| Actress Seo Yea-ji, right, and Kim Jung-hyun were reported to be dating in 2018. Courtesy of tvN and O& Entertainment |
By Lee Gyu-lee
Actress Seo Yea-ji has been blamed for Kim Jung-hyun's "troubling" behavior at a 2018 press conference for MBC's romance series, "Time," and his withdrawal from the show.
Kim drew unwanted attention in 2018 during the series' press conference, answering questions unenthusiastically and giving his co-star Seohyun a weird look when she tried to grab his arm to pose for pictures.
The local tabloid, Dispatch, reported on Monday that Seo and Kim, co-stars of the 2018 romance film, "Stay with Me," were dating while Kim was shooting the "Time" series, and that the actress had pressured Kim to decline any romantic involvement between his and Seohyun's characters.
In alleged text messages between Seo and Kim, the actress tells Kim to "change (the scenes) to leave out romance and physical contact."
Seo frequently made sure that he did not interact with any female staff or his co-star on set and, at one point, she even asked him to send a video of himself on the set.
Kim replied: "I didn't even say hi to the female crew members. I wasn't being friendly to others either."
Dispatch also said that Kim used his eating disorder as an excuse for the production team to change the storyline. And when his excuse no longer worked, he left the show while it was still running.
Kim's agency, O& Entertainment, refused to comment on the report, and Seo's agency, Goldmedalist, told local media outlets that it is "confirming with the actress."
As Seo is scheduled to appear Tuesday at a press conference for her upcoming film, "Recalled," eyes are on her to see whether she speaks on the matter during the event.