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Staff Reporter
A U.S. beef importer filed a 300-million-won ($250,000) compensation suit with a Seoul court against actress Kim Min-sun for allegedly misleading the public into a boycott of their product and damaging sales.
According to the Seoul Southern District Court, A-Meat, which specializes in U.S. beef, filed the suit against the actress, claiming that Kim's comments, along with ``twisted reports and comments'' made on MBC's investigative program ``PD Notebook" about the beef, have caused the company to shut down 47 franchise stores nationwide, inflicting more than 2 billion won in losses.
Amid fierce debates over the Lee Myung-bak government's resumption of U.S. beef imports, Kim posted an article on her Web site in May claiming that she'd ``rather drink up potassium cyanide than eat U.S. beef and bones tainted with bovine spongiform encephalopathy virus.'' Her comment caused a stir among consumers and is said to have led many other celebrities to speak up against the imports.
``Due to Kim's ignorant comments, people refused to eat U.S. beef. She damaged our business and, furthermore, the 300 billion won domestic market,'' Park Chang-kyu, the head of A-Meat, reportedly said.
Kim's agent declined to comment on the issue.
bjs@koreatimes.co.kr
