Koje claims that Gorilla Life Way received about $2 million and did not use the money for market research, which the contract stipulated. The case went to trial and it was decided that it was Koje was guilty of violating the terms of the contract.
The contract between the companies ended in 2010 but for the last three months, a group known as the Koje Victims Alliance has targeted Bae Yong Joon to draw attention to their claim. They allege that the actor is personally responsible for misappropriating the money they claim they are owed.
According to a statement by Bae Yong Joon's agency Key East Entertainment, it is absurd for them to target the actor rather than the legal parties originally involved in the incident. And the case between the two legal parties responsible has already been settled, with Gorilla Life Way winning the case.
That has not stopped the group from posting insulting and malicious banners about the actor in front of his agency or from staging daily demonstrations.
"The group is causing great pain to the people who work in the Key East office building as well as the people who work in surrounding buildings," said the agency.
Koje filed fraud charges against the actor with the Northern Seoul Prosecutor's office on Sept. 19. A prosecution official told The Korea Times that because the suit was filed on Friday, investigators have only begun to examine the case.
"No plans have been set to summon Bae for questioning at present."
Key East officials said the group is attacking Bae's reputation as a top star in an effort to foster their claim. They cautioned that they are not going to remain silent about the group's actions. They will take legal action against Koje and sue the group for making false accusations.
As an actor, Bae Yong Joon helped promote the Hallyu by appearing in such dramas as "April Snow" and "Winter Sonata." He is also a majority shareholder in Key East and has several other business interests, including the health-conscious Gorilla in the Café restaurant in Honolulu, Hawaii. His company, Gorilla Life Way, is also based in Hawaii.
