Actor Hong Min-gi. [Yonhap]
Actor Hong Min-gi. [Yonhap]

As actor Hong Min-gi faces dating violence allegations, a former girlfriend has come forward with additional claims, widening the fallout. His agency said the allegations are not true and that it is reviewing the details internally.

The former girlfriend, an influencer with around 20,000 followers who first raised the dating violence allegations, posted further accusations on her social media Wednesday. She said Hong made remarks such as "Women are at their best in their early 30s — after that they become ajumma," spoke disparagingly of a former girlfriend who is currently active as an actor, and proudly made anachronistic statements including "I'm a patriotic conservative, and the one thing I like about a volunteer military is that it would force women to serve too" and "Men are the sky, women are the earth."

She also said he insulted and looked down on fellow actors, staff and directors he worked with, and described fans who came to see him as "broke people trying to get their money's worth by acting like sasaeng fans."

She said Hong subjected her to sustained verbal abuse and gaslighting throughout their relationship, and that even after it ended she lived with guilt, having been made to believe his panic disorder had been caused by her.

She said that as a result she visited his home on multiple occasions, knelt down and begged for forgiveness, but that Hong responded with severe verbal abuse and kicked objects around him for roughly 20 to 30 minutes.

She then said he brought her back inside his home, had her lie on his bed, and said, "I'm sorry for swearing at you earlier. You know I still love you, right?" — before attempting to have sex with her and touching her body despite the fact that they had broken up. "It was only three weeks after the breakup that I realized what I had experienced was not love but clear-cut violence and exploitation," she said.

She said fear left her drenched in cold sweat with trembling hands and feet, unable to sleep a single night in peace or carry on with daily life, and that she ultimately disclosed everything to her parents and took legal action by sending a formal written notice.

She also alleged that Hong abused his pet dog.

She said he shows off his dog, Leo, on social media while in reality abusing it — swearing at it and kicking it. She added that for three to four days after she sent the formal written notice to his home, he abandoned the dog alone in the apartment and went into hiding.

In closing, she said she is an ordinary college student who had not wanted the matter to become gossip or news coverage. "But I posted this because I want him — someone who does not even know what he did wrong — to reflect on himself and, before being an actor, to acknowledge his wrongdoing as a human being and sincerely apologize to me," she said.

Earlier Wednesday, she had published a post alleging dating violence by Hong along with a copy of the formal written notice she sent him.

In response, Hong's agency, Fable Company, said the dating violence allegations "are not true" and that it "is currently reviewing the details internally."

Meanwhile, Hong, born in 2002, made his debut in 2020 and gained attention playing the younger version of Joo Ji-hoon's character in the drama series "Love Your Enemy." He has since appeared in "Study Group" and other productions, and recently wrapped filming on Season 2 of the Tving original series "Study Group."


yeonjoo7@heraldcorp.com