Actor Ji Soo [Newsis]
Actor Ji Soo [Newsis]

A court ruling requiring actor Ji Soo's former agency to pay 880 million won in damages to the production company behind the KBS drama "River Where the Moon Rises" has been finalized, after Ji Soo left the show amid school bullying allegations.

Keyeast, Ji Soo's former agency, withdrew its appeal to the Supreme Court's Third Division on June 24, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The withdrawal made final a second-instance ruling ordering Keyeast to pay Canvas N — formerly known as Victory Contents — 880 million won plus accrued interest.

The dispute traces back to March 2021, when school bullying allegations surfaced against Ji Soo, who played the male lead Ondal in the KBS 2TV Monday-Tuesday drama "River Where the Moon Rises," after six episodes had aired.

Ji Soo promptly admitted to some of the alleged conduct and voluntarily withdrew from the production. Filming had been completed through episode 18 of the planned 20-episode run at the time.

The production company brought in Na In-woo as a replacement starting from episode 7 and reshot those scenes. Once the drama stabilized, episodes 1 through 6 were also refilmed.

Canvas N subsequently sued Keyeast, seeking 3 billion won to cover additional production costs incurred by the reshoots.

A first-instance court ordered Keyeast to pay 1.42 billion won, but the second-instance court reduced the amount to 880 million won — the figure now confirmed as final.


husn7@heraldcorp.com