The hearings regarding the lawsuit filed by Kim Hyun Joong's ex-girlfriend continue and have been complicated by the release of her text messages to Korean media outlets such as OSEN, Dispatch, My Daily, Newsen, and Naver TV.
Kim Hyun Joong's ex-girlfriend, referred to only as Choi, released thousands of text messages between them to the media. The messages do not display Kim Hyun Joong in a favorable light and his legal team questioned her motives in releasing them to the media rather than presenting them in court.
According to the Korean media outlet OSEN, Kim's legal team said that releasing the text messages was her way to manipulate public opinion.
"If the other side has enough evidence, they can fight with the evidence they have and prove the facts in the civil court. Just because they lack evidence, they want to put pressure on our side in a different way. That's a very dangerous way," Kim Hyun Joong's lawyer Lee Jae Man told OSEN.
Key East Entertainment, which represents Kim, also released a statement to OSEN, saying that, "From the start, Miss Choi has claimed the text messages were evidence. If so, she could submit them to the courts. The summation of evidence is done in court and not via a press release. We do not understand why they are being made public. Everything should be conducted according to the law".
Choi's attorney claimed that some of the text messages were previously submitted and that they also prove her claim of a miscarriage.
The second hearing of the $ 1.5 million lawsuit focused on the need for Choi to submit evidence for the alleged pregnancy, miscarriage and assault. She is suing Kim for psychological damage claiming a miscarriage occurred after he assaulted her in May 2014. Choi claimed that she took a home pregnancy test that showed she was pregnant, but then Kim's assault caused her to miscarry.
At the time she alleges that she learned about Kim having an affair with a female celebrity identified as L. When she confronted Kim about it, she claims he assaulted her and she started to miscarry. By the time she reached the doctor, she said, she was told she was not pregnant. Kim's legal team told reporters that Choi was tested at an OB/GYN on June 13, 2014 and at that time there was no sign of pregnancy.
"The ex-girlfriend is claiming that the text message exchanged between the two is evidence," said Lee Jae Man. "However, she still has to prove legally that she was actually pregnant last year and had a miscarriage because of an assault. The text messages just prove that she lied to Kim Hyun Joong. According to the medical diagnoses made by six different hospitals, she wasn't even pregnant. So, she lied to him about being pregnant and having a miscarriage."
The text messages indicate that there was a later pregnancy, which ended in an abortion, which Kim Hyun Joong encouraged her to have.
One of the text messages revealed to the media has Kim calling Choi a "pig" for getting pregnant so easily.
Three days after the abortion, Choi claims that Kim assaulted her again. She says that she and a friend found Kim and a female celebrity, identified only as J, naked in bed together. She claims that he assaulted her in front of her friend and that celebrity. She says she plans to call that celebrity and her friend to court as a witness.
Kim's legal team denies that the incident happened. They say Choi did show up when he was at home with J and says Choi hit him but he did not respond.
By the time she filed her assault charges in August 2014, the legal team claims she had already received $100,000 in medical fees from Kim.
Choi charged the singer-actor with four incidents of physical assault. She eventually dropped three of the charges after he apologized publicly and privately. It was later revealed that he also paid her $500,000 to keep quiet about the assault and alleged miscarriage. He also had to pay a $5,000 fine in court for the one incident of assault that remained on the books.
According to Lee Jae Man, the $500,000 payment that Choi asked for could be considered extortion. Kim Hyun Joong is counter-suing Choi for $1,000,000, which includes returning the $500,000 previously given to her and another $500,000 for breaking the agreement, which required her to keep the arrangement a secret.
The two reunited after the incident and went on vacation together. In January, she announced that she was pregnant with Kim's child. That child is expected in September 2015.
Kim is currently serving his two-year mandatory military duty.
