The conflict between actress Clara and her agency Polaris Entertainment may not be easily resolved.
The actress signed with Polaris in July 2014 and tried to nullify her contract a few months later. According to Korean media outlet Channel A, Polaris then sued her for breach of contract.
In December she sued Polaris Entertainment for sexual harassment claiming that working under such conditions was impossible.
"I felt sexually harassed by the agency's president's text messages and more," she said.
According to her complaint filed with Seoul Central District Court, he texted her with messages such as "I'm married but I have a girlfriend" and "You are different from other celebrities. You make my heart flutter."
He allegedly asked her to come out drinking at night. He also supposedly asked her about her dating life, wanted to know if she was dating a manager named Mr. Kim. He told her not to get married or she would be unhappy.
Polaris has denied any harassment. They recently released the following statement.
"After we signed a contract with Clara last year, there were multiple instances where she breached the contract. She did not comply after we brought it up with her and requested corrections, and we had to send her various evidence that proved her misdemeanors.
"When she came to us asking for a contract release and we did not comply, she threatened us, accusing us of sexual harassment. She even sued us. When we filed for a criminal prosecution, she also retaliated with a civil suit.
"Clara is already under investigation and her father Lee Seung Kyu is also under investigation as an accomplice. If Clara's claims were true, she should have gone for a criminal prosecution. However, as there is a potential for libel, she has decided to go with a civil suit. What she stated as sexual harassment is not true at all. They are malicious threats against the company CEO, abusing his honorable nature."
The actress did file a civil suit, which is what her lawyers advised.
The Polaris statement said that when they told Clara to apologize for threatening them, she came to the agency in tears and asked for forgiveness, saying the claims were lies made up to get her out of her contract.
According to allkpop.com, Clara denied this. She said she came to the agency to apologize in the hope that the incident could be resolved in a civilized manner and not have to be settled in court. She says that the Polaris lawyers advised her to do so.
"I only did what I was told by the Polaris lawyer and apologized because I had believed that they would terminate by contract if I did," said Clara. "However, it is the truth that I had received words of sexual harassment which is what caused me to ask for the termination of the contract."
"Although we wished to quietly continue to work with Clara without revealing anything, as we sincerely were concerned for her further entertainment activities, she has proceeded with her civil suit. Thus we were left with no choice but to come forward with the truth in order to protect the company and our artists' images," said the Polaris statement.