Kim Se-eui, head of the YouTube channel Garosero Research Institute, who spread claims that actor Kim Soo-hyun was responsible for the death of the late actor Kim Sae-ron, has asked a court to review the legality of his detention.
According to legal sources, Kim's legal team filed a petition for a detention legality review with the Seoul Central District Court on May 31 — five days after his arrest on charges including defamation. A hearing on the petition is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. Tuesday.
Kim Se-eui has been under investigation on suspicion of spreading false claims through YouTube and other platforms — alleging that Kim Soo-hyun had dated Kim Sae-ron while she was a minor and that pressure from Kim Soo-hyun's side to repay debts was the direct cause of her death.
He also faces charges of defaming Kim Soo-hyun by using AI to manipulate audio of Kim Sae-ron's voice, fabricating statements in which she purportedly described having sexual relations with Kim Soo-hyun for the first time during a winter break in her second year of middle school.
Police believe Kim Se-eui knowingly spread false information to attract public attention.
Kim held a press conference with Kim Sae-ron's bereaved family in March last year, at which he made those allegations.
The Gangnam Police Station, which investigated the case for more than a year, concluded that Kim Se-eui had manipulated the audio recordings using AI, as Kim Soo-hyun's side had claimed.
Acting on that conclusion, police applied a broad set of charges — including violations of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Violence Crimes, defamation, intimidation and attempted coercion — and sought an arrest warrant on May 14. The Seoul Central District Court granted the warrant and detained Kim on May 26, citing concerns that he might destroy evidence or flee.
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