Kim Soo-hyun clears another legal hurdle, defeats $410K watch brand lawsuit over Kim Sae-ron allegations
Court rejects Mido’s $410K claim, bolstering Kim Soo-hyun’s bid to clear his name
A Seoul court has handed Kim Soo-hyun a decisive win in his ongoing legal battle to clear his name, rejecting a bid by Swiss watch brand Mido to claw back over half a billion won in advertising fees.
The ruling
According to AllKPop, On August 27, the 13th Civil Division of the Seoul Eastern District Court dismissed Mido's lawsuit against Kim Soo Hyun's agency, Gold Medalist, in full. The brand had sought roughly 570 million KRW (about $412,637) in damages, arguing that the actor's commercial value collapsed after allegations surfaced on the YouTube channel HoverLab (Garosero Research Institute), allegations that ultimately led Mido to end its contract with him.
Gold Medalist pushed back, maintaining that HoverLab's claims were fabricated from the start and that nothing in the actor's conduct justified treating the contract as broken. At the centre of the dispute was the now-discredited allegation that Kim Soo-hyun had been involved with the late Kim Sae Ron while she was a minor, a claim the agency insisted had no basis and no connection to any actual wrongdoing by the actor.
The court agreed with Gold Medalist.
What this case means
This is the first verdict to come down among a string of lawsuits filed by former advertisers of Kim Soo-hyun, and legal observers expect it to shape how the remaining cases play out. Brands including Cuckoo Electronics, Classys, Dinto, Eider, and FromBIO still have similar claims pending, each seeking the return of contract fees or penalty payments.
Attorney Bang Sung Hoon of LKB & Partners, speaking to Dispatch, laid out the court's reasoning plainly: “Mido unilaterally pulled the advertisements following the false allegations,” he said, adding that “the court determined that the termination of the model contract was not caused by any fault on Kim Soo Hyun's part.” He went further, predicting the ruling's reach: “I believe this ruling will have a significant impact on the other cases as well.”
How the contract unraveled
Mido had backed Kim Soo Hyun as a brand ambassador since 2020, renewing its confidence in November 2024 with a 900 million KRW (about $651,494) payment to extend the deal another year. That relationship fell apart almost immediately after HoverLab's allegations broke, prompting Mido to notify Gold Medalist it was terminating the contract, and, soon after, to sue for the remaining fee.
The allegations behind it all
The controversy traces back to claims that police have since dismantled. In May, investigators concluded that HoverLab's central allegation, a relationship between Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Sae Ron while she was underage was false. HoverLab's head, Kim Se Eui, was indicted and detained in June on defamation-related charges.
Kim Soo-hyun has now cleared a second major legal threshold as well: last month, police declined to refer him for prosecution under the Child Welfare Act, after determining there wasn't sufficient evidence to support allegations examined during the investigation.
