Kwak Yeon-soo is a digital editor at The Korea Times creating, editing and curating digital content for the newspaper’s website, mobile app and social media. She previously covered a diverse array of cultural, political and business topics.
Actors accused of school bullying return to small screen
Singer-turned-actress Kim So-hye in a scene from KBS' series "My Lovely Boxer" / Courtesy of KBS
By Kwak Yeon-soo
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Actors, who have suspended professional activity after being accused of school bullying as teenagers, are making their return to the small screen.
Kim So-hye, the former member of disbanded girl group I.O.I., is set to return to acting on TV with a lead role as a female boxer in KBS' series “My Lovely Boxer.”
“My Lovely Boxer,” which will begin airing on Aug. 21, follows a young talented female boxer named Kwon-sook (Kim) who takes the boxing world by storm, but then disappears from the public eye. Three years later, a sports agent named Tae-young (Lee Sang-yeob) convinces her to return to the ring.
The singer-turned-actress was embroiled in school bullying accusations in 2021, whereby an unnamed former schoolmate accused her of being verbally abusive in middle school.
Although Kim denied the allegations, it was later revealed that she had been charged by the school's bullying prevention committee, responsible for assessing the degree of seriousness in each case and meting out punishment to perpetrators.
Actor Cho Byeong-kyu / Courtesy of OCN
Cho Byeong-kyu, who has had a slew of bullying accusations thrown at him, will be back for the hit series “The Uncanny Counter Season 2: Counter Punch.”
The highly anticipated second season will air on tvN starting July 29. Cho, who rose to stardom with JTBC's series “Sky Castle” (2018) and OCN's series “The Uncanny Counter” (2020), will reprise his role as So-mun.
Based on the webcomic named “Amazing Rumor,” the fantasy action series follows a teenager named So-mun, who joins a group of exorcists with special abilities called “counters” to fight off evil spirits.
The second season will welcome a lineup of new cast members, including actors Jin Sun-kyu from “Bargain,” Kang Ki-young from “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” Kim Hieora from “The Glory,” and Yoo In-soo from “All of Us Are Dead.”
An anonymous post on an online forum called him out for physically assaulting classmates at school while in New Zealand, but later apologized and took down the post. Then several others came forward to accuse him of physical abuse and bullying as a teenager.
Cho's agency denied the bullying accusations and requested a police investigation. However, the investigation has stalled because the author of the post refused to return to Korea from New Zealand in order to cooperate with the police. Thus, his allegations remain unverified.
Actor Nam Joo-hyuk, who has denied allegations of school bullying and enlisted in the military in March, will unveil his new Disney series “Vigilante” in the second half of this year. “Vigilante,” is about a police academy student named Ji-yong (Nam), who takes justice into his own hands by punishing criminals that try to get away with their crimes.