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Nam Joo-hyuk’s woes seem to be only increasing by the day. On July 6, another news outlet reported that they had obtained evidence from a third accuser, a woman, that Nam Joo-hyuk and his friends bullied and s*xually harassed her during their senior year of high school.
The lady in question provided text messages from a KakaoTalk group chat (a messaging service in Korea) on May 10, 2012, claiming that she was forcefully invited into the group chat against her will and was bullied simply because one of the actor’s friends disliked her.
Known as a form of cyberbullying “KakaoTalk prison” in Korea, Nam Joo-hyuk and his friends reportedly sent her hateful messages. They commented disparaging her looks and lobbed directives of a s*xual nature.
The news outlet further reported that even though he did not create the group chat, he participated in insulting the lady in question.
The third accuser revealed that she reported the incident to the school at the time, and the perpetrators’ punishment was mandatory community service within the school. She revealed that the perpetrators only apologized when forced to do so by their teacher.
However, according to the third accuser, the perpetrators recently attempted to apologize to her ten years after the incident when she wanted to come forward with her story, fearing she would name them in the ongoing bullying scandal.
Nam Joo-hyuk’s agency Management SOOP categorically denied allegations levied by third accuser
On July 6, later in the evening, Nam Joo-hyuk’s agency Management SOOP released an official statement addressing the new report and the previous allegations by the first two accusers.
The agency confirmed that although the chats were real, the messages were taken out of context and poorly painted in the media.
The agency also confirmed that, as the third accuser had stated, the incident had been wrapped up in an apology at the school but denied that Nam Joo-hyuk had tried to contact her recently.
They further stated that they don’t feel the need to explain the context of the Kakao chat messages:
“The things that took place in the KakaoTalk group chat are very complicated and an extremely personal matter for the individuals in the chat. As mentioned in the article itself, it is also an incident that was wrapped up with an apology at school. Therefore, we don’t believe it is right to reveal the full story through the media at present.”
They also reiterated that they would be taking legal action against the first two accusers, again vehemently denying the school violence allegations against Nam Joo-hyuk.
They also revealed that they are taking legal action against news outlets and YouTube content creators stoking this fire.
“...our agency has determined that we have no choice but to respond strongly to both the first accuser and the second accuser in order to protect our actor’s reputation, and we plan to speedily file lawsuits against them. We are also letting you know that we plan to take strong and decisive legal action against YouTubers or news outlets that spread unconfirmed and groundless claims or rumours.”
Nam Joo-hyuk’s former classmates and teachers vouch for his excellent behavior in high school
On July 5, South Korean media outlet Dispatch released a detailed account where 20 of Nam Joo-hyuk’s former classmates and teachers came forward to quash the bullying accusations by another media outlet and a whistleblower.
The article included detailed statements from those students and teachers about their interactions with the Start Up actor.
His former classmates stated that if Nam Joo-hyuk were involved in bullying, the school would have taken strict action against him as the punishment levied against such behavior was severe.
“The punishment was severe and strict at school. “If the teacher knew that there was such an incident and that he was constantly harassing someone, there would have been an uproar.”
Another classmate attested to Nam Joo-hyuk’s good behavior in high school and revealed that he was friendly with everyone in the class.
“Joo Hyuk is not someone to bully anyone. He loved sports. Joo Hyuk always laughed and tried to keep everyone merry even when his friends joked about him, which made him very accommodating for his age.”
On June 20, the actor was first accused of school bullying by an anonymous tipper. Management SOOP firmly denied the allegations. The agency filed criminal complaints against the accuser, the reporter who wrote the article, and the CEO of the publication that released the article.
On June 28, another accuser accused the actor of school violence. Once again, the agency denied the allegations, calling them “groundless.”
