Actor Song Ha-yoon. [Yonhap]
Actor Song Ha-yoon. [Yonhap]

A claim by actor Song Ha-yoon's legal team that the person who publicly accused her of school violence had been referred to prosecutors on charges including defamation has been disputed, sparking fresh controversy.

The dispute began Thursday, when reports emerged that the accuser — identified only as A — had been cleared by police of defamation and other charges filed by Song, with investigators deciding not to refer the case to prosecutors. Song subsequently filed an objection, and the case was forwarded to prosecutors through that process.

After those reports spread, Song's camp sent rebuttal emails to multiple news outlets.

Kim Seon-gyeong, an attorney at law firm Jieum representing Song, said in the email that the coverage "misrepresents the progress of the investigation" and that "the criminal complaint filed by Song Ha-yoon has been referred to prosecutors with a recommendation for indictment."

Kim said that while police had initially decided not to refer the case, Song filed an objection, prompting months of supplementary investigation, after which "all charges against the suspect — defamation, intimidation and obstruction of business — were recognized, and the case was referred to prosecutors with a recommendation for indictment."

Kim warned that Song's team "will review all necessary civil and criminal legal measures" in connection with defamation and other harms arising from the continued spread of false information.

That explanation, however, was itself challenged as false.

On Friday, YouTuber Lee Jin-ho, a former entertainment reporter who runs the channel Yeonye Dwittongyeong Yi Jinho, said police had ruled the case "no charge, no referral" on Feb. 19, and that Song filed an objection on March 19, the same day the case was forwarded to prosecutors. Lee said this constituted a "standard police referral" — a neutral transfer of case records and evidence to prosecutors without any recommendation for or against indictment, distinct from a referral with an indictment recommendation. The case was automatically forwarded to prosecutors as a procedural consequence of the objection, not because police had reversed their finding and concluded there were grounds for charges. Lee added that on June 16, prosecutors ordered police to conduct supplementary investigation, and that the case remains under investigation.

This directly contradicts Song's camp's claim that all charges had been recognized following months of additional investigation and that the case had been referred with an indictment recommendation.

A, speaking in a phone call with Lee that was made public in the video, said she had contacted police to verify the situation and was told the original no-referral decision had not changed, a finding she also confirmed through the criminal justice portal system. "It makes me feel terrible," she said of the repeated rebuttals she described as contrary to the facts. "Dealing with the investigation is causing me a great deal of psychological distress and disruption to my livelihood."

Song's legal representative did not respond to a request for comment.

A first raised the school violence allegations against Song in April 2024 on JTBC's "Sageon Banjang," a crime news program. She alleged that in August 2004, when she was a second-year high school student, Song — then a year her sunbae — summoned her to a playground and slapped her repeatedly for about an hour and a half. A also alleged that Song had been forcibly transferred to another school before graduation after becoming involved in a separate group assault.

Song's camp flatly denied the allegations, saying Song and A "have never met" and that Song "has never committed any act of violence." Citing confirmation from A's homeroom teacher at the time, among other grounds, Song's team also dismissed the forced-transfer claim as groundless and filed a complaint against A last August.


paq@heraldcorp.com