Korea's Financial Supervisory Service recently investigated 'Birth of a Beauty" star Han Ye Seul on suspicion of illegal foreign financial dealings because she allegedly failed to report purchasing a building in Los Angeles. Under Korea's Foreign Exchange Law, Korean nationals must immediately report any real estate transactions they make in foreign countries. Her agency, Key East Entertainment said the actress' failure to report the transaction right away was a misunderstanding.
According to the Korea Herald, Han Ye Seul was one of several Koreans investigated by the FSS for illegal foreign real estate transactions. The FSS also investigated SM Entertainment Chairman Lee Soo Man and several individuals associated with major corporations.
Key East said that the actress had no intention of deceiving anyone. Han transferred ownership of the building to a company in which she was a shareholder but did not know she needed to report this.
"Han Ye Seul has nothing to do with foreign exchanges in property reported on the news," said a Key East representative. "She has owned a commercial building in Los Angeles since 2011. And she reported acquiring that building to the related national establishments."
Her agency says that the misunderstanding arose because she is so busy working in Korea she does not have the time to manage the building herself.
"The issue found by the Financial Supervisory Service was due to the delay in reporting the ownership of overseas property, as she did not know there was a rule about recording it right away," said the Key East representative.
The agency says they received notice that the actress may have to pay a fine.
"We received notice that the FSS can fine us about the delay and this fact has been acknowledged by the authorities, that it wasn't an omission but a misunderstanding, hence the fine."
The agency apologized for not knowing about the rule and not making the declaration in time.
"We want to make it clear that she's not involved in any kind of undeclared foreign property exchange."
Han Ye Seul was born and raised in Los Angeles before moving to Korea to pursue an acting and modeling career. She renounced her U.S. citizenship in 2004 for South Korean citizenship.
SM Entertainment also defended its chairman Lee Soo Man, saying that they declared the purchase of foreign properties and some alleged under-reporting may be due to a miscalculation on behalf of an affiliated company.
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